SPANA (the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad) was among the winners at the recent Charity Film Awards 2023. For the second year in a row, the global working animal charity was voted by the public to receive a prestigious People’s Choice Award.
SPANA’s film, ‘International Working Animal Day 2022’, highlighted the essential role of working animals, including horses, donkeys and camels, in people’s daily lives across the world and the help these animals urgently need.
Globally, an estimated 200 million working animals support the livelihoods of families in low-income communities, through such activities as transporting food, water, goods and firewood. However, working animals often face difficult lives and poor welfare, working in extreme conditions, with no available veterinary care when they are sick or injured.
SPANA works to transform the welfare of working animals across the world, through global activities that include ensuring the provision of veterinary treatment, training for owners in animal care and the teaching of animal welfare for children.
“SPANA is honoured to have our work recognised at the Charity Film Awards 2023,” said David Bassom, Director of Global Fundraising, Marketing and Communications at SPANA. “We are hugely grateful to everyone who voted for our film – it is due to the incredible support from the public that SPANA has received a People’s Choice Award for the second year running.
“The Charity Film Awards are helping us to raise invaluable awareness about the enormous challenges facing working animals across the world and the real difference SPANA makes to their lives. We rely entirely on the kindness of our supporters, who make it possible for SPANA to be there for working animals in desperate need. By putting the spotlight on the plight of working animals, we hope this will grow support for SPANA’s vital work and enable us to improve the lives of many more animals.”
SPANA is marking its centenary in 2023. The charity was founded 100 years ago, in 1923, by British mother and daughter, Kate and Nina Hosali, who travelled across North Africa in the early 1920s and were struck by the suffering and neglect of many of the working animals they encountered. Last year, SPANA provided vital care and support to more than 291,000 working animals across the world.
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