Stop animal abuse now!

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GO TO:http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/1706_animals_matter.cfm?redirect=yes

SO YOU CAN GIVE ANIMALS A BETTER FUTURE BY SIGNING A PETITION THAT CAN CHANGE THEIR LIVES
Join the more than 1 million who have already signed.
Help us reach 2 million in 2008.

Every day millions of animals are born into lives of unspeakable suffering. Every day millions more suffer terrible deaths.

The only way to stop this cycle of cruelty is to get Governments to agree to end it. That is what a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare is all about and why you should vote to support it.

By signing the petition you will be conveying to your Government that animals – and their welfare – matter to you.

Please add your name to the million already collected. Governments are beginning to listen. Soon they will act. Every vote counts.

http://www.spana.org/appeals/current_appeal.php

Project Fresh Water - because even donkeys can't run on empty.We all take water for granted. It’s there when we need it, at the turn of a tap, and hard to imagine what life would be like without it. But water shortages are an issue in most places where SPANA works, and the problem is getting worse. Seasonal rains are becoming less reliable, and that affects both people and their animals.

Marrakech has been badly affected by several years of low rainfall. In summer, the city is stifling, but the hundreds of donkeys, mules and horses continue to work, pulling their heavy loads while exhausted by the heat. In the overcrowded streets, there are precious few drinking troughs for animals (the one outside the SPANA refuge is a notable and popular exception!), and those that do exist are bone dry and falling apart.

We knew that we had to do something the day that a Mule named Halim shuffled through the gates of our refuge. He was severely dehydrated, after standing all day long at a market in the searing heat with no water. The owners son, Rabi, had noticed Halim was suffering, and led him across the stifling city to the water trough outside our refuge where he was spotted by one of our vets. Halim’s tongue was bone dry and Rabi had to cup the water in his hands and help him drink. After some rehydration fluids and a good rest, Halim made a full recovery, but we knew we had to do something for all the other animals in the same situation.

So Project Fresh Water was born. At 11 points around Marrakech we would build water troughs, much like the old stone ones that can still be found today in villages and towns. They would be situated on routes where working animals travel to and fro, and also near the waiting points for the hundreds of caleche horses, who would also benefit from a drink.

With the backing of the city authorities, our next step was to work out how to fill the troughs, so we came up with the idea of a mobile water tank that would top them up with clean, fresh water every day.

It’s such a simple idea, but one that will make such a difference to hundreds of working animals every single day.

And you can help us make it happen. We need to raise £30,000 to get project Fresh Water off the ground. We’ve worked out that the cost of filling all the troughs with water every day is just £14. These troughs will last for years, like the ones we still see now from Victorian times. They will serve as a lasting legacy, from both SPANA and you, to the hard-working animals in the city of Marrakech. Please give generously, and help us give hardworking animals the water they need to survive.