Find out how a young donkey received much-needed veterinary care at a SPANA mobile clinic in Mauritania.
Aly is a four-year-old donkey from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. Like hundreds of other working donkeys, Aly transports and delivers water to households without a piped water supply across the city.
Pulling a heavy water cart over sand dunes for 10 to 12 hours a day is an incredibly tough job for Aly and his 21-year-old owner, Mettan. But without Aly, Mettan couldn’t work, and he’d be unable to support his elderly parents.
When Aly became increasingly unwell, Mettan was devastated. So, when SPANA’s mobile clinic came to his neighbourhood in Nouakchott, Mettan took Aly straight there for much-needed treatment.
At the clinic, our team saw that Aly had infected wounds from an ill-fitting harness, external parasites and was showing signs of dehydration. The team immediately cleaned and treated Aly’s wounds, administered antiparasitic injections, provided antibiotics to treat the infected wounds and treated Aly for dehydration. They also gave Aly anti-inflammatory medication to relieve pain and infection.
Just as crucially, the team worked with Mettan, too. They helped Mettan fit Aly’s harness correctly to prevent rubbing injuries and advised him on providing regular water and rest breaks throughout the day.
Mettan was relieved that the team had been able to help Aly. He said: ‘I thank SPANA for coming to our neighbourhood and treating my donkey. He’s very important… this means a lot to me.’
Thank you for all you’ve done for working animals like Aly this past year – which has been one of the toughest in recent memory. For example, February saw floodwaters rush through Tanzania’s Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, leaving over 1,000 donkeys stranded in deep, filthy water with no dry place to rest. But your support helped build safe and dry shelters, provided food and clean water and even helped vaccinate donkeys against deadly disease.
And in June, Turkana County in Kenya was hit by the country’s worst drought in 40 years. Over 10,000 camels and donkeys were in desperate need. Your support provided emergency feed and water – stopping suffering and saving lives. Thank you so much for your continued support for working animals.
