Vets in Action provides both veterinary help for donkeys in need and education for their owner.

Rural southwestern Bulgaria is still in high poverty. The farmers work with donkeys as they have done for centuries, letting them pull ploughs, carts with wood, and other loads. Many of the donkeys never have the chance to receive proper veterinary care and often die young because of that.

Vets in Action could not stand idle and watch such a misery: in 2010, in the village square of Banichan, we invited the farmers to bring their animals so that their hooves could be taken care of and their health problems treated. Within a short time, by word of mouth, farmers and their donkeys were queuing up!

We witnessed different medical cases. Due to wrong diet many donkeys had acquire different problems from colic to laminitis. None of the animals had ever received any prophylaxis against internal and external parasites. Feet and hooves care had been provided sporadically and in rare cases. Many donkeys had long hooves that were causing postural problems and severe pain. All of the above had made many donkeys unable to work properly even at a very early stage of their lives.

Thanks to the success of our first campaign the idea of a mobile donkey care team developed. Since then our vets have been providing veterinary and a farrier care to local animals. Our team of professionals visits the animals in 12 villages on a regular basis to provide veterinary and a farrier care.

We help the donkeys with treating their feet and providing a regular trim of their hooves. Often the owners call us when their donkeys are sick or have problems with grazing because of bad teeth. For the owners, our care for the donkeys is free of charge.

The only condition for the owners is that should they have no more use of their donkey they will call Vets in Action so their animal can come and live in our sanctuary. Thanks to the good collaboration with the farmers we now have 60 donkeys under our care that live happy and in comfort among many friends in The Donkey Valley.