Foal dies by car hit – 4th of November 2009

This evening, just after 7 pm, we received a phone call from a weeping lady. She had just hit a little donkey with her car and asked us to come for help immediately. We arrived at the scene and met the crying lady. Lying on the street was a badly injured foal, about 6 months of age. Although the lady did not drive speedy at all, she had not been able to avoid the accident. It was dark and the foal and its mother suddenly crossed the unlit road. The foal was severely wounded. Blood was coming out of his little ears and he was barely able to breath. Too bad we had no other choice than to release him from suffering as quick as possible by euthanasia. The donkey mother watched us from a little distance. She was stamping her feet, aggressively breathing and cried heart rending for her child. For now we put the dead foal in the bushes alongside the road, to give the mother opportunity to take leave of him. She will not only grief for her child, but will also suffer painful milk stagnation. Of course we will arrange that the dead foal will be removed later on.

We want so badly to undertake a catching project to catch all donkeys that are still out on the streets of Bonaire and bring them all into our sanctuary. That is the only way to avoid horrible scenes like tonight. We already made a detailed plan to do so, but unfortunately we are not able to pay for the implementation ourselves. Since the donkeys are very wild, we need to hire vets that are authorized to shoot them with anaesthetic arrows. Moreover we even need to hire a helicopter to do this from the air when necessary. We handed this plan, including budget calculation, to the authorities of Bonaire and asked them for a grant. We hope they will realize the importance of this plan for both animal welfare ánd road safety on Bonaire.

Ahlmann helps us out of a scrape – 25th of November 2009

For our daily activities, we often use our old loader. For example to move over heavy pallets full of horse food, to transfer big hay bales or sadly sometimes to carry a dead donkey. Now we are working on our forced relocation, the loader is also frequently used for many building jobs. This machine, made by Ahlmann, is already 27 years old, but still working fine. At least, until recently a cylinder broke down. Of course that was to be expected, after such intensive use for years on end. However a big problem for us, as we can simply not do without this loader! Fortunately a new cylinder could be made especially for us, but there was quite a ‘price-tag’ on it. We were in a blue funk, as we did not know how to get the money needed for this. Luckily Ahlmann Nederland helped us out of a scrape. They were willing to sponsor this cylinder for the biggest part, so we only had to pay for a small part of it. Our loyal helper Johan, who often does practical jobs for us in the Netherlands, managed to get the cylinder on the first flight to Bonaire. Cor, another supporter of our sanctuary, arranged that we did not have to pay freight costs to the KLM. So our old loader is already fixed and at work again, thanks to Ahlmann Nederland, Johan and Cor!

decided with pain in our hearts that we would call upon the vet immediately this morning, to have him put to sleep and stop his suffering. But there was no need for this anymore, because he already died during the night. It is heart rending to realize that this lovely little creature would have been frolicking around if people had just left him with his mum.

So we gave him foal milk through a feeding tube many times a day (and night!). Too bad the milk came out at his back, just as fast as we put it in him at the front. The diarrhea just gushed down his legs. Of course we washed him off continuously, to prevent him from flies laying eggs in his fur. Despite all our good care and love, no progress was being made. The foal had his head hung down, could hardly stand upright and his eyes had become completely spiritless. Therefore yesterday evening we

Starving foal died – 4th of December 2009

Last sunday, the 29th of November, we were called by the porter of National Park Washington Slagbaai. At the entrance of the park he had found a little donkey foal without his mother. Of course we immediately went over there to take the little donkey to our sanctuary. We were shocked by what we found. This foal was completely starved and dehydrated! Because of his long hair he seemed quite what, but under his fur you could feel all his little ribs and other bones. The poor little donkey could barely stand on his legs. Considering his teeth he had to be about four months old, but as a result of undernourishment he was way too small for his age. We suppose this foal was taken away from his mother by people, who kept him at home as a ‘pet’. Sadly we know that this happens more often on Bonaire. Moreover we could tell from his hooves that he had not been able to walk around. When a donkey walks, his hooves will continuously be weared out. The hooves of this foal were grown way too far, so probably he has been tied up on a rope for weeks on end. So beyond all other misery, also his little feet were hurting him very much. Because he lacked mothermilk and other proper feeding, the foal was already at the point of dead. Maybe that the people therefore put him back on the streets again. At the sanctuary we tried to bottle feed the little donkey. However he was even to weak to suckle.