Horses, donkeys and mules provide essential support in conflict-affected areas. Their welfare during conflict operations and refugee situations receives little international attention despite enormous need.
Working equines in conflict zones experience some of the most severe welfare conditions of any domestic animals globally. Blast injuries cause traumatic wounds, deafness and psychological trauma. Animals working without veterinary care develop progressive injuries and disease that cause prolonged suffering without treatment. Exhaustion from extraordinary working demands during humanitarian operations affects animals that are themselves underfed in food-insecure environments. Abandoned animals in conflict zones face starvation, injury and death without the care they received as domestic animals. The humanitarian importance of working equines - providing essential transport when infrastructure is destroyed - makes their welfare a development and humanitarian issue as well as an animal welfare concern.