Fighting the suffering of working horses
In Mauritania we have recently witnessed some of the worst examples of injuries amongst working animals we have ever seen. We need your help now to relieve the suffering of these horses.
Donkeys and horses often fulfil the same role as the ubiquitous ‘white van’ in the West. Every day, around 50,000 working animals in Nouakchott, Mauritania’s capital, carry heavy loads in a harsh, desert environment and on dusty roads.
Just as a van needs careful maintenance and fuel to operate properly, these animals require nourishing food, good care and rest. But this is a far cry from what they actually receive – especially in Rosso, Southwest Mauritania, on the border with Senegal.
Old and malnourished, but no rest in sight
Elderly horses are shipped from Senegal to start a ‘new’ working life. Seeing these aged, malnourished horses is heartbreaking. Some are even forced to walk a further 170 miles to Nouakchott where they must continue their working lives as taxi horses.
Often, owners will hire them out at a daily rate. Families who rent them care only about getting the maximum work out of them – very little about their wellbeing and safety. They are often beaten to go faster and heavily overloaded.
These older animals never get rest. Inevitably, they struggle to cope with the harshness of working life and find it difficult to recover from sickness and injury.
This is tragic in itself, but, to make matters worse, there are currently no veterinary services in Rosso to help relieve their suffering.
For the last six years, SPANA has been operating a mobile clinic from our refuge in Nouakchott. We now desperately want to send this clinic down to Rosso to help
these exhausted horses and to teach owners how to keep them as healthy as possible.
You could help prevent this misery for thousands of animals. The need for it is overwhelming and it costs £595 a month to equip our mobile clinic.
Please, donate now to help us send our mobile clinic to visit to Rosso each month and treat the distressed working animals there.
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