Read the latest stories for the animals we helped
Click here to view some selected stories from all our Regions of Operation about the animals that we help day after day.
‘Best donkey‘ competition marks the start of World Animal Week
This week (October 4th – 10th) marks World Animal Week when people around the world celebrate the importance of animals in their lives.
The Brooke team in Cairo took part in the ‘best donkey’ competition organised by the Donkey Sanctuary and a local veterinary unit in El Kedaya village.
Brooke vets Dr Ammr and Dr Madany helped evaluate the health and welfare of 21 donkeys. The donkeys were assessed on their body condition, wounds and lameness as well as the relationship between the owner and the animal. During the assessment Brooke vets along with the Donkey Sanctuary, advised owners on any problems they had identified with their animals. The Brooke also distributed grooming brushes for the 10 winners who also received certificates and awards for being good owners to their animals.
Relationship building is a key part of the Brooke’s approach and by working with the Donkey Sanctuary, this was a good opportunity to share skills, knowledge and experience.
Check out the photos on Flicker
Updates from the Pyramids
The Brooke mobile team now visits the Nazlet El Saman community near the Pyramids in Giza every Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, as part of an increased programme to help working horses.
On Wednesdays and Saturdays, the team visit at least three locations in the area of the Nazlet El Saman community and will be in the area for at least four hours.
On Thursdays, there are no fixed locations, to enable the team to cover several different locations within the area, reaching as many animals as possible and covering any follow up cases. The team leaves the Cairo clinic at 9.00am returning around 2.30pm, depending on traffic.
On all visits, the Brooke mobile team offers free veterinary treatment for working equine animals, as well as advice for owners.
Starting from 7 September – 210 animals attended 5 mobile clinic sessions, providing treatments. Treatment records show the main issues were wounds and lameness.
The Brooke recognizes that there are a few poor cases where the animals are very thin but our observations are telling us that things are improving and to confirm this we will be assessing this further. However, we have seen many wounds and lameness. While the Brooke continues to provide medical services, it is also monitoring the animals through observation, discussion with owners and welfare assessments.
Read about our history in Pyramids
Brooke educational session in the pyramids
10 September 2011
As part of the Brooke special six months educational program, the Brooke teams held the third community session in Nazlet El Saman community attended by around 15 animal’s owners and users working at the Pyramids.
The educational session this time discussed the Colic disease which is one of the common problems face the pyramids horses due, mainly to the poor food quality and poor husbandry provided by the owners.
The Brooke vet Dr Mohamed Hammad run the session using one of the Brooke educational posters to demonstrate the message in a more clear way. The Brooke vet was keen to involve direct interaction with the owners/attendees to assess their knowledge and insure the message effectively reached the audience.
For over 30 minutes the Brooke vet explained to the attendees the signs of colic, means of prevention and the right actions to do when the signs appear on the animals. He advised the owners to take the animals to the mobile clinic or any available vet when they suspect their animals are suffering colic, and it was also taught them about the best immediate procedures to confront the disease and reduce the animal’s pain.
After the session, the Brooke vet and his colleagues provided 60 treatments for the animals admitted to the mobile clinic. The majority of the problems were saddle wound, hoof infections and internal parasites
An interview with one of the attendees
Tourism Emergency Relief
As a response to the collapse in tourism following the 25 January Revolution, the Brooke launched a campaign to help horses and donkeys relying on tourism at the Pyramids, Luxor, Edfu and Aswan.
The campaign aimed to reach starving and sick animals providing much-needed food and medical treatment.
In more than two months the initiative successfully provided help for over 2,500 animals, providing 90,000kg of free food and over 28,000 treatments.
The Egyptian Society for Animal Friends (ESAF) and the Donkey Sanctuary were the Brooke’s partners in this campaign, which ended on 21 April 2011 but managed to support the animals and helped save the livelihoods of thousands of owners.
At the end of April 2011, the Brooke began a six-month educational programme for owners at the Pyramids to improve the welfare of their animals.
The first meeting took place in Nazlet El Saman on 24 April. Over 50 animal’s owners attended the meeting, where they discussed ways to improve animal welfare.
The Brooke continues to deliver veterinary services and community animal health programmes near the Pyramids and three other locations to support the community to look after their working animals in a sustainable way.
Our video about the Emergency relief campaign
An interview made with one of the community members of Nazlet El Saman
An interview with one of the horses owners from the Pyramids community