It has long been SHADH’s dream to build a series of “resting stations” for working donkeys in local towns and villages and to use these as a base for free veterinary clinics in order to reach out to many more of the thousands of working donkeys in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

In the spring of 2005, Lucy began looking for a suitable site for the first resting station and by May had been offered a small area owned by the Municipality in the nearby Arab town of Tayibe. After the initial scorn, some of the local officials and residents began to show enthusiasm and made it clear that they wanted the project to begin as soon as possible. So with that challenge in mind and as a pilot to ascertain the need for resting stations across the country, the Tayibe station was constructed and finally opened in July.

As this was a brand new experience for SHADH and indeed for Israel and the Palestinian Territories, no one could have envisaged just how popular our mobile clinic/farriery and harness repair services at the station would be.  However these have already exceeded all expectations, with services including wound care, castration, hoof care and harness repair being gladly taken up by Israeli and Palestinian owners of working donkeys, mules and horses in desperate need. As word spreads across the border in Palestine, many owners are travelling up to 100 miles with their donkeys and making the, at times, risky crossing just to be able to have their injured or sick animal treated by the team.

Additionally, it has been discovered that many of the leg problems suffered by donkeys and horses are a result of their unprotected hooves continuously pounding on hard surfaces and so a shoeing service has been included. 

Another major problem is that some of the animals are undernourished due to their teeth being in such a state and they are therefore unable to chew and digest their already rationed food properly. An equine dentist therefore joins the veterinary surgeon at the clinic from time to time to rasp the donkey’s teeth in order to reduce these problems.

Such has been the outstanding success of this project that, with the aid of a mobile clinic, Lucy and the team began visiting some of the many towns and villages on both sides of the Palestinian border where it is not possible to set up a resting station but where there are many hundreds of working donkeys, mules and horses needing help.  Demand is continuing to grow and with your support, SHADH number of towns and villages in which it is able to work, on both sides of the Palestinian border.