How we're helping Twala Trust in Zimbabwe: Doggy Tuesday & more
- Animal-Kind International
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Twala Trust in Goromonzi, Zimbabwe relies on Animal-Kind International supporters for the funds to purchase dog food for the Doggy Tuesday dogs. Beyond that, as a Partner Organization, Twala can use AKI funds for their priority needs, whatever those may be.
Usually the priorities are the Waggley Tail Club dogs (the senior dogs at the sanctuary), infrastructure repairs, medicines and other vet supplies, sanctuary supplies, and food for the many animals at the sanctuary: dogs, horses, donkeys, monkeys.
But always, Doggy Tuesday, is the top priority, when the local community comes to the Twala sanctuary with their dogs, sometimes with cats, for food and vet care. Doggy Tuesday has taken place every Tuesday for 12 years. Thousands of dogs' lives have been changed thanks to Doggy Tuesday and Twala Trust.
The 1st Doggy Tuesday of 2026 was on January 6. That same day, we heard from Sarah:
"Doggy Tuesday is in full swing. We've registered 9 new dogs for the programme today, taken in one elderly surrendered dog, 2 sterilsations, a fractured hind leg, a puppy for feeding, cleaned a bite wound on The Dreaded Sprinkles (my goodness, she loves to fight), and had a dog with a horrible infection under his tail. Thank you for all you do to keep it happening. I am truly grateful."
From the start of the 2026 Doggy Tuesdays in January to this recent Doggy Tuesday in March (photos below), they have all been very busy Doggy Tuesdays!
Of course dogs can't live by food alone and at Doggy Tuesday, they also receive vet care: vaccinations, parasite prevention, and of course, spay/neuter, as well as more intensive care if needed. And many do. Twala Trust typically treats dogs with fight wounds, injuries, TVT, and tick-borne illnesses.
After this Doggy Tuesday in March, once Sarah could get a break, she wrote, "Thank you so much for making it possible to send hundreds of dogs home with full tummies and food to get them through the week. We are so grateful for the support that makes this possible. Animal-Kind International is a generous and constant donor and partner in our community work and we are so fortunate to have the honour of our work being recognised and supported by this wonderful organisation."
We also support whatever Twala needs for their Waggley Tail Club.
Here's the "clinic group," so named because the green building to the left is Twala's clinic. This is where 32 dogs, mostly elderly or disabled, live. But soon the clinic will be moved to another part of the sanctuary and the green building will be turned into dog bedrooms for this group.
We spend a lot of time admiring and talking about the Doggy Tuesday and Waggley Tail Club dogs. But Twala is a lot more than dogs!
Twala is home to two horses, one an ex-racehorse, Spirit, who was rescued from the diamond fields where he had the most dreadful life as a pack horse. He has permanent damage to his back, but after more than a year of physical therapy he's able to move comfortably, although he needs lifelong veterinary care. Sarah wrote, "This was one of the worst rescue scenarios we have ever dealt with. It took 3 months just to get permission to access the diamond mine as it is controlled by the army."
The other horse is a rescued warmblood dressage horse, Griffin, who was in a very abusive situation in southern Zimbabwe. He was initially extremely aggressive, who could blame him! (and since he is enormous, he was frightening), but once he realized he's safe with people who care, he became a gentle boy.
Twala is also home to six donkeys, two of whom came from the Harare SPCA. Bless arrived with a broken leg but made an amazing recovery. Elderly Womble was an abuse case. Blind Buttercup was rescued from a donkey slaughterhouse, which was thankfully closed down. Buttercup was pregnant when rescued and gave birth to Esme at Twala. And in January 2026, two new donkeys arrived at Twala, Victoria and Jean, who were abandoned in terrible condition on a farm.
There's also Zelda the zebra, rescued on Christmas Day after she had strayed into a very high density housing area and was being chased by a mob who thought she would make a good Christmas meal.
Twala's one-eyed mule, Fanta, was rescued from a wine farm where she was used to pull a tourist carriage.
All the equines freely roam around the sanctuary during the day, and then return to their paddocks at night.
Twala is home to 31 cats, most of them surrendered or abandoned. We at Animal-Kind International know that where dogs are treated poorly, cats have it so much worse. And we believe in giving equal time, attention, and funding to cats to help lift their standing.
We talked with Sarah about how cats are treated in Zimbabwe:
"Most rural cats have very little value. They are not fed at all because people think this stops them catching rats, and even getting people to sterilise their cats is an uphill battle. It was the same for the dogs when we started Doggy Tuesday nearly 12 years ago, and this year I really want to push getting as many cats sterilised and vaccinated as possible and hope that people will begin to see the cats as valued members of the household. We have 13 rural cats registered with our feeding and veterinary programme and I am determined to add lots more! An interesting fact about the rural cats of Goromonzi is that we see large numbers of ginger female cats, including very dark ginger tabbies, which is extremely unusual! They make the most wonderful companions, and are such great characters. We have rehomed quite a lot of cats and it is generally acknowledged that Goromonzi cats are superior to Harare cats :)"
Just like Twala Trust, we support them all, dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, mules; all animals have inherent value, apart from the value that humans ascribe to them. And that's just one reason why we help Twala Trust-Zimbabwe.
