Helping animals and helping people “not mutually exclusive in Darfur”
Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA)
A UK-based charity working in the Darfur region of Sudan is winning a desperate battle to save the remaining livestock belonging to refugees in the Abushowk refugee camp.
SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad), works in Sudan with its partners, Kids4Kids and the Intermediate Technology Development Group. Today SPANA revealed details of the huge numbers of working animals that have already died in the camps because of a lack of resources available to the United Nation’s Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO). They also gave details of the steps they have taken to prevent further deaths.
In a funding request to the UK Government in Autumn 2004, FAO said that with the funds available they had only been able to treat and feed 2300 out of a total of 14,000 donkeys in the camps. The remaining 11,700 unfed and untreated donkeys all died. However, many of the animals were terminally sick or dying in large numbers as early as April 2004 (UN OCHA report 4 May 2004).
A livestock assessment carried out by FAO in September 2004 found that:
90% of refugees in areas under Sudanese government control lost their animals, and in Sudanese Liberation Army-controlled areas of Darfur, losses ranged between 60-90%
75% of donkeys in the refugee camps died during the pre-rains season from a lack of feed, water and stress.
The high number of weak animals meant that conditions were favourable for the rapid and massive spread of livestock diseases and that in Darfur, “..donkeys do not have enough food, veterinary drugs or vaccines?”.
Jeremy Hulme, Chief Executive of SPANA said “If the FAO had asked for our help when they first recognised the problem, we would have given it. Our vets could have prevented animals dying in such large numbers and our pre-existing relationships with in-country agencies could have facilitated the creation of stockpiles of fodder much earlier in the season.”
“This situation could have been avoided, and so I am calling for a new dialogue with the FAO and International Development agencies. Pre-conceived ideas about animal welfare organisations must be put aside and replaced with the recognition that SPANA and our partners are ideally placed to deal with working animals in emergency situations. Helping animals and helping people are not mutually exclusive activities.”
Writer and journalist Stanley Johnson, who accompanied SPANA on a trip to Sudan in February said: “SPANA’s work in the refugee camps has made me realise that if you can get in there, it is possible to ensure the animals survive. If you achieve that objective, then you are helping the people survive as well.”
“Partnerships need to be struck between the humanitarian organisations and groups like SPANA because their work has as much benefit for people as it does for the animals.”
Although they are being encouraged to return home, refugee families do not want to leave the camps. They would face an even more uncertain future there without their livestock assets which they depend on for transport and cultivating crops. SPANA said today that as a consequence of not treating animals at a much earlier stage, the refugee status of some families has actually been perpetuated.
In order to tackle the problem this year, SPANA has created two huge stockpiles of fodder which are currently being distributed to livestock owners in the Abushowk refugee camp. It has also employed 12 women in the camp to maintain a register of livestock and has trained them in worming and vaccinating the animals.
For More Information – Simon Pope +44 (0)20 7831 3999 or +44 (0)7811 404 874 [email protected] or www.spana.org
Notes to Editors
Hi-res photos available
The UK Government funded the initial costs of $1.8 million submitted by the FAO to deal with “Emergency Assistance for Agriculture and Livestock in Greater Darfur” (SUD-04/A07-HA-D). However the UN Office for Co-Ordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ website gives a revised requirement (as of June 8th) for dealing with the livestock of $5,152,736, leaving a 40% shortfall of $2, 052, 608