Sure you would have read the moral story of ‘a donkey and a dog’ being kept by a man. Dog was a pet, while donkey had to do backbreaking work without reward or recognition. On a day when thieves broke out, the dog barked – the owner was proud of the dog and provided it with delicacies … at a later point of time, donkey watched thieves trying to enter through the backyard – it brayed and brayed hard – the owner only got annoyed at the noise at odd hours – took a stick and gave a harsh beating to the animal – moral being – one should do only duties assigned … Not always as reported in Daily Telegraph of an incident in Lancashire. Mary Beetham is a resident of Preston, Lancashire and in June in early hours, her fostered donkey Jaffa began braying loudly raising the alarm. The retired teacher aged 73, jumped from her bed to see what the commotion was and “saw someone run down the drive” clearly spooked by the noise. The noise apparently was the reason and the would-be burglar didn’t manage to get away with any goods from the home. Ms Beetham had fostered Jaffa three months previously, after he was rescued in Ireland and tended to at The Donkey Sanctuary in Devon.
She is reported as telling that the animal was in a state of distress and required calming down – the owner stayed with the animal for 30 minutes calming it down. Ms Beetham, who has been looking after donkeys, alerted the police the next day. “Jaffa was very quiet and sleepy, he was shaken up. But he’s fine now. He just shouts at the postman now,” she said. The foster carer has been taking care of donkeys for 17 years and said Jaffa had been badly treated before being rescued in Ireland but “brought back to life” by The Donkey Sanctuary, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of donkeys.
There is a small island with 24,000 people, 6,000 donkeys, and just two cars. It is Lamu, just off the coast of Kenya, is known as the donkey capital of Africa. It is a place where there are donkey traffic jams, the largest humanitarian organization is a donkey sanctuary, and donkeys are the key to earning a living.
Lamu Island is a part of the Lamu Archipelago of Kenya; Lamu Old Town, the principal inhabited part of the island, is one of the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlements in East Africa. The island is linked by boat to Mokowe on the mainland and to Manda Island, where there is an airport. There are no roads on the island, just alleyways and footpaths, and therefore, there are few motorized vehicles on the island. Residents move about on foot or by boat, and donkeys are used to transport goods and materials. In addition to Lamu Town, there are three villages on Lamu Island: Shela, Matondoni and Kipungani.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
27th June 2014.
