Do animals commit suicide? That can be the subject of an interesting evolutionary and zoological debate but for Indian Army soldiers in the UN peacekeeping mission in war-torn Sudan, it’s a problem.

They have been asked to cure a bunch of what they call “suicidal donkeys” apparently fed up of being overworked and underfed.

Doctors posted at the Indian Veterinary hospital in the city of Malakal in Southern Sudan are now figuring out ways to treat local donkeys that have even “taken to jumping into the Nile” to escape cruel masters.

Reports coming in from the UN Mission say that donkeys in Malakal, that saw a fierce battle between Sudanese government forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in 2006, are being severely mistreated by their owners, leading to their casualties.

Two cases of donkeys “taking their own lives” have been cited in a UN report filed by the Indian Army recently. In the first incident, according to the report, an overworked donkey preferred to be beaten to death by his master rather than pulling a heavily loaded cart through the market.

In the other case, a donkey jumped in to the Nile river, along with its load of a water barrel. “A donkey, who had decided to end his miserable and wretched life, ran towards the Nile. As he approached the banks, he plunged into the river and moved towards the current and the strong current of the mighty river swept it to a watery grave,” says the report, written by Major Shambhu Saran Singh, posted at the UN mission. “He (the donkey) was still tethered to the water cart he was pulling when he decided to go and drown.”

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