Jamie Gartside BVMS MRCVS Tay Valley Veterinary and Equine Centre, Whitefriars Crescent, Perth
Tel 01738 621415 www.perthvets.co.uk.
GHDT Clinic at Sanbel Kunda
The West African coastal country of The Gambia is a narrow strip surrounded by larger French speaking Senegal. It has a magnificent shoreline which is becoming a popular package tour destination. The country stretches North and South of the Gambia River for two hundred miles or so inland, as wide as allegedly could be controlled by a naval boat on the river. Horses and donkeys are a relatively new introduction to the culture being imported from Northern Saharan countries and neighbouring Senegal over the last 40 years.
The charity TAWS in association with The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust (GHDT) recently presented a conference with the aim of promoting better management/improved performance in working animals in the developing world. In addition to Gambian animal health workers and ministry officials, delegates attended from many African nations including Kenya, Mali, Mauretania and Nigeria as well as representatives from many UK based equine charities. The delegates received a warm welcome and generous hospitality from the Gambian hosts.
Speakers included veterinary surgeons from Liverpool and Glasgow vet schools and charities including The Donkey Sanctuary, WSPA (World Society for Protection of Animals) and TAWS. I was asked to contribute by speaking on the equine disease “strangles”, the equivalent of streptococcal throat in people. I have experience dealing with outbreaks in equine practice and as a veterinary adviser to the British Horse Society Scotland I assisted with the production of the STEPS guide, a copy of which was included in the delegate packs.
My talk presented an overview of strangles and how it spreads, including the adaption of the bacteria to cause the persistent carrier state and the problems this gives in causing new outbreaks. The African situation is of course very different from our own but parallels can be drawn and the basic principles of limiting nose to nose contact and avoiding shared water and feed troughs applies. Simple preventative measure could include taking a bucket to market and filling from a stand pipe rather than using the communal trough. People and equipment are important in the transmission of strangles and the awareness of the need for personal hygiene to avoid health workers and animal handlers being complicit in the spread applies equally in Africa as it does in Scotland. Since aerosol transmission is less than 100m and possibly as little as 10m, it is possible to contain an outbreak within a yard. I illustrated this with the description of an outbreak in Perthshire where strict application of basic bio-security principles prevented the spread between adjacent stable blocks. It is uncertain what causes some animals to become carriers but stress and immune-suppression could be an important factor. In Africa undercurrent issues such as parasitism and malnutrition are common. The economics of the family often depend on the working equine so the pressure to bring animals back into work is large. This of course would raise the risk of spreading disease and may contribute to an increased push towards development of the carrier state.
It’s not clear exactly how common strangles is in The Gambia or Africa generally since there is little or no diagnostic facilities available and data collection is patchy at best. The perception amongst owners is that it is common, though a lack of awareness of the signs can lead to other causes of respiratory disease being classed as strangles. A study in Lesotho by RVC students is currently collecting blood samples to accurately assess the actual incidence. Early evidence suggests an incidence of 1 in 10 positive. It may be more common in countries with higher rainfall rather than the hot dry Saharan countries since the bacteria is destroyed outside the horse by strong light and dry conditions.
Other presentations included diseases such as trypanosomiasis and epizootic lymphangitis which we are spared in Scotland but also African Horse Sickness which causes huge losses in Africa and has the potential to spread in Scotland since transmission is by biting insects such as the midge. Internal parasites like worms are a problem worldwide, though the UK associated problems of colic and diarrohea are not as common in Africa where debility and weight loss are the main signs. The emerging problem of drug resistance in the UK is not relevant to the African situation where the use of anthelminitics is sparse. Research is continuing into a recently recognised fatal neurological disease of donkeys which has killed donkeys at the GHDT centre in recent months. A presentation from a PhD student from the RVC London gave an overview of what is known to date and while in Gambia vets from Glasgow took brain and spinal cord samples from recent cases in an attempt to find out more about this disease.
