In the country they transport clean water and firewood and are the power for the plow or the cart to market. In the cities they serve as the builder’s van, the taxi, and the refuse collection service. Most of the horses, donkeys, and mules on this planet lead lives intimately linked to those of some of the poorest people.

According to recent estimates, there are 15 million equids in the developed countries and over 100 million working in the developing world. Yet it is the sport or companion horse that receives the attention. As a veterinarian with over 20 years of experience, I was struck by this inequality the first time I visited Ethiopia. It was clear that families’ lives and livelihoods were dependent on these animals.

Underfed, working hard, and riddled with parasites, they frequently lack access to even the most basic animal health service. Traffic accidents, colic, lameness, harness sores, and serious infectious diseases–their problems are common and many. Yet, some problems are not so well known or understood.

For example, epizootic lymphangitis, a disease not seen in the United Kingdom since Queen Victoria was on the throne, is the scourge of the Ethiopian urban horse. Because owners of terminally sick horses simply abandon them, the disease rapidly spreads. A Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA) appeal last year raised funds to buy a mobile veterinary clinic to treat horses showing the early stages of the disease, and humanely euthanatize those too sick to save. The likelihood is that as you read this, the clinic will be working in Ethiopia treating the victims of this terrible disease. We are currently raising funds to buy the vital equipment needed to continue this work (www.spana.org; see Appeals–Ethiopian Emergency).

In my work in Ethiopia and now as technical director for SPANA in Morocco, I have witnessed firsthand the immense welfare problems that exist amongst these animals and the domestic tragedy that results from their loss. The SPANA is one of the few animal charities working in this field, and it now has a permanent veterinary presence in eight countries. Operating out of fixed and mobile clinics, its policy is to employ local veterinarians and provide all treatment free of charge.

The SPANA started work in Morocco in 1929, and it is now our largest operation. With 10 regional centers, we treated 36,000 animals in 2005. However, it is the individual stories that best illustrate the benefit of our work.

Mohammed Bourassi, DVM, received a year of training post graduation courtesy of a SPANA grant, and he now manages one of our clinics. When Abdulsalam’s donkey was having difficulty foaling, he knew where to take her. Bourassi has developed something of a reputation for his Cesarean technique. He has adapted a method using local anesthesia similar to that used in cattle. This is not just good animal welfare; to Abdulsalam, the healthy mule foal and donkey dam is a considerable part of his family’s wealth (www.spana.org; see Appeals–Winter).

Care of the sick and injured is accompanied by training and education. We work with owners, veterinarians, farriers, and even schoolchildren. Additionly, we run a “Volunteer Vet” program. Last year 20 qualified veterinarians from seven countries offered their services to work alongside my Moroccan colleagues in our clinics; a partnership where both parties benefit professionally and personally. (Post-graduate veterinarians can find more information at www.spana.org.)

Our resources are limited, and all of the work is funded by charitable donations. There is always our core work to finance, along with new projects. For example, in Morocco we are in the process of equipping our newly constructed centre on the outskirts of Casablanca. We need everything from brooms and buckets to laboratory and surgical equipment.

For those of us brought up in countries where horses are more often seen on the racetracks or show grounds, seeing mules plowing or a donkey carrying water is at first a novelty. Yet, these animals will be important to the world’s poor for years to come. They need to be cared for.

One Ethiopian farmer was asked, “In times of food shortage, which animal would you sell last?” He replied, “My donkey.”

Disasters

Where possible, SPANA responds when working animals are caught in the world’s disasters. There is an increasing realization that these animals are critical if communities have any hope of re-establishing in the face of drought, conflict, or both.

For example, when SPANA first arrived at the Abu Shouk refugee camp in Western Sudan, only 1,400 of the original 12,000 donkeys belonging to the 70,000 refugees had survived. The rest had starved to death. Yet these are the animals that will give the means and the incentive for people to return to their former lives. With SPANA financial assistance, enough fodder was obtained to keep all the remaining animals alive until the rains came. Without that intervention, they would have almost certainly have died, and lives made hard by war and drought would have become unremittingly harder.

This fundamental relationship between animal and man is one that aid agencies have failed to comprehend, dismissing it with the comment: “We don’t do animals.” However attitudes are changing, and increasingly SPANA is being asked for assistance (www.spana.org; see Appeals–Sudan Emergency”)