An abused pregnant mare, rescued by Israeli policemen and the Pegasus Society. Photo: Screenshot.

Video footage of the rescue of a pregnant mare from the severe abuse of its Palestinian owner has been circulating widely on the Internet since its posting on the Facebook page of an Israeli organization devoted to saving equines.

The four-minute clip, filmed by cellphone camera, shows two Israeli policemen first refusing to allow an 11-year-old Palestinian boy from Qalqilya in the West Bank to continue beating the female donkey with a switch, and then summoning a volunteer from the Pegasus Society to come and take the animal to a safe shelter.

Pegasus was founded in 2004 by Zvika Tamuz, of “Moked Hai” (Living Hotline). According to its website,

Zvika has raised horses for more than twenty years. In 2004 he became aware of the phenomenon of horse and donkey abuse in Israel, ever since different animal welfare organizations began referring him cases involving these animals, knowing that he had the know-how and the place to care for them, since he kept horses of his own.

News that somebody takes care of horses and donkeys spread quickly. The National Traffic Police, the National Roads Association and municipal vets, who did not know what to do with these animals, also took the opportunity to call Zvika every time they encountered a stray horse or donkey wandering alone in traffic.

As is seen in the video – which has garnered some 270,000 reactions and nearly 4,000 shares — the Israeli policemen knew whom to contact when they encountered the boy beating the donkey. Also viewed is a Pegasus volunteer gently removing the saddle and chains from the animal, which has bloody sores all over its body. He then walks the pregnant donkey into a special van to transport her to Tamuz’s farm, as the boy attempts to prevent the police and the Pegasus worker from taking the animal away.

The boy’s behavior is part of a wider practice involving the Palestinians’ use of donkeys to transport scrap iron they collect or steal in the area of the Sharon plane bordering the PA.

In the video, the police are explaining to the Pegasus volunteer that they have phoned the boy’s parents and told them to come and collect their son at the checkpoint. Meanwhile, the adults reprimand the boy — calling him by his name, Abed — and tell him to look at the harm he has done to the animal, while also coaxing him to wait with them for his father to arrive.

Pegasus founder Tamuz described the incident, which took place on July 17, both in his native Hebrew and in English, as follows:

A boy from Qalqilya arrived with a bitten, injured, pregnant mare to peddle. Incidentally I was at the hospital with my father for a checkup when I received the call from the police regarding the injured mare and I send Jacob to get her.

On my way home via train, at the stock exchanged in Tel-Aviv, life goes on – young, smiling people wearing ties with name tags are eating lunch at restaurants. When hearing the story about the mare and the boy I thought about us – unlike policemen that have shifts, we are on call 24/7. No one can substitute us. Maybe we are the crazy ones.

All the donkeys and horses in the state of Israel depend on us. The boy from Qalqilya is depending on the mare. We do not have the ability to feed all the donkeys, and the boy does not have the ability to feed himself; and in Tel-Aviv everybody is smiling and wearing ties.

There is no logic and no solution, and I do not know who is right, but you there in Tel-Aviv and other places should understand that these are not our donkeys; they belong to all of us – to those who care of course!

We do not complain, however we need to cope with taking care and feeding them and all the others that wait out there to be rescued by a policeman who will call us tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

We take all the rescued donkeys and feed them as that boy who needs to feed his family, and by doing so hurts the mare that actually helps him.

What a world. Go figure who is right? Can we judge the other? Are we judging him only from our point of view?

So, to summarize a hot, sad and frustrating day, I just wanted to tell you that there is something that you can do, and if a lot of you will do it, together we can keep taking care of them. Go to our website and adopt one of our crippled donkeys for $5 per month and change the situation.

It goes without saying that we will keep rescuing donkeys that are treated badly, but since you are part of our family, we would like to hear your thought about this kid from Qalqilya (no racist’s comments please).

Turn on your speakers and take a few minutes to see the video.

Watch the video below.