Looking back at February 2008

Pauline and Sabine having fitted a new head collar take the time to look at the rest of the donkey and listen to the owner and his concerns. Though there is a language barrier we do manage to communicate what is best for the animal. This is an extremely busy time due to the sugar cane harvest.

This picture was taken at the end of the working day with the really hard work over until it all starts again early tomorrow. Just a couple of donkeys wait for their carts to be filled with the tops of the sugar cane. As you can see there is very little shade but what isn't immediately obvious is just how uneven the ground is.

This donkey cart heads for home with the tops of the sugar cane which is used as animal feed. The deficiencies of the tack really stand out at very hard time for the donkeys but AWOL are doing all we can to improve the situation.

The combination of overwork and bad tack causes many wounds. We have been treating this donkey for some while but with our soft yoke (which we wrap every 2 days) and a liberal covering of cod liver oil the wounds are healing nicely. The damage to the donkey's nose has naturally healed since we fitted an AWOL head collar.

Pauline and Sabine fit a new harness to existing donkey tack. Since AWOL bought its sewing machine we continue to make these from locally bought materials but it is now much easier to keep tweaking how they are made in order to improve both fit and durability.

Click Here for the Animal Welfare of Luxor February Newsletter.

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