The lovely team of animal activists in Egypt received a message on the 21st of February 2014 about a horse who had a badly injured leg and a wound on his neck. He has slipped and fallen beneath his own carriage and had become trapped. It was the start of a long journey to save Hamza.
This is an extract of the original message from Facebook:
“This is the message we received online last night. في حصان مدشدش في القاهرة الجديدة…و صحابه ناس فقرة ومش عارفين يتصرفوا…وده رقم سامح هو منتظر حد يتعاون معاه في إنقاذ الحصان …أنا في الشغل مشلولة ومش عارفة أعمل حاجة ….في حد ممكن يروح يعمل أي حاجة ولو محتاج عربية حنلم فلوس ونساعده
There is a horse laying in the street Near AIS – Gate 5 – New Cairo. He has wound under his neck and his leg seems broken. Can you help him?! his owner contact details: Sameh:. Please if you can help them, they are extremely poor and they don’t know what to do with the horse.”
The rescue team organised to rescue the horse in distress. His leg was first suspected to be broken but it is not, only injured. Hamza was successfully bought into TEHP care, assessed and bedded down for the night in a comfy stable with a warm blanket, a good feed and fresh water.
Hamza was initially checked over by a vet who was in the area. His leg was deemed to require special treatment and a semi solid cast. Hamza was then booked in to have the procedure with our regular vet.
Hamza went to the equine hospital for his cast. He was really good the whole time. Dr. Mohamed administered a field sedative to keep Hamza calm and still whilst the cast was put on. The procedure was very quick and Hamza was back on his way to the stables within the hour.
“Hamza saw the vet with a positive outcome. The leg that was caught under the cart when he fell in downtown Cairo will fully recover. Hamza had to wear his cast for 4-6 weeks.”
Hamza’s cast has now been removed and it has been successful.
Hamza
Hamza was even featured in a newspaper article at Elwatan News-http://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/440065#.UygtqOSKHzs.facebook
“The Egypt Horse Project although mainly based in Cairo, is more than willingly to step forward in times of need no matter where the case is. This horse was discovered in Port Said, a place where there is no medical services like TEHP, also a place where it is largely dangerous for foreigners to go. This horse has had a serious cut to his leg and without medical treatment proud flesh has began to grow. This horse was negotiated away from the owner by our lovely contacts in Port Said and as we speak is on a horse box headed to us to arrive within the hour. It will be a long process of time and dedication to heal this wound but with your support I know we can do it!”
This was the Facebook extract of the day Mazloom was due to arrive at our stables. It was a tense while we waited for the pony with the serious leg injury to make his way to our doors.
After an epic journey halfway across Egypt and a massive 5 hour delay due to traffic, Mazloom finally arrives at The Egypt Horse Project stables and into safety.
But when Mazloom arrived he was not what we expected. The sweet and sorry looking pony from Port Said was actually a hate filled monster who wanted nothing more than to hurt us with his teeth or his hooves. Mazloom hated people and the team was terrified of him. But we still had to treat his leg or the infection would kill him. The days were spent bribing Mazloom to tolerate us changing his bandage.
Here is a extract from the Facebook page:
“The newcomer is absolutely downright dangerous. He HATES needles. When he bites he means to cause damage. But he must be on antibiotics to help his leg. We finally got the neighbour to agree to help…. Medicine administered and leg bandaged. Have mercy on the vet who agrees to this case he looks so sweet in this photo.”
The meaning behind the name “Mazloom”
“Mazloom” is what you say to someone when a great injustice has been done to them. Our new beauty has been called Mazloom by his rescuer Manar Saad. By saying Mazloom you hope that the circumstances will change for the better.”
Everything changed when Mazloom came. Our days revolved around what mood Mazloom was in, would he let us treat him now or should we wait another 15 minutes, should we treat him after he has eaten or before? The temperamental and aggressive pony dictated our lives.
This was Mazloom’s leg injury when he arrived. It had gangrene and smelt terrible and was incredibly painful for Mazloom.
