We arranged to do 12 kiddie T-shirts with the Tantra T shirt company - dogs, cats, and donkeys in 4 children sizes, with printing on the front and back. We will be able to use them for the December sale here in India and fundraising sales in US. There will be kid sizes (high quality T-shirts in 4 sizes), but no adult sizes.

We ordered more meds and supplies for our vet, Dr. Deshpande, who lives at the school, to treat our permanent resident donkeys and have a supply for the emergency cases that come in daily. Many donkeys come back to DDS to get wounds and diseases treated, surgeries done, etc., so we are going ahead and personally paying to start a permanent clinic with the meds and surgical equipment, etc.

The DDS Camp was a huge success. We had over 2,000 donkeys and their owners (about 100) this time, repeat happy customers and new ones. Word is spreading about it and this time we actually had donkeys and owners walk 60 miles, over two days, to get to the camp. The men and boys do not ever ride the donkeys, thank god. So they walk with the donkeys to get to the DDS. Rati and I paid for the food for the men and boys, and green grass for the donkeys, which they rarely get.

Blue Cross of Hyderbad ran out of a lot of medicine that they needed. We had personally bought a bunch in Bombay, as we had a hunch they may run out as they did last time. We still ran out, as never in our wildest dreams thought 2,000 would come.

It was even more impressive as this is their busiest season, it is around monsoon time that they get most of their work. So walking to us and then walking back home, taking off so much time from paying work, was really a great act on their part. We were told few would show up as this is their peak working season. We were expecting less than last time, much less, maybe only 500 donkeys.. boy were we in for a shock! The school, thank goodness, provided volunteers to prepare the meds. Many had to be ground up into worming pastes on site, shots had to be prepared.

This time we got a tetanus case donkey. Had not been at the camp before and had never gotten a tetanus shot. I was surprised that our vet techs had medicine to treat him. Several donkeys came with the disease called Serah. The donkey looks miserable, he stands but his face is a frown his ears flop and when he walks, he walks in circles. They gave those donkeys shots and they seemed to be better. Need to learn more about this disease. There were lots of minor surgeries squeezing out pus from wounds, antibiotic shots, wound dressings, etc. I really got into it this time.

We had three vet techs this time as Dr. Rao and his wife were in Delhi and could not come. All three vet techs he sent were excellent and did as good a job as he did. They too really talked with each owner and discussed each problem they had. Asking questions about nutrition, etc. They were able to speak their languages as we have three languages going - Marathi, Telegu and Kannada. I found out we are close to the border of Mysore so really no one knows Hindi. It is even more foreign to them than English. These are primitive village people with no education. They make very little money with their donkeys. Taking loads of pots, and other goods to villages that have literally no roads at all. Donkeys are their only way of getting merchandise, mail, etc… So all three of these languages are local dialects. Wonderful that the vet techs could talk to them and help them with all their questions and worries.

The most exciting thing that happened was on the day before the camp, the 28th. In the neighboring village to us (we are at Sagroli village, the neighbor is Biloli), the police apprehended and put into jail donkey stealers - men stealing donkeys to take them to the infamous slaughter house across the border in Andra Pradesh.

As soon as we heard the news we went to meet the policemen. They were all so excited we came. I took lots and lots of photos of the police captain, his staff, and the two policemen who actually caught the donkey kid-nappers. They all told the story - at 4:30 am the previous morning, a policeman and his driver were outside and saw 6 men lifting donkeys up into a truck, including moms and babies. Since this is not normal behavior, donkeys are never lifted into trucks, they stopped them and found out they had no bill of sale, etc. They were stealing them, part of a Mafia, huge sums are being paid for donkeys in Andra at the slaughter house. They immediately arrested the men, and took in the donkeys - 24 of them in all. They kept them for three days (max. by law) and notified the small village that if anyone owned these donkeys they had to describe them in detail, where they had left them, and have witnesses to have them returned.

We already had 7 donkeys that were our original permanent residents. Dharma, the female donkey was the first, and the other 6 males, who are all now all in great healthy condition thanks to the school and Dr. Deshpande our permanent live-in vet.

Now we were granted 10 more donkeys from the police station. The paperwork was done after the three day waiting period and they were walked to the sanctuary.

I was in a state of shock when I saw them for the first time. Out of the ten, seven were females, five adult females and two baby females, tiny one or two month old babies with huge long ears.. Luckily the moms and babies were very healthy.

The other three were males. One had no tail at all, one had a genetic crooked foot, all super skinny, all bones, with sores all over their feet. Of course we immediately realized that we had to make a shelter and separate corral just for the females and babies. The males are never castrated. None even at the donkey camps. Only males are used to work..and cannot be castrated till after monsoon season, at the end of Aug/Sept.. Of course Rati and I have to purchase the small ball castrators for our vet. As he was only taught to do and only has big ball castrators. Not kidding they come in different sizes, etc..

Anyways this gives you a rough idea of what we have been going thru.. During the early morning I worked on the DDS house. We now have a phone, and all new mattresses bed sofas with bright orange and yellow Indian cotton covers, a red, yes red, refrigerator, and a generator as power comes and goes all the time. We had eating tables made. Taught cleanliness, how to wash clothes, floors, toilets, etc. to Suresh, our donkey keeper who lives on the property with Dharma and Sharma and the donkeys. Dharma and Sharma are our two new local feral dogs who now stay with us.. brown and white huge eared female dogs.. God bless plastic buckets in all sizes... dog dishes, dog water, donkey water, washing our clothes, washing our dishes.. There would be no way without all the colorful plastic tubs and buckets.. All available locally in the village.

When I shop the whole town comes out to watch. hundreds and hundreds of people.. the weirdest feeling, but they are all friendly and sweet.. Love Bon

For more background on the Vaccination and Deworming Camp, read the Jan '02 Dharma Donkey Sanctuary - Vaccination and Deworming Camp Report and July of 2001.