“We found Elvis near a dump. He was lying limp, but he was breathing and even though we don’t have space for donkeys at the shelter, the condition that Elvis was in, we decided that we couldn’t leave him there,” Nabeeha Ayaz from the animal shelter Todd’s Welfare Society in Pakistan says about the donkey they found. They named him Elvis.
They brought him back to their shelter, where a veterinary expert assessed the health of the donkey. “The condition that we found him in was really terrifying. He had broken leg bones, he had wounds all over his body and cataract in both his eyes,” Nabeeha says.
This nine-year-old donkey was probably thrown off from a vehicle by his owner. The side that he fell on was severely wounded. The owners didn’t even spare time to get Elvis off the car. “He was just thrown off the loader and discarded like trash,” Nabeeha sighs. The donkey had sustained multiple internal injuries.
Nabeeha said that it was strange that Elvis was eating and trying to sit and do things on his own when he arrived at the shelter: “Usually when you see animals that are badly wounded, you don’t think they will survive. You don’t think that he even has the willpower to fight whatever is going on inside his body.”
A lot of people from all over the world were praying for the recovery of Elvis. Sadly, two days after they found him, he passed away from the brutality he had to endure in his life.
Donkeys are used as things
Elvis, like many other donkeys in Pakistan, was treated like an object and not a living being. Donkeys serve humans all their life by lifting heavy objects for them on their backs. As soon as they fall sick or cannot serve any longer due to old age, they are thrown away and left to die.
“Donkeys are a huge source of income for the people in Pakistan. They are used to transport people and construction material from one place to another,” Nabeeha shares with The Animal Reader.
Todd’s Welfare Society received many rescue requests for donkeys in the past, and the ones they rescued were usually found near trash sites. This alone reveals an ugly reality of how humans treat animals who have earned them their livelihood for decades.
“And if they can’t work for you anymore, you just discard it. You don’t give consideration to the fact that they (donkeys) have provided for you for so long and that they have been with you for so long. This is how people treat animals,” Nabeeha says with sadness in her voice.
Watch the full interview with Nabeeha Ayaz from Todd’s Welfare Society here:
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