Maisha was just one week old when her mother died after fracturing her leg while working in the gold mines of Geita, Tanzania – a region rich in minerals, but deadly for donkeys.
This is the brutal reality for more than 2,800 donkeys in the region, who are forced to work until they collapse – and even then, their suffering continues.
Maisha’s mother died while working in Geita’s brutal gold mines. We must create a sanctuary space to prevent more needless deaths and suffering. Credit: LAZAWO
Day after painful day, the animals haul back-breaking loads of brick, timber and ore from small local gold mines, leaving them with agonizing injuries and diseases that almost always go untreated. Some donkeys collapse from exhaustion – yet still, they are beaten, whipped and forced to continue working.
Thousands of overworked donkeys have nowhere to rest, no time to heal and no escape from their suffering.
Local miners can’t afford expensive machinery, so they use donkeys instead. But these donkeys are treated no differently than machines, relentlessly worked until they break down and simply can’t get up again. While animal welfare laws exist, the authorities are either unwilling or unable to help them, condemning the donkeys to endless torment.
Credit: LAZAWO
Our partner, Lake Zone Animal Welfare Organization (LAZAWO), works across six mines in the region, providing vaccinations and emergency medical care for sick, injured, abused and abandoned donkeys.
But without a dedicated sanctuary space, there is nowhere to keep the donkeys while they heal and recover after their treatment – and the team has no choice but to give the donkeys back to their owners, who put the animals straight back to work, even with open wounds.
The abuse and neglect these donkeys experience is truly heartbreaking.
Credit: LAZAWO
As tragic as Maisha’s situation is, there are countless donkeys with equally horrific stories…
Masanyiwa is a blind, elderly donkey who was abandoned to die by her owner when she could no longer work. They simply stopped feeding her, leaving her to starve alone.
Mateso’s body was ravaged by wounds from poor harnessing and overwork. After treating him, our team had no choice but to give him back to his owner; he was sent back to work the very next day and later developed gangrene.
These are just three donkeys out of the thousands that are suffering right now. Every donkey our team sees in Geita’s mines has at least one injury – every single one.
Credit: LAZAWO
Even after treatment, donkeys are forced straight back into brutal labor. Without a recovery space, they cannot heal, and the cycle of suffering never ends.
But you can help us break it.
We have the land, we have the veterinary team and we have the medical supplies. All we need now is a small sanctuary space where wounded donkeys can finally rest, heal and be treated with compassion, not cruelty.
The sanctuary will be a space of recovery for sick and injured donkeys AND a place of refuge for orphaned and abandoned donkeys like Maisha and Masanyiwa.
This is our opportunity to break the cycle of suffering for thousands of donkeys in Geita, Tanzania.
Credit: LAZAWO
Please donate today and help us build the sanctuary space these donkeys so desperately need.
