By Faizan Jaleel (Programme Development Manager for Brooke India)
27 Apr 2010

It was horrible to see the fresh firing mark on the donkey. I felt a certain convulsion in my stomach and a lot more grief about the wounds caused by the firing inflicted on this small, docile and pretty donkey. He was unable to move properly, and I could feel the same pain, but was helpless. I immediately asked for the owner of the donkey and resolved to give him a piece of mind, in fact, to be honest the initial thought that crossed my mind was to give him the same wound and ask him “how does that feel mate?”

I was informed that the owner lives in a nearby village and we went there. By the time (it took around an hour to locate the owner and reach him) I reached that donkey owner, my initial thoughts were diluted, but the sense and feeling of immense pain and grief remained. I reached the owner with quite a conviction of intending to have a strong word with him – but as soon as I saw a depleting figure of a malnourished and crumpled old man with a stick to support him – I  mellowed down.

 
On reaching him I asked: “why have you done this to your donkey, don’t you understand the pain that he is in? What if someone puts you through such a treatment?” The answer both startled and shocked me, with tears dropping from his eyes, he explained: “Saheb (Sir), these animals are a source of my livelihood, whatever I do, I do it for their betterment. You have come just a month before and we have been rearing these donkeys for decades and that too without any support. There are no doctors for these animals – Saheb (Sir) there are no doctors even for us here! Give us an alternative and we won’t do it (firing), it’s our helplessness that leads us to do this, not our will.”

I have no words to say and found myself wanting for words.

This is the situation that I have encountered many times in my tenure with Brooke India. I felt happy for the fact that we have started to work in this remote area of Kurnool (a district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, through our partner, Blue Cross of Hyderabad). We hopefully will be able to treat as well as build the capacity of local veterinarians to treat cases, and hope they can help us stop more owners inflicting the immense pain of these harsh traditional methods on their animals. I, and the team working in the area, hope to intensify our efforts in creating awareness among the very poor donkey owners about various management and welfare related issues.

I hope and wish that such a case will never come in sight again, till then we can hope and isn’t it ‘hope’ the thing that helps us stick to our resolve of envisioning a world that’s free of pain and suffering for animals.

Thanks to the Brooke for reaching where no one has reached before – the path less travelled is the path for us and we are satisfied, at the end of the day, that we have reduced some suffering and a little pain from this painful and agonising world for working animals.