Animal cruelty and tradition
Working animals suffer greatly through ignorance and cruelty and archaic traditions. At SPANA we work tirelessly through our dedicated veterinary centers (watch live from Marrakech here) and our mobiles clinics to put a stop to animal cruelty throughout Africa and the Middle East.
Examples of widely used practices
Firing
Firing is laying a hot iron on an inflamed area of the animal. People believe that this will reduce the swelling and pain. In reality, it causes open wounds.
Applying battery acid on wounds
Owners believe this will dry out the wound and speed up the healing process. But this cruelty to animals actually prevents the healing process and causes agonising pain.
Ending animal cruelty: The misuse of bits
‘Bits’ are used in an equines mouth to guide them in the desired direction, however, when a bit wares or breaks owners patch repairs together with shreds of plastic and scraps of wire. There is no need for this to continue and for animals to suffer needlessly. We are working hard to put an end to this suffering, but we need your help, read more here about our campaign here. (Warning, distressing image on campaign page).
Beating to steer an animal
Because of poverty animal owners often cannot afford to buy a harness for their animal. So, to steer them when they are pulling carts, they strike them with sticks on the sides of their heads and body. This is not only painful but can also cause nasty wounds and abscesses.
In Mauritania SPANA has been able to introduce free head collars to thousands of animals. This video shows the success of this campaign.
Slitting nostrils
This tradition is most commonly used in Tunisia. People believe that by slitting the nostril of a donkey, horse or mule the animal will be able to breath better and so work harder. This is not the case. It causes great pain and in some cases infections.
How can we stop these practices?
We provide a wide range of free veterinary services across Africa and the Middle East so we can treat working animals with injuries inflicted from curelty. We need your help, to spread the news of the issues that working animals face, and the solutions SPANA provides. Ask us any questions about our work on Facebook.
To stamp out animal cruelty and suffering for good, we need to get to the core of the issue and provoke change.
With our established education programmes we are able to change the beliefs and attitudes of thousands of children and animal owners every day. For example in Mali we provide a MOT for animals
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