Treating Yves’ painful wound
Yves the donkey, from Mali, was suffering from a painful wound on his back and needed to stay at Together for Animals member SPANA’s stables for treatment.
Yves supports his family by working in the Badalabougou rubbish dump in Mali’s capital city, Bamako. He works seven mornings a week transporting waste, which makes it possible for his owner, Chaka, to earn a small income.
Chaka takes good care of Yves, but a problem had occurred due to the homemade harness his donkey was wearing. The harness had started to rub against Yves’ back and this led to a painful abscess developing, which was causing him great discomfort.
Chaka was very concerned about Yves, and took him to the SPANA centre in Bamako for help. Here, the veterinary team cleaned Yves’ wound and applied some soothing cream. They also administered an anti-inflammatory injection to make him more comfortable. Yves would need daily treatment for some time, so he was admitted to the centre’s stables for ongoing care until he had fully recovered.
After having his wound disinfected every day, Yves made a full recovery and was able to go home. Chaka was provided with a safe and comfortable harness for his donkey to replace the old one and was shown how to fit this correctly.
Chaka couldn’t thank the vets enough for the care given to Yves. He said: ‘I need my donkey to earn a living and was so worried when he was ill. Thanks to SPANA, he is now able to come home.’