Donkey business
Lokendra Singh

Donkeys in Rajasthan now have a hospital exclusively for themselves, thanks to "The Donkey Sanctuary", a U.K.-based organisation. The hospital has an ambulance that reaches anywhere in the region to treat the wounded donkeys. The treatment offered is free of cost. The hospital also repairs the carts so that donkeys don’t get hurt while pulling them.

"A donkey costs around Rs 500 to 1,000. It doesn’t look viable to the owners to spend on them for treatment. You can see wounded donkeys straying on the roads here. We provide treatment to the donkeys and also repair the carts pulled by donkeys," said Deepak Tanwar, a veterinarian. The owners of donkeys are more than happy to have such a hospital. They are poor people and find it difficult to spend money on the treatment of the animals.

"Earlier, we had to pay money for their treatment. Just an injection cost Rs 15 and the entire visit to the hospital and medicines used to cost us around Rs 50 to Rs 60. But now we can save that money because of this hospital. We just call the hospital and the ambulance picks up the animal and returns it after treatment," said Subhash, a donkey owner.

The Donkey Sanctuary has already set up similar hospitals in Sholapur (Maharashtra), Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), Delhi and Ahmedabad (Gujarat). It was decided to set up a hospital in the Dundlod areas of Rajasthan after finding out that 75 per cent of the donkeys in India are found in this region. For the poverty-ridden people of Dundlod, donkeys are the only mode of commuting, transportation and income. — ANI





HOME