Our Work in Jordan
April 11, 2025
In the caves and wadis surrounding Petra, Jordan, animals forced to work at the ancient ruins desperately need veterinary care. Those who use animals are often misinformed or uninformed about basic animal care. But with support from the Global Compassion Fund, the Petra Veterinary Clinic (PVC) provides these animals with the only medical services most have ever received, free of charge.
Lame donkeys aren’t an unusual sight around the tourist spot as the animals struggle to haul tourists on their backs along rocky paths and up and down the crumbling stone steps to the temple. Donkeys commonly go without water—usually only available from one trough in the vast expanse of the desert ruins, and sometimes that has been without a drop—as they work, compounding their misery. One typical day, for instance, the PVC team received a call from one owner reporting a donkey who couldn’t move because of leg pain. Once on the scene, their examination revealed a nail deeply embedded in his hoof. The team worked quickly to alleviate his pain, then carefully extracted the rusty spike, treated his wound, and gave him an antibiotic. The gentle donkey appeared grateful, leaning in for a few head scratches and bits of carrot before the veterinary team headed to the next case.
Being made to go without water throughout the long, hot, dusty days, eating garbage, then getting a dose of barley, and so on, leads some animals used in the Petra tourism industry to develop colic, a truly agonizing condition. Dry food offered at night cannot pass through their dehydrated digestive systems, causing debilitating distress. A horse owner alerted the clinic when his mare began rolling on the ground, desperate to relieve her stomach pain. They frequently see animals in this condition, and as soon as the call came in, they hurried to her side. The clinicians administered IV fluids, drained the contents of her stomach with a gastric tube, and administered other medicines to ease her symptoms. As their sweet patient slowly returned to normal, the team educated her owner on preventing another emergency.
Animals at the tourist site are commonly tethered closely together and must share the only water trough, allowing illnesses to spread. This donkey was running a fever, and his tongue was infected and covered in blisters caused by equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious condition. PVC vets regularly treat animals for these types of communicable diseases and vaccinate them to help stop the spread.
Please help the Petra Veterinary Clinic bring relief to Jordan’s working animals with your support of the Global Compassion Fund. And spread the word to other people who might like to help, too. Thank you.