Frequently Asked Questions
- What does SPANA do?
- Where do you work?
- How are you funded?
- Do you do any campaigning work?
- The owners are simply cruel aren't they? Why treat an animal simply to return it for further abuse?
- Why do you give animals back to their owners who are often cruel after you have treated them?
- Why don't you educate people to look after their animals better?
What does SPANA do?
SPANA improves the standards of animal care in some of the world's poorest communities in Africa and the Middle East. We offer completely free veterinary care and our education programmes teach owners and children how to better care for and respect their animals.
SPANA also treats working animals in emergency and conflict situations around the world.
Our outreach programme provides funding for small local animal welfare organisations across the world.
Where do you work?
We work mainly in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Mali, Syria, Mauritania, Ethiopia and Algeria where we have a system of clinics and mobile units around the countries.
Our outreach programme has funded operations in more than 25 countries and our emergency response teams have recently treated animals in Zimbabwe, Chad, Iraq, Kenya and Sudan.
How are you funded?
SPANA does not receive any government funding and is entirely reliant on the kindness and generosity of individual supporters.
Do you do any campaigning work?
We are not a campaigning charity. We believe the most effective way to produce long-lasting change is by changing attitudes about animals and animal welfare.
We hold positive working relationships with the governments and local agencies in the countries we work in, which is necessary to allow SPANA to work freely.
Tourist income is crucial to many of the countries, which is also an effective way to push for change and to drive animal welfare legislation.
The owners are simply cruel aren't they? Why treat an animal simply to return it for further abuse?
Most of the animals we treat are the victims of the poverty and ignorance of their owners rather than cruelty. Families often rely on their animals for survival and can be devastated if their horse or donkey is ill or injured and unable to work.
There is a lot of misunderstanding about how best to treat a suffering animal and in some cases traditional treatments can cause more suffering to an animal.
Taking time to speak to owners about the causes of an illness or injury and educate children about animal welfare helps prevent future suffering.
More about our education programme and traditional practices.
Why do you give animals back to their owners who are often cruel after you have treated them?
Because the animals are vital to the livelihoods and welfare of people. There is rarely deliberate cruelty, more often neglect due to poverty and ignorance. SPANA works to educate and assist the people to look after their animals better so that suffering does not occur again.
More about why families rely on animals and the causes of animal suffering.
Why don't you educate people to look after their animals better?
SPANA has worked to educate both owners and school children since the day it was founded. We work with the agreement of the Ministry of Education in all our countries of operation.
Not only do we supply educational materials, we also organise school visits to all our veterinary centres and, in some countries, we have an input into the National Curricula. This enables us, in one way or another, to reach a large population of school children.
More about how we change attitudes and beliefs.