Mobile clinics: Help working animals who are far from medical care

SPANA’s mobile clinics are a lifeline for working animals.

SPANA’s mobile clinics are a lifeline for working animals

Our mobile clinics help us to:

Travel hundreds of miles to reach thousands of vulnerable working animals in remote communities who otherwise wouldn’t have access to veterinary care.
Respond quickly in times of crisis, such as last year’s devastating earthquake in Morocco, where our mobile clinics were critical to saving working animals trapped in affected areas.
Provide animal welfare guidance to owners, including advice on wound treatment, nutrition and harnessing, to ensure their animals live healthy lives.

But we can only do this with your kind support. Please donate now so that we can respond quickly when working animals need us most.

Before taking her to a SPANA mobile clinic, Afia’s owner worried she wouldn’t survive the injuries she sustained in a traffic accident.

Afia’s catastrophic accident

Afia’s life changed instantly when she was hit by a vehicle while carrying goods with her owner, Alemu. It was a horrifying incident. The poor donkey, pictured here, collapsed to the ground in agonising pain. All four of her legs were deeply cut and bleeding severely.

Alemu was devastated. Living in the remote area of Dabrka Kebele, Ethiopia, far from the nearest vet, he didn’t know how to stop her pain. Worried his faithful donkey may not survive, he bandaged Afia’s wounds as best as he could, but her injuries were serious. She could barely walk.

Fortunately, a SPANA mobile clinic had recently started visiting the region and was due in Dabrka Kebele that week. Knowing this could be Afia’s only hope, Alemu and his neighbour carefully lifted her onto a cart and pulled her into the village for help.

Our veterinary team got to work straightaway, assessing Afia’s injuries and immediately stopping further blood loss. They also identified an agonising tear in the wall of one of her hooves. Fortunately, none of Afia’s bones were broken.

Her wounds were washed and properly bandaged, and she was given anti-inflammatories to relieve her pain and reduce swelling. She was also given antibiotics to fight the infection that was settling in her deeper wounds.

It’s hard to think about what might have happened to Afia if SPANA’s mobile clinic hadn’t been in the village. Without access to a vet, Afia’s more serious injuries may not have healed properly and she might never have walked normally again. She also could have died from tetanus or EZL (epizootic lymphangitis), a painful fungal disease common in the region.

Our mobile clinics are often the only hope for injured working animals like Afia.

Will you please donate to our mobile clinics appeal today? Together, we can save more of the world’s most vulnerable working animals than ever before. Thank you.