Azis has been part of our outreach program for a few years.

Azis comes from the village of Debren where he has lived for all of his 19 years. There used to be more work for him when his owner farmed plenty of tobacco but over the years the business has gone down and so has Azis’s health. Lack of activity has resulted in arthritis, amongst other things.

Every time we stop by his home, we find Azis alone. The lady who owns him now lives by herself and has a job in the nearby town. But the last time we visited, she was at home and we talked about retiring Azis to the Valley.

The state of his hooves is just one of hers and our concerns.

The bigger one is that Azis lives in a narrow, damp space which hasn’t helped with his mobility issues one bit. He has gotten extremely stiff. So we get a phone call to arrange for his pick-up for his new home.

We are not off to an auspicious start. The donkey loses his balance easily, so we have to come up with an idea.  We first witness, then take part in something we have only heard about until this point – heavy lifting, employing the neighbor’s crane. 

Azis is back on his feet and we give him some time to find his balance again.

Our vet gives him a painkiller to prevent any pain or discomfort during transportation.

He also treats his fresh scrapes. The earlier, the better!

Welcome to the Donkey Valley, Azis! At least the trip was uneventful.

While brushing Azis, one of our regular volunteers realizes that there are more wounds hiding under patches of hair.

They seem to be the result of prolong exposure to damp while the donkey spent days lying down on the same side. We spot scars from older wounds of the same kind as well.

After we shave the hair and examine the wounds thoroughly, we are content to treat them locally – they look worse than they really are.

Azis is a beautiful donkey and it is only a matter of time for him to return the luster of his hair as well as his good mobility.

We hope to be instrumental in giving him back his life – or even better, a happier one!