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NYANZA ETHOS AND A FEW OF OUR PAST RESCUE CASES
If
you have come this far into the website, we would like to thank you for your
interest in us and what we do. We are not just a commercial business, once you have visited us you will quickly learn that the predominant heartbeat of Nyanza
is our great love for all our animals.
We have been involved in many welfare and rescue cases over the years and many animals have come to us to be restored to health, have their faith in humanity restored and have their physical bodies rested and healed. Some of the cases have broken our hearts and some have brought us such joy!
We have taken in many animals over the years. You can read about some of the current dogs and cats we have on the farm, and some of their stories, on our small animal page. Some of the others have either passed on or we have been fortunate enough to have found loving homes for them. We are self-funded and our means are not unlimited so if we can find suitable good homes for animals we have rescued we sometimes sadly let them go. It leaves us with a space for the next one who comes along, and of course it is far nicer for an animal to be part of a smaller family and receive more individual attention.
We would like tell you a few of their stories...
Sparky (an Africanis dog) was a stray that was burnt in a cane fire and nearly died. Someone found him and called us. He was unconscious and barely alive. His skin had been burned off in places and everything was so badly infected he smelled terrible. After a long convalescence he recovered but we had doubts anyone would ever want him...he looked like something out of a horror movie. His face was a mask, his ears and nose practically burnt off, his eyes ruined and his body a mass of scars. Luckily some kind people came along and fell in love with him, as ugly as he was, and gave him a wonderful home.
Buffy
Buffy was another dog we
found in a bad way. He had been run over by a car a week before. His owners had
left him to fend for himself
until we went past and spotted him lying in a pile of leaves, sick, in pain and barely able to lift his head. We took him home to Nyanza and tended to his
injuries. His leg was broken and the wounds badly infected, but he was a lovely
dog and under the skin and bones looked like he was part Golden Labrador. Once
he was healed some friends of ours adopted him and took him home. He thrived,
soon
turning
into
a handsome dog and went on to live a long and happy life as a much loved family pet.
Taddie was a tiny black kitten when she was found abandoned, starving and full of
injuries and sores. It looked as if she had been deliberately mistreated. She
had a ruptured eardrum, a blocked tear duct and a host of other problems but was
such a brave little soul she managed to survive them all. Between the tear duct, which caused her eye to run, and the ear drum which gave her
a head tilt and crooked walk, she was never our most beautiful cat but she had
the most endearing way of looking at you and giving a little chirrup of
greeting. She unfortunately ended up losing her sight as well, but still went
on to live happily with us here at Nyanza until we sadly lost her recently at
the grand old age of nineteen.
HORSES
We have helped and rescued horses all over Swaziland.
Some were riddled with ticks, covered in sores and their bones clearly visible through their skin; others were desperately sick or badly mistreated. Not all have had happy outcomes… some were beyond our help but at least we know we did our best for them.
Some of the photos are too traumatic to show here, but Palala was one of the happy stories and we would like to share it with you…
(ku)-phalala means to rescue in siSwati
Palala was an old mare we found in one of the rural areas. Her back was deformed and she was old and sick. Even though she could barely put one foot in front of the other she was being used for transporting bags of cement and maize meal. We had to buy her to get her away. At this stage we thought we would probably have to euthenaze her because she was in such a bad way. When we collected her with the horsebox we did not know if she would survive the trip home and were prepared to put her down on the way home if necessary.
Somehow she made it home and tottered out the horsebox. After one look around her tired eyes lit up, her head went down and she was munching desperately at the green grass, trying to make up for all the years of hunger. She had chronic diahorrea, various infections including a rotten ear, and on top of it all she had so many ticks and other parasites on and in her body they had made her anaemic. For a week after she arrived whenever she lay down she was unable to rise and we would have to lift her. We were worried she would not make it through each day but the survivor in her kicked in and she never looked back.
With her sad story and grateful personality she had a huge fan club of people who loved and spoilt her. She lived happily with us for several years with all her new found friends but eventually her heart gave in and before she had a chance to suffer we gently put her to sleep.
DONKEYS
Burri and Mbali
Donkeys also suffer terribly sometimes and we have had some wonderful personalities on the farm who have come in to be healed and to find a loving home. In winter, when the grazing is poor, cattle and donkeys are often to be found foraging on the side of the road for grass. We found Burri and Mbali after Burri was hit by a car as a two month old foal. He was discovered badly injured and unable to walk. His mother Mbali would not leave him and so was unable to go to look for food or water. They were both starving and dehydrated. We had to buy them from their owner in order to bring them home with us in order for us to treat him and let them both recover from the accident.
Poor Burri has since passed on, but Mbali, who is truly grateful for the new life and shows it with her affectionate nature, has gone on to be one of our star attractions for children visiting the farmyard. Many are the children who have spent hours carefully grooming her and taking her for walks.