Road traffic accidents: Stop working animals from dying needlessly

SPANA teams attending to an injured horse on the side of the road.

Animals who are searching for food or who have been abandoned are at risk of wandering onto roads and being hit by cars.

Most animals involved in traffic accidents don’t survive. Will you help prevent life-altering injuries and save lives?

On a dark, quiet evening, after a long day’s work, a tired and hungry donkey unwittingly steps out onto a road as he desperately searches for food. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a car strikes him down. The impact is devastating.

Sadly, road traffic accidents involving working animals are all too common. Every day, they work carrying goods next to speeding cars and heavy trucks.

To make matters worse, ongoing droughts and the cost-of-living crisis mean feed is scarce, so animals are often left to forage for food. When they do, they run the risk of straying onto roads. By the time a driver sees an animal, it is often too late.

Devastatingly, very few working animals survive road traffic accidents and those who do are often left with life-changing injuries.

But with your kind support, we can improve their chances.

Every day working animals risk being hit on roads by passing vehicles. Will you please help prevent accidents and needless deaths by donating today?

Jopa was hit by a car one evening after searching for food near a busy highway.

Jopa’s story

In drought-stricken Tanzania, Jopa the donkey, pictured here, hauls a heavy cart of goods to the market in the morning, then ferries backbreaking loads of construction materials the rest of the day.

Jopa’s owner, Mathew, is a farmer, but few crops can grow during the drought, so they take any job they can get.

The drought also means food is scarce. With no break in their busy day and no feed to give his desperately hungry animal, Mathew has no choice but to leave Jopa outside in the evenings to search for whatever he can find to eat.

One night, Jopa wandered towards the nearby busy highway. While foraging next to it, he was struck by a passing car. Injured and in agony, he was unable to move.

Mathew only found out what happened the following morning, after a neighbour spotted Jopa lying next to the road bleeding.

Mathew knew Jopa needed urgent help. So, he called SPANA who responded straight away and sent a mobile veterinary team.

The vets examined Jopa and found he was in severe pain from a deep gash on his right thigh. He couldn’t stand, and the depth of the wound meant he was at risk of a serious infection and life-threatening tetanus or sepsis without urgent treatment.

Fortunately, no bones were broken, so our vets cleaned the wound and gave Jopa anti-inflammatories to reduce the swelling and ease his pain. The vets also started the poor donkey on a course of penicillin to stop the spread of infection. Mathew was advised to restrict Jopa’s movement until his leg fully healed. The vets also advised Mathew about the dangers of Jopa free roaming without a light-reflecting collar to help make him visible to traffic at night.

Jopa was lucky that his injuries weren’t worse. And thankfully, SPANA was there to treat him and provide ongoing care.

But most animals hit by vehicles don’t survive, and sadly, road traffic accidents are a constant risk for them worldwide.

Together, we can improve the odds of survival for vulnerable working animals whose lives are at risk from these horrifying accidents. Will you please donate today? Thank you so much.