ACE Newsletter.......Spring 2007

As you read this, start will have been made on the boundary wall of ACE’s new premises. These will be bigger than our present centre, and better equipped. There will be an education facility, and with luck and hard work we will be able to produce more children like the two Mohameds.

LOOK AT ME NOW

Shortly after the ACE centre opened, a small, half-weaned kitten appeared one morning. She stood in the middle of the compound, ignored the carriage horses, and mewed and mewed and mewed. Loudly. That was almost six years ago and Angel, decided to stay.

Today, she is affectionate with humans, particularly those who tickle her ears, but she hates other cats, and even kittens receive the odd cuff if they venture too close. Angel by name, but perhaps not by nature. But she was a beautiful baby, and look at her now! Prrrrr.

ACE............ AND THE ENVIRONMENT

When ACE first started its wash and brush up service in Luxor, it was for the benefit and welfare of equines. Carriage horses almost never had a wash or serious grooming, and it is doubtful if donkeys ever saw soap and water.

A few horses were sometimes taken to the Nile for a wash, but only if the owners lived nearby and did not have to make much of an effort.

The Luxor authorities frowned upon these unregulated equine showers because they added to the pollution of the Nile, so when ACE’s hygiene programme was launched the Ministry of the social affairs department welcomed it as an anti-pollution measure. What was good for the horses was also good for the environment.

On the outskirts of Luxor, and in the city itself on odd parcels of spare ground and even in corners of building sites, impoverished families squat in squalor with a few farm animals: cows, goats, sheep and sometimes a water buffalo.

In virtually every shop in the city plastic bags are given out with even the smallest purchase. It is difficult to avoid them and, of course, they litter the streets and spill out of rubbish bins where these are provided at some street corners.

ACE, again helping both animals and the environment, is setting an example by providing paper bags for visitors buying sweatshirts at the centre. Paper, of course, is recyclable and if an ACE bag is found by an inquisitive goat it is unlikely to do it any harm.

.......... AND CHILDREN

ACE is increasingly called upon by impoverished villagers to treat their badly scalded babies. In poor homes it is common for young mothers to have toddlers clinging to them while they do the cooking, and Egyptian villagers are always boiling water for tea and cooking in oil at very high temperatures. Accidents are just waiting to happen and they frequently do. Although ACE staff always recommend taking the infants to hospital, it is difficult to ignore babes-in-arms screaming in pain. One such recent patient had a scalded penis. As with its animal, so with its human patients, ACE does not charge for treatment.

The local Sunshine Home for orphans is encouraged to bring parties of its children on visits to see the animals. Not only is this beneficial for both visitors and animals, it is useful for the schoolage donkey drivers and shepherds to talk to children of their own age who are being brought up to value animals in their own right.

These sorts of activities demonstrate that ACE is playing a valuable part in the wider community.

TRAGEDIES

When treating animals, perhaps particularly in Third World countries, it is inevitable that tragedies occur. Dirt, ignorance, ingrained habits and deliberate ill treatment all play their part, but so does Mother Nature.

Over the Christmas period staff at the centre had to put down a beautiful, thoroughbred Arab foal. It was only one week old. Unfortunately it had been in constant pain virtually from the moment of birth. It was suffering from tetanus and whole-body septicaemia. When young life is cut so short, the sadness in the air can almost be touched. But in this case, the owner had the sense to seek help and not let the foal suffer unnecessarily.

Shortly after this mercy killing another horrendous tragedy occurred, one that tested the stomachs and not just the skill of the veterinary surgeons. A five-year-old farm donkey was brought in, pregnant and dying. She was grinding her teeth in pain, had a very high temperature, very low blood pressure and was diagnosed as having only a couple of days to live at the outside. For some five days it had been pushing and straining trying to give birth while, at the same time, farm labourers had been yanking on the partborn foal. Even after centuries of rearing donkeys, some of the country people still have little idea of good husbandry. The baby donkey, in the wrong position for a successful birth, had been dead for four or five days.

The adult donkey’s exposed flesh, instead of being pink, was a sickly grey or brown and lumps of it were simply falling off. The afterbirth was rotting and both mother and foal were stinking. Sometimes is not an exaggeration to say that ACE’s vets are heroes.

FIRING

When ACE first opened in Luxor, one of the most horrific problems, in terms of totally avoidable, gratuitous pain that faced it was the tradition of “firing”. This barbaric practice involves the grinding into the flesh near leg joints of red hot metal. This is supposed to make the legs of donkeys and horses stronger. Some owners believe it will even cure lameness or invigorate old animals.

Fewer animals go to the centre now showing new firing scars, and ACE can take much – perhaps even all – of the credit for this change. ACE staff have made their views on the practice very clear, and younger equine owners and drivers are accepting the fact that firing simply does not work. Whether its similarity to torture is recognised is another matter. However, old habits do die hard and some veteran country folk still stubbornly cling to age-old beliefs.

During the New Year period one eldery donkey was brought to the centre walking gingerly and bearing signs of recent firing. The owner had not brought the animal for treatment but to give it a wash. He washed so heavily that the wounds opened up and the donkey sat down on its haunches – something donkeys rarely do – as a means of self-protection.

THE FUTURE

These two lads are just some of the younger generation that visit the centre with a collection of animals, usually farm animals. In this case they brought two young goats for a check up. Fortunately nothing serious was wrong with the animals and all four left happily. The important point is that these future farmers were thinking of tomorrow. They did not want anything to become wrong with the animals in the days and months ahead.
These puppies are from the same litter and the boys, both called Mohamed, bring their pets to the centre every two or three days for a supply of “puppy formula”. The mother dog died and the puppies, with ACE’s help and instruction, of course, are being hand-reared. Before ACE came along the pups would have died. The two lads are an indication that they, at least, are beginning to understand the concept of animal welfare; the pups are pets and not a source of money. In their own quiet way the two Mohameds are revolutionary.

With youngsters like these, the future of animal welfare in Luxor is bright. The future is ACE.

A TRUSTEE’S PLEA

Trustee Alan Whittaker recently returned from a trip to the ACE centre. He writes:

The future for animal welfare in Luxor is much brighter than anyone - I certainly- could have foreseen when ACE opened its doors almost seven years ago. While at the centre one day, Dr Assma and I were watching her fellow vet, Dr David, wrestling patiently with an upturned young water buffalo. Dr Assma herself had just treated a young foal, and I asked if she thought ACE was winning. She considered for a moment, smiled, and said, “Yes, I think so”. I think so too, but I know the battle is a hard one. We are winning, but we have not yet won.

Perhaps the most obvious improvement can be seen in the appearance of the carriage horses. In general, they are better shod, not so frighteningly skinny and their coats are glossier. They are still overworked and not treated as well as we would like them to be. But there is an improvement – for many of them at least. What is not so obvious, but it is there if you look carefully, is a change in attitude, particularly among the young. These are the future and it is vital we educate them to understand the value and importance of kindness to animals.

Centre manager Kim Taylor revelling in the size of the new site.

Everyone at ACE, both in Egypt and in the UK are conscious that without our supporters we would achieve very little. It is your money that has enabled us to reach this point in our history. The next step, the new centre, is exciting and full of promise. But we need your help. None of us likes having to ask for donations, but without your generosity, we cannot function. The brutal truth is that bricks and mortar cost money, and the new centre needs lots of bricks and mortar. For us to dig deep foundations, we need you to dig deep into your pockets.

Please help us to construct the new centre, to build a better future.

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