Gifts in Action
The difference a brick kiln clinic can make…
Mobile vet teams often set up regular clinics in the brick kilns – which are punishing environments for working animals and their owners who work long days carrying heavy loads.
A Brooke clinic was organised recently in the Meerapur brick kiln in India. Our vet and animal health team vaccinated about 20 animals against tetanus, four animals were treated for diarrhoea and several animals were treated for eye problems, wounds and lameness. All other animals working at the kiln were given a general health check.
Atar Singh’s mare – Rani, was one of the animals the team treated during their visit. The mare had a deep wound on her leg from an accident with a vehicle, and was clearly very distressed. The team treated Rani with painkillers and antiseptic cream, and dressed the wound carefully. Atar was grateful to have received such care and compassion for the mare, his only source of income, and promised to follow the guidance given by the Brooke team on aftercare.
As well as treating animals, the team had a discussion with a local man who clips the animals’ hair in the summer, and gave him training on good welfare practices to follow whilst clipping horses and donkeys – such as avoiding using painful restraining techniques, and using quality blades to prevent cuts and infections.
The mobile vet team manager Mr. Sanjay also ran a session with the owner of the brick kiln to discuss good animal welfare practices, and inspired him to contribute to the next tetanus vaccination camp at the kiln. Mr. Sanjay commented ‘The brick kiln owner is very motivated by the Brooke team’s work. His awareness will definitely make a difference to the condition of horses and donkeys in this area as an aware person can never encourage overloading or overworking.’