More than 32 million horses and donkeys were helped over the past year by working animal charity Brooke, through its advocacy work.  

Brooke’s latest Annual Report shows the charity directly supported more than 1.5 million working horses and donkeys and 32.8 million indirectly, working with almost 3 million people and more than 11,000 communities.  

The direct reach includes veterinary and farriery treatment by Brooke trained practitioners, and skills training for individual owners, as well as other community focused work. 

Most indirect reach - a record high- comes from Brooke’s work with governments and policymakers to ban the donkey skin trade in Africa in February 2024, which will protect 32.6 million donkeys once fully implemented.  

Chris Wainwright, CEO of Brooke, said: “As Brooke marks its 90th anniversary of positive action for working horses, donkeys and mules, I am tremendously proud of what we achieve together as an organisation.  

“We have exceeded our target in all aspects of our work, including the number of working animals we’ve reached, which is no mean feat. 

“This is just another step on the path to ensuring every working horse, donkey and mule around the world has a life worth living.” 

In March this year, Brooke and the World Veterinary Association (WVA) launched the first-ever global list of essential veterinary medicines for food producing animals, including horses and donkeys. 

This list has been successfully endorsed in Ethiopia and will help improve veterinary care for working animals, with plans to expand its presence in 2025. 

The year saw Brooke help communities prepare for and build resilience to climate-related emergencies, including providing relief to over 46,000 animals who suffered in East Africa’s worst drought in 40 years during 2023. 

2024 marked Brooke’s 90th anniversary, commemorated by a Buckingham Palace reception hosted by the charity’s President, Her Majesty The Queen, on 9 May. 

This is the second year of Brooke’s new organisational strategy, ‘A Life Worth Living’, which includes transforming equine welfare in communities and developing sustainable animal health systems. 

Read Brooke’s full 2023/24 Annual Report here.