Every day, working animals across the world help with critical farming jobs, such as ploughing fields and harvesting crops, enabling their owners to grow food that keeps their communities healthy. Without these animals, access to food would be severely limited.
But despite the essential role they play, access to the care they need is often out of reach.
But at Working Animals International, we won’t let them be overlooked. By working alongside a network of partners around the world, we’re increasing access to essential veterinary care for working animals in need. We also support owners as they develop the knowledge and skills to look after their animals with confidence and care.
We’re creating lasting change for working animals, promoting long-term solutions. This includes campaigning for better welfare standards, providing animal welfare education to schoolchildren, and helping communities prepare and respond to emergencies so they can provide urgent relief to animals in crisis.
Together, we’re building a world where the animals working to keep their communities healthy are healthy and valued too.
Supporting animal owners
Bharat, from India, is just one of the people who depends on his working animals. His bullocks help him with agricultural and transport-related activities including ploughing, harvesting crops and transporting produce. Without his bullocks, these tasks would be incredibly difficult – the use of machinery on their hilly, fragmented land would not be feasible, or affordable. The bullocks’ assistance ensures that Bharat can continue the agricultural activities needed to support his livelihood, his children’s education, his family’s needs and provide a sense of security and stability.
Rukmini, features in the above video, also relies on her bulls to plough fields and earn an income to support her family. With the support of Working Animals International and our partner, Rukimi now has access to medication for her animals, animal welfare training to keep them healthy, and concrete cattle shed to ensure her animals have a safe, dry place to rest. “The buffalos, bulls and other animals we have are part of our family and they deserve care and respect”
Another working animal owner who features in the video is Ananta. He is grateful for the support Working Animals International could give their animals:
“Before your organisation began working in our area, our animals used to suffer from many illnesses, and some even died. Because of your organisation, the death rate among our animals has decreased, and they can now live in a clean place.”
Ashiel, from Zimbabwe, also featured in the above video. He has worked with donkeys for nearly 15 years. They help him plough his fields and transport the harvest to the mill. He has relied on the support from Working Animals International to help his animals for many years. He said: “The support we received included treating wounds and injuries on our donkeys. If a donkey is badly injured, they would give us medication to use and continue treatment at home. We are so grateful to them.”
India
Alongside our partners, Help in Suffering (HIS) and Action for Protection of Wild Animals (APOWA), we support the health and welfare of working animals in India through veterinary care, including providing vaccinations, treating injuries and preventing disease. Alongside this we also support owners in developing their skills and knowledge so they can care for their animals with confidence. And we increase the animal care skills of children and teachers through our education and teacher training programmes.
In collaboration with our project partners in India, we reached over 4,780 working animals and provided 11,575 treatments in 2025.
Zimbabwe
We have worked with our local partner in Zimbabwe since 2013 to provide veterinary assistance and drive improvements in working animal welfare.
In addition to operating mobile clinics, to provide veterinary treatments to working animals across the country, we engage schoolchildren in animal welfare education clubs and provide community members with information so they can make informed choices to improve the welfare of their animals.
We have also piloted programmes in disaster risk reduction so that communities can prepare for events outside of their control – such as droughts and floods.
You can find out more about our campaign, and the other roles that working animals play around the world, by visiting our Impossible to Overlook page.