AKI grant helps dogs, horses, and donkeys at the COALA-Senegal refuge
COALA (Coalition for the Welfare of Animals in Senegal), a 1st time AKI grantee, runs a refuge for street dogs and abused or abandoned cart horses and donkeys in the greater Dakar area. Located in Bambilor, roughly 50 km outside of Dakar, the refuge currently is home to 8 horses, 2 donkeys, and about 25 dogs.
COALA takes in street dogs who are in grave danger or in ill health, abused or otherwise unlikely to survive on the street. The horses and donkeys are cart animals who have been abandoned because they can no longer work (usually their hooves or legs are permanently damaged) or, in some cases, they were abused.
COALA's grant project, Keeping the dogs cool and dry and the horses footloose, improved the infrastructure for the dogs, horses, and donkeys at this Senegal refuge and involved three separate construction activities.
In Senegal, from July to November, the heat and humidity are very high, and the heavy rainstorms damaged the roof over the dog kennels, where COALA keeps sick and injured dogs, mothers with their puppies, and newcomers, who need to be introduced to the rest of the dogs slowly. Also, the roof over the storage area, where food, medicine, and supplies are kept, and where food is prepared, has rusted and has holes.
COALA's grant project replaced the roofing over the dog kennels and storage area to keep them dry during the rains. COALA completed the roof first and wrote, "Thanks to Animal-Kind, we are starting the rainy season with a brand new roof -- what a relief!"
The other dogs at the refuge have free run of the property. Especially in the summer, they dig holes in the sand to get relief from the heat. Unfortunately, this means the dogs get infested with mango worms.
COALA's grant project created a tile terrace to give the dogs a cooler place to lie down during the heat of the day. Lying on concrete rather than sand will decrease the infestations of mango worms.
The horses at the refuge are old and lame but they're all males and ungelded and some are quite feisty. To keep them safe, they're tied up.
With the AKI grant, COALA built sturdy wooden stalls for the horses using durable wood beams anchored by concrete beams. The horses no longer have to be tied up.
COALA President and refuge manager, Aliou Diallo, supervised the construction work and it's thanks to him that it went so smoothly. Tiphane, General Secretary of COALA wrote to us, "Thanks to AKI for supporting small associations and projects such as ours -- I'm so glad that you exist."
