NP - 46 donkeys die due to mismanagement - Animal Nepal calls for rescue of remaining donkeys

[Guest guest]

*Donkey abuse at Khopasi exposed*

 

*Animal Nepal calls for immediate rescue of surviving donkeys*

 

*Kathmandu/Khopasi – 09-09*-*2009* – In a grave case of animal abuse, 46

donkeys died due to mismanagement in Khopasi, Kavre district. Of a herd of

54 working donkeys that were left behind by their owner, only nine are still

alive. The remaining donkeys will fare the same fate if not rescued

immediately. This says Animal Nepal, an animal rights organization

pioneering a working donkey outreach programme.

 

Animal Nepal calls for the immediate rescue and rehabilitation of the

remaining donkeys. The organisation requests the media and responsible

government authorities to provide full assistance so that the nine remaining

donkeys can be saved. Animal Nepal also calls for the passing of an Animal

Welfare Act to make animal abuse punishable by law.

 

Says Pramada Shah, volunteer director at Animal Nepal: ‘The death of 46

donkeys at Khopasi stands as an example of the irresponsible attitude of

donkey owners in our country. The equines have died a slow and painful

death. The suffering of these donkeys and countless others goes unreported

and no one seems to care.’

 

Earlier this week Animal Nepal send an investigation team to Khopasi after

learning that Nepalgunj based donkey owner Rajesh Kashgar left 54 donkeys

with a caretaker and that the donkeys were dying one by one. The animals

were brought from Nepalgunj in December 2008 and worked in different brick

kilns until May 2009.

 

The team, consisting of Dr Sudeep Koirala and Surendra Basyal, found nine

donkeys huddled together in a small makeshift bamboo shelter, covered with a

simple plastic sheet.

 

The lifeless donkeys suffer from allergic wound on their legs, as well as

saddle wounds, and general weakness. ‘The donkeys are extremely weak and

seem depressed. They will certainly die soon when left in this place’, says

Dr Sudeep Koirala.

The mass deaths of the donkeys are caused by multiple causes resulting

mostly from infected wounds and allergic pruritis. This combined with a lack

of nutritious food and medical care as well as difficulty adjusted to the

new environment and climate led to the deaths of 46 donkeys during the past

thee months.

Animal Nepal plans to organise a rescue mission on Thursday September 10.

 

*Background information*

 

Animal Nepal in January 2009 started an outreach programme for working

donkeys in ten brick kilns in Lalitpur District. Here over 450 working

donkeys are tagged and treated; donkey owners are trained in health

management and general care. A Donkey Sanctuary is presently being

constructed in Godavari area. It is estimated that a total of 1500 donkeys

work in brick kilns inside Kathmandu Valley. Animal Nepal has conducted two

investigations in the management of the donkeys during off-season. Sick and

handicapped donkeys are simply abandoned outside the kilns; Animal Nepal

since May rescued eight such donkeys. Some 180 donkeys are transported to

Nepalgunj where they are abandoned on the street and turn into scavengers.

The Khopasi donkeys are among an unknown number which are left behind with a

caretaker inside Kathmandu Valley.

 

*For more information call Pramada Shah at 98510-41103 or Dr Sudeep Koirala

at 9841-548553. Visit our website at www.animalnepal.org*

 

 

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Lucia de Vries

Freelance Journalist

Nepal - Netherlands