A lot of proud flesh had grown in a strange shape on Mazloom’s leg. It wasn’t until the second day we realised why Mazloom was so resentful towards humans.
Inside Mazloom’s horrendous injury someone had tied a thin piece of rope tightly around his leg. This is why the proud flesh was growing the way it was around the injury site. You can really see how bad the gangrene is in this photo.
Removing the string from inside Mazloom’s wound.
The string was doubled around inside Mazloom’s leg. Now that we had removed this there was great hope Mazloom would recover to fully use his injured leg again.
Mazloom arrived on the 19th of September. The healing process was long and difficult. Mazloom was a awful patient, he was mean and nasty and hated us being around him, he just wanted to be left alone. We did leave him alone for the most part of the days as we were afraid of what he would do to us if we put him under to much pressure.
21st of September the leg is clotting and when we remove them it bleeds terribly. Mazloom is not taking well to the needles her requires to prevent infection.
These photos are taken on the 25th of September. By this time the proud flesh is reducing and the flesh is filling in. There is still a lot of bleeding when we clean the area. There is still gangrene present but it is reducing.
Mazloom always has this grumpy look on his face when we have caught him. Although the entire team is afraid of what he is capable of doing to us, I have been spending the afternoons leaning over the menage fence and watching him and trying to get his attention. He doesn’t approach me but turns his rump and walks away most of the time with his ears flat back.
This is taken on the 7th of October. Mazloom now wears a support bandage on his his opposite leg to minimise the stress on his good leg. There is a massive improvement of the wound and the flesh has filled in nicely.
On the 9th of October Mazloom has a visit from an Equine Dentist from the UK, Matthew. He is aged as a 8 year old.
Mazloom has the worst teeth out of all of the horses on the property. He has spent a lot of his life eating trash.
This was taken on the 15th of October.
Look at this face! Can you see a difference in Mazloom?
He has finally found someone he trusts and allows to work with him without showing any aggression. All my afternoons spent watching him and talking to him have paid off. Mazloom trusts me and allows me to care for him.
This photo is taken from the 20th of October.
Mazloom and Me. He has wormed his way into my heart. What a beautiful pony Mazloom has grown into. He whinnies to me each morning and bangs on his stable door each night demanding his blanket be put on him. He is a confident and loving pony now.
Mazloom gets a specialised diet to help him gain weight as due to his teeth problems has always been slow. He gets a special midnight feed and loves the extra attention.
These photos were taken on the 17th of Feburary. The wound has almost entirely healed over now. Mazloom can use his leg like a regular pony and he is now feeling so good he causes a lot of mischief!
Mazloom has gained weight nicely despite his teeth problems and has many friends.
Mazloom feels so much better in himself that he often stirs up the other rescue ponies! Mazloom has gained weight and looks great!
Bayeha arrived at the TEHP stables late one night.
Her owner had abandoned her after she had been involved in a terrible car accident. Thankfully Baheya was found by a kind man in the street who cared enough to take her to the Asuit University to be checked over. Bayeha’s front leg was injured in the accident, she refuses to put any weight onto it.
The vets at Asuit University checked Baheya over but the man who saved Bayeha from the streets was poor and he was unable to afford the operation that Baheya required. The man contacted people he knew could get help for Bayeha. These people were able to get Bayeha from Upper Egypt to TEHP to receive the medical care she needs.
Baheya is a cheeky character even though she has had a tough life living and working on the streets. She was initially weary of the team at TEHP because she has known nothing but abuse in her past life. She has quickly come around though and she is a good patient and a gentle soul.
Bayeha under went her operation under the watchful hands and eyes of Dr Derbala. She stayed at the hospital for over a week to recover under the watchful eyes of the vet team.
Bayeha is now recovering well under the care of the team at TEHP. She is friendly and kind and enjoys spending her days with the younger donkeys in the sun. She will never have to work another day in her life.
Baheya is loving her new life at TEHPBayeha trialling a new leg
The first time TEHP became aware of a issue downtown was status updates on the animal activists page.
