Working animals at the centre of community resilience
- Editorial Team SDG8
- 7 hours ago
- 6 min read
Published on 4 August 2026 at 06:19 GMT
By Editorial Team SDG8
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Across rural settlements and rapidly expanding cities, horses, donkeys, mules, camels and oxen continue to transport water, food, building materials and people. They cultivate land, carry crops to market and provide access to schools, healthcare and employment where motorised alternatives are unavailable or unaffordable.
The scale of this largely overlooked workforce is difficult to establish. Working Animals International, formerly known as SPANA, cites an estimated 200 million working horses, donkeys and mules worldwide. Other institutional and research sources place the number of working equids closer to approximately 100 million to 112 million.
These figures should be regarded as indicative rather than as a comprehensive global count. Definitions differ between sources, many animals are absent from official censuses and reliable figures are not available for every species used for transport, agriculture or other forms of labour.
Estimates of the human population supported by working animals also vary. Earlier material published by the organisation referred to approximately 300 million people, while the International Coalition for Working Equids and research cited by the World Organisation for Animal Health indicate that working equids may contribute to the livelihoods of around 600 million people. An indicative range of approximately 300 million to 600 million people therefore reflects the available evidence more responsibly than a single definitive total.
This scale helps explain why working animal welfare cannot be treated solely as a veterinary issue. The health of these animals can affect household income, food production, mobility and access to essential services. Working Animals International has built its response around that connection, combining veterinary treatment with owner education, professional training, research and policy engagement.
A new name for a century-old organisation
On 22 April 2026, SPANA adopted the name Working Animals International. The charity said the new identity was intended to communicate its global purpose more clearly, while its mission and registered charitable status remained continuous.
The distinction is editorially important because much of the organisation’s century-long history remains associated with the SPANA name. Its current activities and communications, however, are presented under Working Animals International.
The charity traces its origins to 1923, when its founders began providing veterinary assistance to working animals in North Africa. It subsequently expanded through programmes and partnerships in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
Its present model combines direct assistance with longer-term efforts intended to strengthen the systems surrounding working animals. These include improving access to veterinary care, helping owners develop practical welfare knowledge, supporting local professionals and advocating for greater recognition in policy and public planning.
A service gap with economic consequences
For households dependent on animal power, the illness or injury of an animal can interrupt transport, farming and income simultaneously. The consequences may extend beyond the animal’s owner to relatives and other community members who rely on the same animal for carrying water, transporting goods or reaching essential services.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has documented the continuing contribution of draught animals to mixed farming systems. Their functions include cultivating land, transporting agricultural inputs and produce, and providing additional sources of income. The organisation has also recognised that animal health services may be unavailable, unaffordable or poorly adapted to the needs of low-income livestock keepers.
Emergency treatment can address an immediate condition, but long-term welfare also depends on nutrition, appropriate workloads, rest, shelter, harnessing, hoof care and early recognition of disease. For this reason, a clinic operating in isolation cannot address every cause of poor welfare.
Working Animals International combines fixed and mobile veterinary services with preventive guidance for owners and support for local veterinary teams and partner organisations. Mobile services can reach communities located far from established facilities, while permanent clinics can provide diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care.
These services nevertheless face practical constraints. Long travel distances, shortages of trained professionals, medicine and equipment costs, and difficulties maintaining operations in areas affected by conflict, displacement or extreme weather can all limit access to consistent care.
Education beyond the treatment room
Owner education is important because many welfare problems arise from everyday working conditions rather than from a single incident. Practical guidance on feeding, access to water, rest, safe loads, equipment and hoof care can help reduce avoidable harm.
Advice must, however, reflect the resources available to each community.
Recommendations that owners cannot afford or implement are unlikely to produce lasting improvements. Effective programmes therefore require consultation, realistic demonstrations and respect for existing local knowledge.
Working Animals International also provides animal welfare education for children. This introduces a longer-term dimension by encouraging responsible attitudes before young people become animal owners or handlers themselves. Education should not be confused with immediate clinical results, and its long-term effects require careful evaluation. It can nevertheless make animal welfare part of wider community learning.
