ACE Newsletter.......Autumn 2007

DONKEY WORK

“Here, in Luxor, donkeys are treated mainly as machines, not as living, feeling creatures. There is no awareness that donkeys need “maintenance” and not just attention when they breakdown.”

These are the words of Kim Taylor, the manager of Animal Care in Egypt’s (ACE) Luxor centre since it opened. They are the product of experience, daily experience of just how much Egyptian donkeys suffer.

They are routinely beaten, overworked, underfed. They need hoof and teeth treatment and worming. They are increasingly injured in traffic accidents, suffer harness sores, and sometimes have lacerated mouths caused by bits that would result in prosecutions for cruelty in the UK and other countries.

Even when donkeys are not working, they are rarely at rest. Boys ride them for pleasure after work and at festivals; when they are left alone, they are hobbled. This means they do not enjoy full freedom of movement and the hobbling itself can cause serious injury.

There is an Egyptian tradition of not giving donkeys – and also horses- water during the day. Luxor summer temperatures reach 40 Celsius!

This is part of the background to ACE’s work in Egypt.

BEASTS OF BURDEN

The streets of Luxor are full of donkeys straining under loads much too heavy. The tracks outside the town are no different. Over the last 20 years the world’s donkey population has increased by nearly 16 per cent. Egypt has had its share of this growth.

A donkey can be overloaded with sugar cane and other agricultural products, with heavy sacks, with virtually anything. The work is backbreaking.

Donkey carts are laden with literally anything from sacks of cement to heavy gas cylinders. Donkeys strain to pull these burdens and, of course, are “encouraged” by beatings with thick sticks.

It is common to see someone perched on the shafts to add to the load.

The sun is scorching, there is no water, the diet is inadequate, the strain on the muscles is relentless, the harness rubs on open sores, and there is no time for rest. In Luxor, donkeys truly know the meaning of donkeywork.

DEDICATION

Daily, donkeys arrive at the centre needing attention. Sometimes, amongst the animal aches and pains, a surprise is in store for the staff.

This baby donkey was brought in to the centre nearer death than life. It is an orphan and the owner wanted it put down. (How would it have fared before ACE arrived?) It really did seem as though the young female would die and the owner left happily after he was given £E 40 for what seemed to be a near-corpse.

Amira, a new addition to the staff, didn’t give in. She nursed the baby jenny devotedly for two days and finally persuaded her to drink from a bottle. She had had nothing to drink for four days before ACE took her in. After three weeks of Amira’s attention, the young animal was re-homed and now lives with an expatriate British doctor.

A BRIGHTER FUTURE?

Amira is a ray of hope and possibly a sign of a better future for Egyptian animals. She is a beautiful 15-year-old with a British mother and an Egyptian father. She seems to have found her vocation for she is now taking an Animal Nursing Assistant correspondence course at Myerscough College in the UK. As part of the course, she must work for 30 hours a week at the ACE centre – for two years! Eventually she wants to be a fully qualified veterinary nurse. Which is good news for baby donkeys.

A JULY BABY

Another day at the centre and another surprise and another baby donkey.

Towards the end of July the medical staff were treating a donkey for a leg problem. She looked far from pregnant, but during the night she gave birth to this endearing baby. Her owner rushed over when the news was sent him and was as surprised as the others. He too did not know she was pregnant. He had become richer overnight. To own a donkey means to have a work animal.

EDUCATION

In the long term, education is the answer, and that is why there will be a lecture room and displays at ACE’s new, larger premises. Currently, as Kim Taylor points out, “We are trying to teach donkey owners that beating a donkey will shorten its life and its value will depreciate, that by increasing its food it will be stronger and more valuable. The streets of Luxor are full of donkeys being beaten for no reason other than they have ignorant handlers. We have to educate them.” And they need the education for the sake of the donkeys.

HOPE!

Now and again there is hope that ACE’s message is getting through.

This small boy loves his donkey. It could just have a future of kindness and understanding when both grow up.

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