Petplan Charitable Trust has awarded £10,000 to equine charity Brooke to support the development of a new welfare assessment tool.

Designed for use on Android tablets, the app enables staff at Brooke to conduct assessments on animals and to monitor and evaluate equine welfare.

Forty different aspects of physical and emotional welfare can be recorded on the app known as the Standardised Equine Based Welfare Assessment Tool (SEBWAT). Staff can also take photographs of each animal for identification and monitoring. The data gathered gives the charity a broader view of the welfare areas that need to be addressed most urgently. Thus Brooke can provide the right kind of help to the animals who need it most.

With the help of the grant, the app is now being used across the charity’s eleven country programmes. It has already significantly improved the accuracy and efficiency with which welfare data can be recorded and communicated. Previously, data was recorded on paper or electronic clipboard before being manually transferred to an online database. This was a time-consuming process with too much scope for human error. With 15,435 assessments carried out in one year alone, it’s not hard to see how transformative this new tool has been.

Making life better for working horses and donkeys

Brooke is an international charity that works to improve the welfare of working horses, donkeys and mules around the world. It also helps the people who depend on these animals. From coalmine donkeys in Pakistan to horses working at a refuse and recycling site in Mexico, Brooke reaches out to suffering animals and works with them and their owners to improve their quality of life.

The charity has a presence across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, with teams of vets, animal welfare experts and other specialists working to improve the lives of over 1.8 million working animals. As well as treating sick animals, the charity undertakes education work with the owners of working horses, donkeys and mules, showing them how to ensure their animals can lead a happy and healthy life. Brooke also works with vets to improve the quality of care they can provide, and helps develop high-level animal welfare policy with governments.

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