India

The Donkey Sanctuary working in India

Our project in India was started in 1998. Initially we worked with an Indian animal charity called People for Animals, funded by Mrs Maneka Gandhi. Early in 2002 the Donkey Sanctuary, India, was established.

In Delhi we have two mobile clinics and veterinary teams. The donkeys in this area are used mainly on building sites; the donkey owners live on the sites, until the building is finished, in makeshift tents. Our team visits the sites on a regular basis, and besides routine veterinary care, treatment of wounds, etc., a worming programme is carried out.

The vets have also initiated other projects – they have organised the children on the sites to collect plastic bags, which can cause fatal colic to donkeys when eaten, and in return the children get a handful of sweets. They have also started a small cottage industry in a local village in which four units are involved in making soft cotton hobbles, which are given free to donkey owners, thus avoiding wounds to the fetlocks. This project also enables the people in the units to earn a living. Other initiatives include soft back protectors to prevent sores, and covered cruppers to prevent tail sores.

In June 2003 a second project was established in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujerat. We have two Indian vets there, working with a mobile clinic, and we also have a smallholding where donkeys in need of daily treatment stay until they can return to work. This project runs three vehicles, all used for clinic work, including an ambulance for collection of emergency inpatient cases. The mobile clinic also makes an annual visit to a pilgrimage site one hour's journey from Ahmedabad where 200 donkeys are used throughout the year. Not far from here we also help to support a small sanctuary set up by Princess Urvashi Devi, in Devgad Baria.

In 2004 we started a third project in the city of Gwalior where the donkeys work in stone quarries and brick kilns. Early in 2007 we incorporated a project in Solapur that we had been supporting previously as an independent organisation, and later the same year we started a new, fifth regional project in Rajasthan.

Help in the form of a small donation will enable us to provide free treatment for donkeys and to provide education on improving life for these hardworking animals and assist their impoverished owners who will have a fitter, healthier donkey to help them by carrying loads.

All of The Donkey Sanctuary's work overseas relies totally on donations from the general public, companies or charitable trusts. Just a small donation could be the difference between life and death for donkeys in India.

If you feel you could help fund our work overseas, please make a donation. Thank you.