![]() Exhaustion, dehydration, crippling injuries, lameness and disease take their toll on nearly 80 percent of working equines in the developing world. The majority of these equines experience chronic suffering and early mortality rates. ![]() Today more than 100 million horses, donkeys and mules in the developing world have similar jobs and suffer similar fates as the war horses as they labor to provide a livelihood for 600 million of the world’s poorest people. ![]() As a result, Dorothy Brooke, the wife of a British Army officer stationed in Cairo, Egypt, began her lifelong mission to rescue these equine war heroes, and start the organization that is now the world’s largest international equine welfare charity, Brooke. Sadly, most of the horses and mules who survived the war were later sold for slaughter or hard labor in the foreign countries where they served. The horrific smells, sounds, sights and the suffering that they endured alongside their soldiers can only be imagined. Horses also hauled military supplies such as medicine, food, water, ammunition, guns and other necessary resources to the front lines. Equines were a crucial part of the war effort, as they carried soldiers into battle and injured men to safety. The contributions of equines in WW1 were immeasurable, and the number of equine lives lost – some eight million – was just as significant. His image appears in the Horse Heroes campaign. “Old Bill”, one of the first former war horses Dorothy Brooke rescued. They were shod and kept at remount stations to recover from their trips overseas before they began their formal training as war horses. After several weeks at sea, the animals were admitted to quarantine upon arriving in England. Once bought for the war effort, the US horses and mules endured a strenuous journey that included traveling to a seaport and shipping in cargo holds across the Atlantic. Brooke USA is raising one dollar in memory of each of America’s horses and mules who served in World War I.
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