According to the United Nations, Ethiopia is home to one in five of the world’s total donkey populations.
The Donkey Sanctuary, a free clinic run by a British charity, is essential in Addis Ababa because it is the backbone of the country’s economy. It cares for animals that are frequently essential to their owners’ livelihoods, and is located close to Merkato, the city’s sprawling open-air market.
At the clinic, there are several dozen donkeys squatting in cages, some irately kick their legs, and others snuck their food into their cages. Moving from one animal to another, caregivers and veterinarians deal with a wide range of ailments, including colic, eye conditions, and injuries.
Guluma Bayi, 38, was one of them as they led his two donkeys to the clinic after walking for more than an hour and a half.
“My donkeys have been ill for three weeks,” Guluma said. One person has a leg issue, the other a stomach issue.
Guluma, like many others, relies on his donkeys to transport jerrycans of water for sale in his community.
He claimed that he was unable to buy bread for my children after they developed ill. I pleaded with a man to take me here.
In Ethiopia, there were roughly nine million donkeys as of 2018 according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Donkeys are a major economic player in this East African nation of 130 million people, ploughing fields and moving goods, providing a low-cost alternative to cars at a time when fuel costs have skyrocketed.
Chane Baye, a regular visitor, makes money from moving sacks of grain across the city for clients with his two donkeys. His daily income ranges from 200 to 400 birr (roughly $1.50 to $3), which is a respectable amount for a nation where the World Bank’s poverty line is $2.15 per day.
The 61-year-old visits the clinic “every three months or so when they start sluggish or have a stomach issue,” he said.
Before this clinic, he explained, describing how nails were once crudely removed from the animals’ legs with a knife. “We used traditional ways to treat them,” he said. He is relieved that his donkeys now receive medical attention from professionals for their wounds and infections.
Vet Derege Tsegay performs a routine but unpleasant procedure by dipping into a depressed donkey’s rectum while wearing a rubber glove at the clinic.
The animal’s digestive tract had a large mass of stool that had accumulated after the discharge.
He said, “It happens frequently.”
Donkeys frequently ingest whatever they find, including plastic bags, which can wreak havoc on their digestive health because there isn’t enough food in the city.
Derege is proud of what he does, despite the frequently challenging nature of the work.
Source: Aljazeera
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