Vet from Down Under helps Gujarat donkeys rise up

VADODARA/ ANAND: Residing on the outskirts of Anand’s Bakrol village, Sanjay Vanzara, a nomadic tribal, employs a drove of 10 donkeys to earn him a livelihood from the nearby brick kiln. But he was clueless as why his herd kept falling sick frequently.
However, that was until two months ago. Sanjay has now started noticing that the health of his beast of burden improve considerably, after a project has been providing them nutritious yet cheap green fodder.
Unfortunately, donkeys, the animals that carry the burden of human livelihood, but are often overlooked in the equestrian world. However, in the rural heartland of three districts of Central Gujarat, these donkeys, often at the receiving end of many a cruel joke, are getting their due.
The hydroponic project that has kicked off with 50 families who own nearly 400 donkeys in Anand, Kheda and Vadodara districts has started yielding results.
In Gujarat, Ode, Vanzara, Vadi and Kangasia communities are major donkey rearing families. These communities, which are nomads, work at brick kilns. Since, such kilns are often located in the interiors, most of the time, donkeys are fed dry fodder and waste of rice bran.
“During summers, due to use of rice bran, equine start suffering from colic, metabolic disorders and infection in intestine. The animals suffer from abdominal pain which at times can also be fatal. In some cases, they die within 2 to 3 hours,” said Dr Kaushal Suthar, who after completing his bachelor in veterinary science and animal husbandry from Anand Agriculture University (AAU) had gone to Australia to finish masters in animal science from Charles Sturt University.
“In cities, you can locate ten clinics if your pet falls sick. But finding a veterinarian is a tough task for donkey owners. Many of them are ready to pay Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per visit. But, since they work at brick kilns, some even 20 km away from villages, the veterinarians are not ready to pay such visits,” said Suthar.
Unlike his batchmates, who just wanted to get government jobs, Suthar had returned to his native to work as a veterinarian in rural Gujarat that is facing dearth of experienced hands.
As project head of Brooke India, which works for welfare of equines and the community, the 33-year-old started the hydroponics fodder promotion project.
“My team started providing them trays and maize seeds. They had to simply soak the seeds, spread them inside the trays, sprinkle water frequently and within seven days the fodder would be ready,” said Suthar.
As donkey owners, mainly from Anklav taluka of Anand district, started seeing improvement in health of their animals, more farmers have started replicating this practice.
“Our target is to cover 5,000 animals under this project next year,” said Suthar.