Remembering Marco, by Geeta Seshamani

[Guest guest]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:

(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)

 

 

Remembering Marco by Geeta Seshamani

 

 

The September 2008 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE included a

photograph of a donkey named Marco, with a memorial for him from

ANIMAL PEOPLE artist Wolf Clifton and president Kim Bartlett.

An editor's note on page six mentioned that after rescuing

Marco while traveling in India in January 2007, Bartlett funded an

equine care mobile unit to help the working donkeys and horses along

the heavily traveled Agra/Delhi corridor, and added that the unit is

operated by Friendicoes SECA, which already had an equine unit in

Delhi.

There was much more to the story.

Marco stood quivering and frightened on the Delhi Agra

freeway with speeding trucks whizzing past. He was limping, trying

to get to safety. Kim and Wolf spotted him as they were driving to

Delhi after a visit to the Wildlife SOS Agra Bear Sanctuary.

Kim was in tears when she saw Marco's plight. A few phone

calls later, a Friendicoes SECA Animal Ambulance rescued Marco.

Marco soon settled down in the Friendicoes SECA Gurgoan Sanctuary

just outside Delhi.

Marco was patient and brave, despite the trauma he had been

through. But most importantly Marco brought help to hundreds of his

kind. Friendicoes had operated an equine mobile treatment unit to

help working donkeys, ponies, and mules since 1984, but had not

been able to expand operations beyond Delhi and its immediate

environs. Inspired by Marco, Kim made this happen.

At our sanctuary Marco became the big brother in residence.

He was a very large donkey. The other donkeys respected his age and

size. He had trouble reaching the fodder trough and water trough,

because of his chronic limp, but no one jostled or nipped him.

When Marco first came to the Sanctuary he wore the resigned

look that our rescued donkeys always have. His hind leg dragged

where an old hoof injury or a badly set fracture had twisted it, and

he was all bones, having never been fed well and having been

abandoned when he became disabled.

After he was abandoned, life for Marco probably went from

bad to worse. His only food appeared to have been nibbles of dry

dusty grass by the roadside, and his fate seemed likely to be either

getting hit by a truck or suffering a slower death from starvation,

dehydration and sickness.

But the Lord of small things decreed otherwise--and Marco's

rescue that night also saved the life of one of the boys who work on

the sanctuary, who had been the victim of a hit and run accident and

was lying on the road unconscious, beside his smashed motorcycle,

when the van hauling Marco happened by.

At the Friendicoes SECA sanctuary a blind mare began standing

as close to Marco as she could, and then feeding with him from the

same trough. Marco didn't seem to object and stood there patiently

while she nuzzled and groomed him. It was a source of quiet

satisfaction to us to watch Marco steadily gain weight, have his

wounds dressed, lying in the sun, and to watch him gaining in

confidence as he strolled around our small field and had his

occasional sand bath.

Marco chose to keep the orphaned donkey babies company, and

was an odd sight towering over them, bending down to nibble at their

necks. Can male donkeys show such family behavior? my staff would

ask, having only seen donkeys as beasts of burden.

Summer came to Friendicoes with blazing heat, but then the

most unlikely rains began--and never stopped. The continuous

downpour and huge quantities of water swamped the sanctuary. The

donkey shed was damaged by high winds, and the donkeys were moved to

the cow shed. The cows were moved to the dog rooms. The dogs were

moved to the roofs.

During this trying time Marco developed a respiratory condition.

The sanctuary vet shifted Marco to his residence. We lit a

fire to dry out the damp walls of the room and treated Marco with

antibiotics. At times he rallied and seemed more comfortable. Other

times Marco sat on the hay bed or stood in discomfort.

We called for veterinary advice from other shelters. Our

equine vet visited almost daily to attend to Marco. He seemed to

recover and looked better, so we brought the blind mare to be with

him. When she joined him, Marco rose to greet her and playfully

nudged her. We thought Marco was eating better.

Three days later Marco passed away at night without a

struggle, quietly--like a dignified elderly angel. The mare stood

over him. Her sorrow was shared by all as we led her back to the

main stable and prepared Marco for his burial.

All our pets have tulsi angans, which are tombstones with

basil planted inside them, basil being a holy plant. Marco was

buried with prayers with his own tulsi angan.

The rains abated soon afterward and the sanctuary returned to

its normal dry state, but we felt the loss of Marco, as did the

blind mare when the donkeys were next let out to walk and play.

We receive many animals and people often ask whether we

really notice when we lose one.

Yes, yes indeed. Each for us is a person--good, sad,

funny, or dignified and wise. Each makes a place in our hearts.

Each has wisdom that comes from having suffered. Each death resounds

in our sanctuary, leaving a gap that takes time to soothe and fill

in.

 

[Geeta Seshamani founded Friendicoes SECA in 1979, and

cofounded Wildlife SOS, with Kartick Satyanarayan, in 1997.

Donations to Friendicoes in memory of Marco may be sent c/o ANIMAL

PEOPLE.]

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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