This week, we wanted to take a moment to thank you – and to share some examples of the difference you have made for donkeys, mules and horses over the past year.
This update is dedicated to you. Everything in it exists because you chose to care about donkeys in need.
Across Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, your generosity has helped save lives, ease suffering and protect working animals that people depend on every day.
PS. We’ll soon be sending a separate update to everyone who adopts a donkey. Donkey adoptions also make thoughtful gifts – perhaps Theodora could be your Valentine, or you could adopt Valentine for someone you love.
Gaza - life saving care in the hardest conditions
In Gaza, our mobile veterinary team has continued working through conflict, shortages and flooding to treat donkeys and horses in desperate need. These animals are often a family’s only means of transport to food, water and medical help.
With the ceasefire holding, many families have returned home to find their animals injured or close to collapse, creating a surge in urgent calls to our team. Your support has meant wounds treated, pain eased and lives saved when there was nowhere else to turn.
In the refugee camps, the number of donkeys has increased sharply, meaning our team are needed more than ever.
The West Bank - mobile vet teams, rescue & recovery
Despite roadblocks and delays, your support has helped to keep our three mobile teams on the road in the West Bank, reaching working donkeys wherever help was needed.
Our head vet, Dr Rakan, leads one of three mobile vet teams in the West Bank.
You’ve also helped improve our hospital in Nablus, including a new surgical space, and ensured rescued donkeys arriving at our Arrana centre receive proper veterinary care and a nutritious diet. Animals that arrived weak and malnourished are now healthy, active and thriving.
Mahmoud runs our rescue centre in Arrana, in the West Bank.
Egypt - on-the-ground care for working donkeys
In the brick kilns of El Saf, two vet teams - funded by your support - treated more than 2,000 donkeys last year. Painful wounds were cleaned and dressed, lameness was eased, and animals were given immediate relief from exhausting working conditions.
Just as importantly, your support has helped train owners, stockmen and farriers, reducing suffering before it starts, and given veterinary students hands-on experience to improve donkey welfare for years to come.
Our El Saf vet teams have made amazing progress in animal welfare - all thanks to you.
Israel - a safe permanent home for rescue donkeys
At our sanctuary in Israel, your generosity has helped care for 173 rescued donkeys while also improving their home for the future. New shelter, better fencing, improved water access and vital shade now help protect the herd through harsh weather conditions.
You’ve also helped welcome new arrivals – donkeys who were abandoned, and who now have safety, care and a home for life. Recent arrivals included Anat and Arbel, a closely bonded rescue pair, as well as Deborah, who arrived pregnant, and a foal, Theodora, who had suffered a nasty dog bite before reaching the sanctuary.
Pregnant Deborah is being carefully looked after as the sanctuary team prepares for her new arrival.
Thank you Erna for being part of this work, and for everything you continue to make possible through your support - be it adopting a donkey, giving a regular gift, or supporting our appeals.
Thank You
Everything we do is made possible by you. Your donations are helping us to care for all the rescue donkeys at our sanctuaries in Israel and the West Bank. You are also funding our mobile vet teams in Gaza, Egypt and the West Bank, to provide vital veterinary care for working donkeys.
Macaques suffered in meaningless research in Japan to study motivation in people
Mother and infant Japanese macaque living freely PublicDomainPictures.net
In research to study human motivation under aversive conditions, Japanese macaques were subjected to brutal head surgery and killed at Kyoto University, Japan (OH 2026). This inhumane research which had no clinical applicability to people—in whom the information is easily obtained—was approved by the university's animal use committee (approval number 24097).
Two adult Japanese macaques (also known as snow monkeys) were subjected to craniotomy, a highly invasive surgery through the skull, in order to implant a recording chamber using bone cement and screws. Although antibiotics were given after the surgery, there was no mention of any pain relief. After "full recovery", another surgery was done to remove the skull over the target regions of the brain.
The macaques were "trained" to respond to certain stimuli by restricting water availability sufficiently to create a degree of dehydration (thirst) that would 'motivate' them to respond. This inhumane fluid restriction was continued throughout the testing period.
Testing was done using electrodes driven into the brain. Viral proteins were also injected into brain. The tests were done with the macaques restrained in a soundproof dark booth. In order to get a fluid reward, the macaques had to look at a point in space. Puffs of air to the face were used to try to dissuade the macaques from responding in order to test their degree of "motivation". A test drug was injected into the brain to modify the responses. After the testing was done, the macaques were killed under anaesthesia to get brain tissue.
The researchers were using the macaques to try to understand "motivation". The situation in the macaques, however, is not analogous to the situation in humans. The macaques had to endure the stress of captivity in a laboratory, the pain and suffering of invasive head surgery, being without sufficient water for periods of time and, ultimately, death for something of no value to their species and which could easily be determined in humane, ethical studies in human volunteers.
This is a surgical procedure to access the brain. Typically, an area on the head is shaved. An incision is made through the skin and tissues underlying it, down to the surface of the skull, in such a way as to create a flap that can be pulled away to expose the skull. Depending on what type of access to the brain is required, holes may be drilled through the skull into the brain cavity, for example for injections, or a portion of the bone may be cut out in order to implant a bank of electrodes. When done, bone cement may be used to fill in the hole in the skull and the overlying tissues sutured.
We do not believe we need to accept nor expand upon the researchers' reasons or justifications for doing any research involving non-consenting beings such as non-human primates. Any information gained is at an unacceptable moral cost.
Yesterday, Tim and I returned from a whistle-stop 36 hours in Israel, preparing for the relocation of lions Ori and Ben Tzur to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. The lions were tiny cubs when they were rescued by Israel’s Nature & Parks Authority (NPA) in a crackdown on illegally trafficked ‘trophy pets’ that also saw a staggering sixty grivet monkeys seized.