Training local professionals is another element of the organisation’s approach. Working Animals International describes partnerships with universities, veterinary institutions and non-governmental organisations intended to strengthen evidence-based veterinary and education programmes.
Research on subjects such as knowledge transfer, equipment-related injuries and the management of working donkeys can help determine which interventions produce measurable improvements under real working conditions. It can also prevent limited resources from being directed towards measures that appear plausible but have not demonstrated lasting value.
Welfare, livelihoods and public policy
The relationship between animal health and household security requires careful interpretation. Improved welfare does not by itself resolve poverty, insecure employment or limited public services. Animals should also not be valued solely according to their economic usefulness.
Nevertheless, when families depend on animal power, veterinary care and preventive support can protect both the animal and the human activities built around it. This places working animal welfare at the intersection of ethics, veterinary provision and local development.
The connection with SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth, is indirect but material. Working animals are not workers within the legal meaning of the goal, but their health can affect the safety, productivity and continuity of human livelihoods in farming, transport, construction and small-scale commerce.
The issue also intersects with other development objectives. Animals may support food production, water transport, household mobility and access to education. These contributions vary considerably between locations and should not be generalised without local evidence.
Economic pressure must also be considered when assessing welfare. Owners may continue using an animal when it is unwell because the household has no replacement source of transport or income. This does not remove the need to prevent suffering, but it shows why welfare programmes must consider poverty, infrastructure and access to services alongside individual practices.
Public policy is therefore an essential part of the response. The World Organisation for Animal Health includes international standards for the welfare of working equids in its Terrestrial Animal Health Code. These standards provide guidance for veterinary authorities and national animal-health systems.
Charities can contribute field experience, research and advocacy, but governments remain responsible for veterinary frameworks, legislation, enforcement and the conditions under which animals are used and traded. Sustainable progress requires cooperation between public authorities, veterinary institutions, communities and civil-society organisations.
The absence of working animals from official statistics remains a significant obstacle.
Without reliable information on their numbers, location and economic functions, governments may overlook them when planning veterinary services, infrastructure or responses to droughts, floods and other emergencies.
This statistical gap also explains the considerable differences between global estimates. The figure of approximately 200 million working animals and the range of approximately 300 million to 600 million people supported by them are useful indicators of scale, but they should not be interpreted as precise census results.
Measuring more than activity
Working Animals International says its strategy extends beyond treatment to education, professional expertise and policy recognition. This wider scope may help address recurring causes of poor welfare, but it also increases the importance of transparent assessment.
Treatment totals can demonstrate the reach of a programme, while stronger evaluation examines whether pain and illness decline, handling practices improve and access to appropriate care becomes more reliable over time. Clear methodologies and research that can be compared across programmes are important for public accountability.
The substantive test will remain the work behind the organisation’s new name. Accessible veterinary services, realistic owner education, capable local professionals and credible evidence can reinforce one another. When these elements are maintained, veterinary care becomes part of a locally rooted system for preventing harm and supporting the households that continue to depend on animal power.
Working animals occupy an easily overlooked position between animal welfare and human development. Recognising their importance does not require romanticising difficult labour or presenting uncertain global estimates as exact facts. It requires acknowledging that the treatment, health and working conditions of these animals have consequences for animals, owners and entire communities.
Working Animals International offers one example of how that recognition can be translated into veterinary care, education, local expertise and advocacy, while the continuing uncertainty surrounding the global figures demonstrates why better official data are still needed.
Further information:
• Working Animals International, The official website describes the organisation’s veterinary, education, professional-training and policy work.
• Working Animals International: Tenth International Working Animal Day, The organisation discusses the indicative estimate of 200 million working animals and the absence of comprehensive global data.
• Working Animals International: SPANA rebrands, The official announcement confirms the 22 April 2026 name change and the continuity of the organisation’s work.
• World Organisation for Animal Health: The contribution of working equids towards sustainable development, This material presents the indicative estimate of 112 million working equids supporting around 600 million people.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO material explains the contribution of draught animals to farming, transport and rural livelihoods.
• World Organisation for Animal Health, The organisation publishes international animal-welfare standards and guidance for veterinary authorities.