tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080Tue, 19 May 2026 11:29:37 +0000FundraisingDonkeyChadUNHCRMaliMoroccoVeterinary WorkMuleZimbabweEducationEthiopiaJordanTreating the donkeys of ZimbabweTunisiaAfghanistanCamelChinaMauritaniaSyriaHorsebuffaloindiahttp://spanablog.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))Blogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-3935857040519570339Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:58:00 +00002010-12-10T03:12:10.017-08:00buffaloindiaAnother working animal I’d never come across before. These are magnificent Indian buffaloes. The cows are milked and the males used to pull carts and farm implements. Fantastic animals – and actually far more common and popular than equines (there are only 1.2 million horses donkeys and mules in a human population of 1.2 billion !) Apparently, there are over ten million buffaloes – and thankfullyhttp://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/12/indian-buffaloes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))287tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-7005985845151561925Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:32:00 +00002010-11-18T06:34:02.446-08:00DonkeyMoroccoThis is my friend Bounkita - named after the donkey character in one of the children's reading books we use here.He was also an orphan foal, so all in all, in a country like Morocco, he's a pretty lucky chap.He earns his living as well, by being nice and gentle with all the kids who visit the SPANA refuge here in Rabat as part of the education proramme - 2300 children this year alone.He's prettyhttp://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/11/bounkita.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-3890150938118711051Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:11:00 +00002010-11-02T06:32:00.276-07:00MoroccoKirsty Brzeczek here – SPANA’s Fundraising and Supporter Care Officer. I recently returned from the Morocco Supporters’ Tour and wanted to share with you the tale of one of the happiest dogs I’ve ever met!The story starts with newly qualified Vet, Patrick Sells, who not only volunteered with SPANA in Morocco but also raised almost £5,000 by journeying the whole way there on his motorbike! On his http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/11/diana-dog.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-623810726846197808Thu, 28 Oct 2010 10:51:00 +00002010-10-28T03:55:55.864-07:00MaliThis is education in Mali. Eighty children in this classroom - no resources, perhaps only four or five textbooks to go round the whole class.No wonder they love the SPANA education proramme - they each get a book to keep and take home with them.(Part of our cunning plan - their brothers and sisters get to read it as well - maybe even their parents).But everyone seems to think it's great, http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/10/education-is-key.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-1121542242669561820Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:37:00 +00002010-10-14T05:41:30.338-07:00ChinaThis is a bactrian camel - two humped, and hairier than the one humped dromedary of Africa and the Middle East because Asian deserts are so bitterly cold for most of the year.There are still a very few wild ones around the edge of the Gobi dessert.These are the camels that carried the trade along the Silk Road for thousands of years. Marco Polo used them.As they headed west they met up with the http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/10/china.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-5359247160713782131Thu, 07 Oct 2010 09:52:00 +00002010-10-07T03:01:07.174-07:00ZimbabweKeith and Lisa founded ‘The Aware Trust’ to help the endangered wildlife of Zimbabwe – rendered even more threatened by the political crises of the last few years and the poverty and unemployment that ensued.Rhino horn used to be poached for dagger handles in Yemen, but now it’s taken for Chinese medicine – and worth fifteen thousand US dollars a kilo in-country. That’s a hell of a temptation forhttp://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/10/endangered-wildlife-of-zimbabwe.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-2338935355877964060Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:14:00 +00002010-10-04T03:17:24.449-07:00We are struggling with this one.This little colt foal lost his mother at birth. Apparently he's four months old, but you wouldn't know it. Goodness knows what the owner was feeding him on - but he brought him into us at the Casablanca clinic a couple of days ago.Galloping squitters and severe dehydration - hence the drip.They say he looks a bit better already.Hmmm. Not sure. Horses are just not http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/10/struggling-but-brave-foal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-4565893760079007373Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:07:00 +00002010-10-01T07:10:25.292-07:00Like most charities, SPANA depends on its supporters for the means to do its work. But this week, those supporters are getting a unique opportunity to get 'close up and personal' with that work. Twenty SPANA supporters are touring Morocco visiting the centres and mobile clinics - seeing for themselves just what their money is spent on.http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/10/supporter-tour.