Donkeys at Sambel Kunda - The jennies and yougsters run free returning to their own family huts at night
Heather Armstrong founder of the GHDT with the equine studies distinction graduates
Following the conference on the coast visiting delegates were given the opportunity to visit the GHDT clinic at Sambel Kunda an 8 hour journey by road and boat up the Gambia River. The road along the South side of the river is almost impassable so to get to the clinic we first had to cross the river then travel up the North side before crossing back. The old port is a chaotic jumble of shabby warehouses and throngs with hawkers selling drinks and peanuts, brightly patterned cloth and fake Rolex’s. Just before the port lies the rusting wreck of Caroline, the 1970’s pirate radio ship relocated to spend its last years as a night club. Once across, the road is tarmac and runs fast and parallel between the river and the Senegalese border. The land is different now, open savannah woodland with wide spaced baobab and thorn trees. Occasional villages, mud walled huts and brush wood roofs sit behind thorn fences to keep out the hyenas. A hundred miles or so and the road is left to travel through wet paddy fields to the river and then into small boats. Ours sprung a leak which caused us concern, there are crocodiles here, one recently took a beach dog from outside the hotel in Banjul, but our guide just casually plugged the hole with soap and we made the landing place. The river is tidal even this far up and it was quite a pull up to the landing stage. Finally land cruisers appeared and we were conveyed to the village.
Banjul old port
The clinic was set up by Heather Armstrong and her sister Stella Marsden nearly ten years ago. The resident staff provide veterinary advice and treatment to the donkeys and horses from neighbouring villages and educate schools and farmer groups about all aspects of care and management. They also travel to the local markets (lumos) to treat and educate off site. Visitors are made use of in whatever ways their skills lie, even just in talking at the village school. By the second day a make shift theatre had been set up on the kitchen table with instruments boiled in a pan to operate on and neuter the compound dogs. The meagre facilities were outweighed by the eminence of the visiting surgeons and nurses in our group and I barely made reserve anaethetist . Frequently burn injuries are presented as animals are often tethered close to open fires to keep insects away, these wounds are slow to heal and controlling infection is a real problem. Crippled animals are often abandoned if their owners are unable to afford treatment and some find their way to the clinic. Recently an unexplained neurological disease has been killing donkeys and vets from Glasgow and Liverpool sampled some recent cases. A post mortem in the bush is a raw process but necessary if the cause is to be found. With no disposal process on hand the body is left for the hyenas, not much remains in the morning.
GHDT resident manager Anna Saillet with Molly whose extensive burn injuries required skin grafts and months of nursing
Jamie Gartside and Prof Ramsay Hovell (TAWS) demonstrating cart balance with a scale
All villagers as well as visitors were encouraged to join in a practical workshop painting bones and joints on to horses and donkeys to show how correctly fitting the harness around underlying anatomy is important for both efficiency and in the prevention of harness sores. A demonstration of how correct loading of a cart can achieve an easier and therefore more productive working day was brought into sharp relief with direct audience participation in the role of the draft animal.
The Village Imam painting bones on a pony
Ann Varley - British Driving Society and past British Champion demonstrating correct positioning of a britching strap on a painted donkey
Dr A Doumbia (SPANA Mali) and Prof Ramsay Hovell (TAWS) demonstrating use of a chest harness
It is easy to see the problems facing developing countries such as The Gambia as overwhelming but through education and by encouraging practical and easily implemented solutions long term change is possible. The enthusiasm and pride of the Gambian students on their graduation day was a positive signal that with support progress can be made. The energy and commitment of TAWS, GHDT, the vet schools and the other charities is a move against poverty and lack of education and a step on the journey to improving the welfare of equines worldwide.
To find out more about TAWS and the GHDT contact TAWS Hardwick Court Farm, Hardwick Lane, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 0AD or visit www.gambiahorseanddonkey@org.uk