They had found a donkey downtown who had a seriously injured hind leg and the owner was beating him and forcing him to continue working. The donkey had to hop along on three legs at a fast pace to please his owner. The pain and distress he was under was apparent. Lucky for the little donkey there was a group of Egyptians who cared enough to stand up to the cruel owner and fight for the poor little donkey.
Facebook extract-
“This beautiful little donkey was found downtown being beaten to work by his owner even though he has a seriously injured hind leg for the past 2 weeks. Mariam, Salwa and George stopped and discussed with the man for 5 hours to save this donkey from such terrible abuse. Mariam’s father so kindly donated the funds to purchase the donkey and release him from the cruelty and Yossra has paid for his transportation to TEHP. The donkey has been called “Ghalban” which means humble in arabic by one of his saviours Mariam.”
Some extracts in arabic from the past few days as Mariam tried to save the donkey-
إلحقوني يا جماعة أنا عند سوق السيارات بقالي 5 ساعات في خناقة مع عربجي حقير أنا وسلوي عبده وجورج طلعت…الحمار ده رجله مكسورة من إسبوعين والراجل بيشغلو علي العربية بثلاث رجول ومطلع عينه من الضرب بشهادة كل الناس …..أرجوكم المساعدة الراجل مش عايز يرحم الحمار ويسيبوا لينا ناخده إلا لما ندفع 1500 جنيه وبالعافية نازلنا ل800 جنيه دفعهم جورج اللي بلغ عن الحالة بس بعد ما وعدته إن حرجعلوا الفلوس بعد يومين …أنا في ورطة في عرضكم وواقفة في الشارع مستنية العربية اللي حنقل الحمار بيها نزلة السمان…..لو حد ممكن يساهم أسد المبلغ ده أو حتي نصه…..Vodafone cash is 01005698459
شكرا لبابا حبيبي المهندس محمد علي عبد العال الذي تطوع بدفع 800 جنيه ثمن الحمار “غلبان” لإنقاذ حياته …. جزالك الله كل خير يا بابا …لو كان الحمار يستطيع الكلام لكان شكرك بنفسه إنك خلصته من عذابه….وشكرا ليسري سيف النصر علي مساهمتها بمبلغ 150 جنيه لتغطية مصاريف النقل. برجاء المساهمة معانا لتوصيل مبلغ رمزي كمساعدة لجمعية The Egypt Horse Projectكصدقة أكيدة وشكرا
ملحوظة : ثمن الحمار أقل من 800 جنيه طبعا لكن إحنا وصلنا للإتفاق ده بعد عناء كبير وبعد عرض كل التسهيلات لكن صاحب الحمار مصمم يا إما يعذبه يا إما يقبل علي نفسه فلوس حرام Vodafone Cash 01005698459
When Ghalban arrived the staff at TEHP immediately unwrapped his injured leg to check the damage. Ghalban was starving and tried to eat the scraps out of the wheel barrow while he was checked over by the team.
Ghalban settled in well at TEHP and quickly became best friends with Mr Donkey. Ghalban had his leg checked over by the vet and was told he will make a full recovery.
Ghalban is under weight so he was immediately started on a new diet that will help him to regain full strength.
Ghalban is very shy from the previous abuse he suffered so the team at TEHP treat him gently in an attempt to regain his trust. But after so many years of abuse Ghalban is used to being beaten and forced to do as he is told even if he is in incredible pain. Ghalban spends a lot of his time just relaxing now and enjoying his freedom while his leg heals. He has a lot of company with other donkeys and likes to doze in the sun at the safety of TEHP.
A few weeks ago Ghalban had recovered enough to have a gelding operation performed on him. This means that he can now spend even more time with female donkeys and the baby donkeys without fear of any unwanted pregnancies or aggression and fighting. Mr Donkey was gelded at the same time to minimise stress as they had each other to recover with.
The latest update on Ghalban is that he is recovering well under the care of the team at TEHP. He is certainly thankful for the project as it has allowed him the much needed time to recover, regain strength and put on weight. Ghalban will never be beaten again or in the hands of a cruel owner. Thank you TEHP for helping the donkeys of Egypt.
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