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-5902700024905918115Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:41:00 +00002010-09-30T08:43:39.752-07:00That is a very lucky lizard.We are in the middle of a SPANA supporters' tour. Today we're travelling down to Marrakech, but on the east side of the Atlas Mountains.We passed this old chap at the side of the road, waving something at us. It turned out to be a fat-tailed lizard - a really ace aphrodisiac amongst the local groovers and shakers. He thought we would pay to photograph it. Oh,foolish http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/09/lizards-and-morocco.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-1764883378473462398Thu, 23 Sep 2010 09:48:00 +00002010-09-23T02:56:49.502-07:00Treating the donkeys of ZimbabweThe normal method of load carrying is the ‘Scotch Cart’. No-one seems to know how it got its name – a small wooden or metal box on two wheels pulled by an assorted number of donkeys. Originally they would have been drawn by oxen – but oxen are for the rich – so now donkeys have to do the work, and using a central pole and other gear better suited to cattle. Never mind, that’s just how it is. Thehttp://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/09/normal-method-of-load-carrying-is.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-782876089298172480Tue, 21 Sep 2010 10:43:00 +00002010-09-24T03:27:54.862-07:00Treating the donkeys of ZimbabweIt’s rare to see donkeys back-packing here – though I always feel that the poor wretched women carrying huge bundles of firewood on their heads, or twenty litres of water, would have done well to borrow a donkey. Perhaps they’re just too dirt poor. I once tried carrying twenty kilo bags of animal feed on my head when unloading a lorry on the farm. Five minutes of that and you feel as if you’ve http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/09/its-tough-life-in-zimbabwe.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-3725786157708886628Mon, 20 Sep 2010 10:00:00 +00002010-09-24T03:28:48.337-07:00DonkeyTreating the donkeys of ZimbabweZimbabweI must admit it came as a pleasant surprise. The last time I came here, the price on the morning newspaper was six hundred and forty million dollars. Honestly. They’d just started printing a new set of bank notes, and the smallest was ten trillion dollars – which would just about have bought you a cup of tea – as long as the kettle took less than ten minutes to boil, prices were going up so http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/09/return-to-zimbabwe.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-4618658937337690630Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:48:00 +00002010-09-13T03:51:16.235-07:00I have had to do lots of strange jobs at SPANA, but none more strange - or more rewarding than today's.Our two Zim vets, Keith and Lisa, asked if we would like to help them in their battle against poachers.There are fifty white rhinos in the Matopos Hills, and their horns are worth fifteen thousand dollars a kilo -- so the task is to locate and dart them by helicopter, then the ground crew (us) http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/09/working-with-rhinos.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-7944821918356049639Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:44:00 +00002010-09-01T02:54:41.591-07:00I must admit, I do love mules. I suppose you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. It is true, you find the odd one you might describe as a bit ‘feisty’, or one keen to give you ‘both barrels’ with his back legs – but by and large, they are a handsome, noble race. (Well, at least I think so) So it is always a pleasure to go up into the High Atlas Mountains, south of Marrakech, for the annual prize-givinghttp://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/09/prize-giving-in-morocco.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-6292807180362687695Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:38:00 +00002010-08-16T02:44:39.532-07:00You can see the irony, can’t you? We do a garden for the Chelsea Flower Show, based on a Moroccan Courtyard, win a silver medal, then build the Chelsea garden back in our centre in Marrakech. A bit weird really. But all part of our cunning plan to entice some of the thousands of visitors to Marrakech (with frankly, not very much to see or do there) to come and visit us and see the work first http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/08/marrakech-garden.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-5638902392708970889Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:33:00 +00002010-08-02T01:33:56.141-07:00Latest craze everywhere seems to be ‘Handicapped Riding’ or Therapeutic Riding For Children With Special Needs, as it is called nowadays.We’ve had a little centre in Mali for years – it was great to be able to do something for the severely damaged little mites there – the tragedy is, we can help so few.It’s also a good argument against the “How can you worry about animals when there are so many http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/08/animals-and-children-with-special-needs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-2803643732217442466Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:48:00 +00002010-07-06T01:51:05.277-07:00Nice little story. A big Jenny donkey is brought in a couple of weeks ago, with acute mange on the fore-legs that had become infected.She was also pregnant, and half way through the treatment, gave birth to a lively little foal.I was there when the owner came for them.