31st October 2005
A lifesaving “donkey train” organised by leading British equine welfare charity, the Brooke, is fighting against the clock to get desperately needed aid to earthquake survivors stranded in an inaccessible part of Pakistan’s devastated Balakot area before the winter snows.
The donkey train comprises 40 working animals, hired by the Brooke along with their owners who have travelled from areas unaffected by the quake. Since 21 October, it has been ferrying food, tents, blankets, clothes and medicines from Kholian near Balakot up treacherous mountain paths to Ghnol Army Camp, where soldiers from the Pakistan army have been distributing the aid to needy families.
The donkey train makes a daily four-mile trek to the camp: the terrain is so harsh it takes the animals four hours each way.
Brooke vets are accompanying the train, treating sick and injured working equines and livestock they encounter, as well as monitoring the donkeys themselves. Such is the human need in the area that they have also found themselves treating quake survivors’ children for non-serious problems, including coughs, flu, fever and minor injuries.
Meanwhile, three Brooke mobile veterinary clinics have begun working at Balakot and two other communities hit by the quake, Shinkiari and Muzaffarabad. So far they have treated more than 2,000 working equine animals and livestock which, in many cases, are among the only possessions earthquake survivors have left.
“We’re heartened by the impact our donkey train is having,” says Brooke CEO Mike Baker “but this remains a race against time. The region’s severe winter weather is likely to hit by the end of November but our donkeys will try and keep the aid flowing for as long as possible. We are working with local relief authorities and the Pakistan army and the donkey train will move to other areas as needed.
Our three mobiles are operating from dawn to dusk and people in Balakot have asked our team to help with the building of temporary shelters for their animals - work that will commence soon.”
To view pictures of the Brooke's emergency quake appeal click here
Editors Notes:
The Brooke has worked in Pakistan since 1991, and is now the largest animal welfare organisation in that country, helping 250,000 working horses, donkeys and mules across five regions in 2004 alone.
Bringing aid to communities ravaged by disasters is not new to the Brooke. In 2001 it sent emergency veterinary teams to the Gujarat region of India in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and, in 2002, its Pakistan-based vets tended to stricken animals of Afghan refugees in camps on the Pakistan border.
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