Donkey carrying water during drought (Pic: The Brooke)

Brooke is an international charity that protects and improves the lives of working horses, donkeys and mules that give people in the developing world the opportunity to work their way out of poverty.

Over 100 million of these animals are the backbone of developing communities and their best means of making a living.

Without healthy working horses, donkeys and mules, around 600 million people wouldn’t be able to put food on their tables, send their children to school or build better futures for themselves and their families.

Brooke delivers significant and lasting change, even in some of the world’s most challenging areas. They use their expertise to work with owners, communities, service providers, governments and international organisations.

Operating in 11 different countries, and funding projects in four others, Brooke now reaches over two million working horses, donkeys and mules each year.

Brooke was set up in 1934 by Dorothy Brooke, the wife of a British cavalry officer, who travelled to Cairo in Egypt in 1930 to seek out the abandoned war horses of the First World War. She set up the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital, which later became Brooke.

To find out more about the Brooke and their work, visit their website www.thebrooke.org