This rescue is another blow against wildlife trafficking and a chance to create awareness about wildlife pets.
We still do not know how long the evacuated lions will be fed and cared for by ADI but anticipate it will be months or even a year away. So, with Ben Tzur and Ori coming to ADIWS as their first proper home for an indefinite period, we agreed it would therefore be in their best welfare interests to remain at ADIWS for life, rather than settle in, build trust with their carers, only to be uprooted for a 15+ hour journey to another location at some point. The South African CITES authority, who we must commend for the speed they have worked on this, also required that the import be to their permanent home. Animal Defenders Wildlife Sanctuary ( ADIWS )
A big project to take on, and one that will impact our other work. However, your support shows it has been the right choice. Hence, we were off to Israel for 36 hours this week.
We have been working intensely since mid-January: hours securing permits, an inspection by the CITES authority and habitat modifications and preparing travel crates in case needed.
We had a very productive meeting with the NPA team, planning the relocation, learning about the characters of the lions, feeding routines and so on. It may not seem as exciting as the actual rescues and relocations, but meetings, planning and coordination are what ensure animals are moved safely. We also got to see a little of their work at a local nature reserve returning vultures and other animals to the wild.
Seeing Ori and Ben Tzur made all of the hard work worthwhile. These two youngsters will be growing up in Africa! Ori is quite shy and Ben Tzur is extremely friendly, confident and looks after Ori. The NPA team said he had brought Ori out of himself.
Sadly, Ben Tzur has been made utterly dependent on humans and craves attention, wanting the social contact he would get from other lions. The traffickers drag the babies from their mothers when they should be suckling and receiving important nutrients and learning from their mothers. When you see people on social media pretending the animals adore them as they crave attention it is a lie. It is learned dependency born of being deprived of the relationships they really need.
But there was a very important first impression seeing Ben Tzur and Ori – these are not tiny babies anymore! They are at least 10 months old, and huge.
At the zoo they are being taught crate familiarisation. Each day they are fed in the travel crates, the doors are closed and they are given treats while inside - you will have seen us doing this as we prepare for a big lion or tiger move. This is the best way, as it enables loading without sedation and means the animals are calm and less stressed during journeys.
We reviewed the process but unfortunately it confirmed the cubs are now too big for these crates. We are looking to resolve this by sending our crates or with construction of new crates in Israel.
We hope this will be a minor setback and not add too much cost to the rescue. I still hope that the move will be before the end of February.
We really need your support for this additional rescue and have a very narrow timeframe to raise the funds needed, including what will be the biggest cost to ADI – feeding and caring for these boys for the next 20 years.
Dear readers I have known this animal welfare organisation for 20 years. They are totally reliable
Three years ago, Patricia Jussen from Heerlen in Limburg Netherlands started an animal hospital in South India.
The country with the most stray animals in the world. Over 50 million!
Patricia chose a place no one else dared to venture into: an old, abandoned rice mill...
Klick on the photos to enlarge
Please donate to Patricia's work
She had been there several times on business and, as a great animal lover, decided that she really wanted to do something about the incredible animal suffering, especially in South India.
With a lot of love, perseverance and her own resources, she created a place where the sheltered stray animals finally received medical care, peace and attention.
The nearest access to medical care for stray animals would otherwise be a 10-hour drive away...
However, her mission grew faster than the walls surrounding her. The hospital soon became too small, as it clearly met a huge need.
Mid-last year, she had the opportunity to rent a larger location. It was also a very old building, had been vacant for over twenty years and in need of complete renovation.
In just a few months, she and her team managed to accomplish a tremendous amount of work. There was no electricity or water, the roofs leaked, and all basic amenities were completely lacking.
A lot of perseverance
Yet they persevered. They built more than half a kilometer (!) of wall to keep the dogs safely inside, created kennels, a puppy ward, a special area for paralyzed dogs, kitchens, and restrooms.
What she and her enthusiastic team have achieved in such a short time is truly remarkable, but it also means that her budget has now been exhausted, while the work is unfortunately not yet finished.
Urgently needed
Additional kennels are urgently needed. Moreover, medical costs are obviously skyrocketing, but Patricia refuses to consider a "patient freeze"...
There is also a great need for a separate section for dogs with mange, where they can be washed safely and then recover in the warm sun.
Every year they treat more than 750 sick and/or injured stray animals and more than 200 dogs stay there permanently.
They also deliberately take in highly contagious dogs to prevent the spread of diseases such as canine distemper and rabies in the city.
They also sterilize and castrate as many animals as possible, despite the enormous impact on the budget. Of course, all incoming animals are also vaccinated immediately.
Old, blind, and paralyzed dogs are allowed to stay with them forever, and that number continues to grow every year...
Donations are greatly appreciated.
The money is gone, but there is still so much to do
Thanks to the larger location, Patricia and her team can now help even more dogs and other animals in need. But they can't do it alone.
Please help her finish the animal hospital and give these animals – that no one else wants to help – a better future!
Please donate today to this relief effort by depositing it in our bank account:
NL16 INGB 0004 7841 60, payable to Stichting Dierennood, with the reference "Hulpproject 199" (Relief Project 199).
With us, your donation will be put to good use. We don't deduct expenses like salaries, housing, car allowances, or other unnecessary extras.
Target amount: €8,000 - Current status: €660
Thank you so much for your donations!
Feb. 2 - This very special aid project has only been online for a day, and it's already raised €660... Very good, and hopefully, that bodes well!
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