Don’t let plastic be a working animal’s last meal. You can help save them.

The lives of working animals are at risk from accidentally eating plastic

Many working animals across the areas where we work have no access to food due to rising global poverty. They are forced to fend for themselves and end up eating foreign objects like plastic that cause them harm.

Sadly, working animals around the world are going hungry. Animals are often left to graze for food because their owners can’t afford to feed themselves, let alone their animals. They end up scavenging in streets for leftover scraps, accidentally eating plastic waste as they do so.

Without your support, we wouldn’t be able to provide treatment and there is a huge risk that many working animals would not survive. Together, we can make sure that fewer working animals have a gut-wrenching last meal of plastic.

Please, if you can, consider making a donation today. Thank you so much.

A working donkey receives treatment for eating plastic from two SPANA veterinarians.

Anis needed lifesaving surgery to remove a plastic blockage.

Anis would have died without SPANA’s help

Anis the donkey provides a lifeline for his owner, Taher, in Chemaia, Morocco. Each day, Anis pulls a heavy cart of food and water to market and back.

Taher first noticed Anis was unwell when his usually happy donkey became depressed and refused to eat. He was lying down more than usual and looked uncomfortable. As a loving owner, Taher knew Anis’ behaviour was out of character and that something was seriously wrong.

SPANA vets carefully examined Anis and found his heart was beating faster than normal and his temperature was very high. He had a serious case of colic and the team suspected a blockage in his system that needed immediate treatment. After failed attempts to get the blockage to pass naturally through, the vets had no choice but to operate to save the young donkey’s life.

With no time to waste, they sedated Anis and took him into surgery to carefully remove the obstruction, which was a plastic bag trapped in his gut.

Without this swift lifesaving operation, Anis’s gut could have ruptured.

Taher said, ‘Without SPANA, my animal would have died, so a big thank you.’

SPANA is the only provider of free veterinary care in Chemaia. It doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened to Anis if our vets weren’t on hand to save him. If our SPANA centre in Chemaia wasn’t there to provide treatment, Anis would have died.

Will you please donate today to help other working animals like Anis?