“What a place!” he said “ I bring in one sick donkey, and go home with two. Healthy ones as well! Thank you SPANA very much http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-place.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-2621635357051703246Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:20:00 +00002010-06-22T03:28:34.145-07:00Tommy has a rival. “Peepo”, (Ye Gods, who thought that one up?) was born a month ago, to a Jenny donkey riddled with terminal cancer. Unlike Tommy, he was full term, but of course also with no mother, as she had to be put down out of her pain and misery. But what a little star he is ! He tripped around all the guests, nuzzling in for as much fuss and attention as possible, before tripping over http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-foal-in-marrakech.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-2238874360320967172Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:51:00 +00002010-06-17T06:58:36.941-07:00There's never a dull moment at SPANA.The British Ambassador opened the garden to the great and the good of Marrakech on Saturday – and , all credit to the staff the garden looked stunning.It was great to see young ‘Tommy’ again – born on October 11th, 2009, he’s eight months old, and rapidly turning into a juvenile delinquent. Let out of his stable, he careers around the whole place, knocking kithttp://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/06/tommy-and-british-ambassador.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-6384178731260080306Mon, 17 May 2010 11:43:00 +00002010-08-27T07:02:30.179-07:00One of the great privileges of working for SPANA is the truly wonderful countries and places where we work.Imagine being involved in Petra in Jordan, and becoming familiar, even blasé, with the fabulous sites and structures of the ‘Rose-red city’. We live in a world of hype, where words like ‘fantastic’, ‘incredible’, ‘genius’, ‘unbelievable’ are trotted out daily to describe everything from a http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/05/one-of-great-privileges-of-working-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-1793568057604381663Wed, 05 May 2010 09:40:00 +00002010-05-13T02:30:04.812-07:00‘Cancer’ is a word that still strikes fear into us humans – even though there have been huge advances in surgical and medicinal treatments. It’s encouraging to know that this is also true in the veterinary world. Last week a middle-aged Jack donkey was brought into the refuge in Marrakech with a huge swelling on its chest. The owner thought it was a blood blister, caused by some minor accident http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/05/cancer-is-word-that-still-strikes-fear.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-1177569574799976196Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:01:00 +00002010-04-30T05:09:38.782-07:00Well, well, well. Wonders will never cease. We actually made it Morocco.After six days of volcano stoppage – predictably now reported as totally unnecessary (but then what would you expect from putting someone in charge who had previously run one of our super efficient people’s railways ?) – a bit of extreme commercial pressure – (ie Willie Walsh about to throw his toys out of the pram and blamehttp://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/04/morocco-blogs-april-2010.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-387355768376787026Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:45:00 +00002010-05-13T02:30:30.654-07:00AfghanistanGetting around in Afghanistan is never easy.This second trip involved travelling with the Army – so lots of carrying and loading stuff yourself, along with not being told very much about the ‘when’, ‘why’, and ‘how’. And all with the added joy of wearing body armour and helmet.So it was on a C.130 transport plane from Kabul down south to Camp Bastion – borrowed from the Americans? – then after 36http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/03/getting-around-in-afghanistan-is-never.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-2659155459847656191Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:42:00 +00002010-03-11T04:28:15.345-08:00All told I'd been either inside an aircraft, or a departure lounge from 1pm Monday to 5pm Tuesday so i was not in the best of spirits. At times like this its not a good idea to start answering back to a US Customs official but i couildn't help it. A few years ago I was doing some wildlife conservation work in an African country which shall remain nameless which had the authorities found out abouthttp://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/03/america-and-gun-case.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7538273010926091080.post-2952227490464414347Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:53:00 +00002010-03-09T07:04:34.845-08:00On Sunday we were up early. This was not going to be an easy day. A family we had met several years ago had sold up and were leaving behind 130 years of history, and an assortment of donkeys and horses. They could simply not make ends meet here any longer.16 years ago they had taken over an idyllic spot, which had once been a popular out-of-town cricket club built in the 1950’s. Their house was http://spanablog.blogspot.com/2010/03/rescuing-donkeys-and-warthog-incident.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad))0