Safe Haven for Donkeys: UK charity needs help lightening the load for animals 'critical' to the people of Gaza

Horses and donkeys have emerged as unlikely heroes in Gaza, helping evacuees escape conflict zones and trucking food and medicine across great distances. But many are working in horrific conditions - and a British-registered animal charity is trying to help alleviate some of their burden.

This week, the first food and aid package from Safe Haven for Donkeys - a UK charity helping working equines in Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories - was received in Gaza. It’s thought to perhaps be the very first aid package for animals to arrive since the Israel-Palestine conflict began, in October 2023. The human death toll in Gaza alone recently passed 34,000, The Guardian reports, most of them women and children.

Safe Haven for Donkeys has been funding a mobile team to provide first aid to donkeys and horses on the ground. The charity has been urgently working to arrange a second desperately-needed food and veterinary medicine package for them, but it needs the public's help - and is calling for them to donate to its Gaza emergency appeal.

With fuel now scarce and many vehicles destroyed, horses and donkeys have emerged as one of the main modes of transportation - moving people, food, water, building materials and essential medicines across the war-ravaged landscape. The conflict has seen death and destruction unleashed on Palestinian civilians on an unprecedented scale, and thousands of people have been left fleeing for their lives. This has meant many are relying on their working animals to survive, despite them also not having enough to eat or drink, or having suffered sometimes serious injuries.

The charity’s ground operation is headed up by Dr Saif, who works tirelessly with his team setting up road-side clinics which treat injured and malnourished working animals - some of which have been hurt by missiles and bombs.

“Animals are used as a significant means of transport in saving people's lives and transporting the dead,” he said in a statement. “This is especially the case in the Northern parts of Gaza and Khanyouns. People there use donkeys and horses to send the dead and injured to hospitals in Rafah.”

Dr Saif said for some animals, the charity’s food and first aid came too late to save them. “Shrapnel has killed some and injured many. This is why they are very vulnerable,” he said. But for others, these clinics had proved to be a lifeline.

“There's certainly very good improvement to the majority of cases we've treated. It's important to mention that we have done all this even though we don't have enough equipment and medicine. We can accomplish far more if we soon receive medicine and the necessary equipment.”

Safe Haven for Donkeys CEO Andy Foxcroft added: “More vital shipments of food and medicines for animals are desperately needed in Gaza - the donkeys and horses will only be able to support their owners and the community if they are fed and cared for.”

The charity recognised that this was “a horrific and tragic human conflict”, he said. “But by supporting Safe Haven for Donkeys’ new emergency Gaza team - ensuring animals are fed and their painful wounds are treated - we can help their owners and the wider community.”

You can donate to Safe Haven for Donkeys’ urgent appeal for Gaza here.