A Donkey Sanctuary veterinary team were recently called upon to treat a donkey suffering from horrific injuries following a cruel attack in Delhi, India.

Pushpinder is a migrant donkey owner from Haryana who moved to Delhi in search of work to support his family. One Sunday afternoon, Dr Surajit Nath from the Sanctuary’s Delhi veterinary team received a call from Pushpinder to report a serious injury to his donkey. Pushpinder explained that his donkey had strayed into a neighbouring farmers' field and the farmer had hit the donkey with a spade, causing a shockingly brutal wound on the donkey’s head. Dr Nath immediately went to visit and saw that the poor donkey was bleeding profusely from a large gaping wound on his forehead.

The veterinary team took immediate action and after administering pain killers, sedated the donkey and cleaned the wound with a combination of water and antiseptic solutions. The wound was sutured and a protective dressing was applied, the donkey was then carefully monitored and given fluids to improve his general condition.

With guidance from the veterinary team, Pushpinder worked hard to keep the wound clean and protected and after three weeks was delighted to see that the injury had healed. The donkey is now back at work and Pushpinder will be more vigilant in the future about keeping his donkey away from neighbouring farmer’s fields.

Without the support of The Donkey Sanctuary’s Delhi veterinary team, Pushpinder would not have been able to treat his donkey, jeopardising both his income and the donkey’s life. The estimated population of donkeys in India is about 1.85 million; The Donkey Sanctuary has been working there since 1998, and now works from five centres - Delhi, Ahmedabad, Gwalior, Sikar and Solapur.