A working donkey has no life in Afghanistan – just toil, pain and a never ending slog along roads crammed with cars or up torturous slopes to reach the mountain villages that surround Kabul.
Nowzad has finally gained permission to roll out our working animal programme across all of Kabul. Our team led by Dr Reshad is super excited and eager to lend these overworked donkeys a hoof…(see what we did there?).
But on a more serious note; the programme will tackle such issues as treating wounds caused by ill-fitting harnesses and saddles, problems with lameness, systemic infections, dehydration (ever so common) and a lack of food, shelter and correctly fitted equipment.
These problems and issues could be blamed on the owner’s indifference to animal welfare but we must understand that these donkeys and horses belong to members of the poorest members of the community here in Kabul; families who survive on as little as $5 to $7 per day. Most with limited access to any form of education. They just do not know what they don’t know. So Nowzad is determined to be the difference for these donkeys and horses. Our objective being;
- To eliminate health issues and maintain animal welfare.
- Educate the owners on proper health and welfare of their donkeys and horses.
Some donkeys we find may already be at the end of their working lives and / or are suffering long term injury and will, without doubt, need to be retired. Our remaining empty stables at the Nowzad donkey sanctuary will soon to be expecting new residents – of that we are certain!
As the program gains momentum we will update you with details of the donkeys and horses we have supported. If you wish to donate specifically for the care of donkeys within our donkey sanctuary, then please send a donation to the regular UK or US office address but add Nowzad (donkeys) to the first line of the postal address please! if you wish to donate online please click here
Hopefully sooner rather than later when our team no longer has to work from home, we will be introducing our sponsor a donkey scheme – more details in the next newsletter as we will join Dr Reshad for a day treating the donkeys of Kabul.