Sara Abou Bakr watches as animal rights organisations take to the street "He calls on his horses, they come galloping." Thus Ahmed, one of many young men who work in the stables clustred around the Pyramids -- all of whom have the deepest respect for Am Mohamed, perhaps the oldest in the business of renting horses to tourists; he has been thus employed, at any rate, since the age of 12. And he has loved every minute of it, judging by what he has to say. "I take care of my horses as well as I can," Am Mohamed was to explain, later, his face framed by the beasts in question, his peers gathering shyly to listen. Am Mohamed was among some 30 people gathered in the Pyramids stables last week for a two-day workshop organised by the Egyptian Society for Animal Friends (ESAF), the Brook Animal Hospital, the Giza Veterinary Department and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Cairo University. The workshop consisted of two programmes on camel and equine treatment and the implementation of the Humane Animal Population Control (HAPC) for stray animals. "Look at the number of people gathered seeking medication for their animals," Ahmed El-Sherbini, ESAF chairman, remarked as hordes of people approached pulling horses, donkeys, camels and goats. The health conditions of such "working animals", as well as of stray dogs and cats, may be rather poorly, he went on to argue. Considering the scene we were witnessing, however, this was less a result of intentional cruelty than of economic pressure. At least for two days, at a makeshift clinic set up for the purpose, animals received effective treatment. "Such work is not new for us," declaimed Brigadier Hassan Sami, general manager of Brook Animal Hospital, which tackles some 305,000 cases per year; the hospital charges LE 25-50, on average, excluding medication. "We have been treating working animals for more than 70 years in Egypt." And considering their vitality to the livelihood of a vast number of people, "it should be made clear that in helping animals, we help human beings as well." Of the illnesses in question the most common are back sores -- a side effect of long hours of saddling -- and leg infections; the latter can be quite painful. The owners are the first to recognise the importance of their animals to their livelihood; most of the time, indeed, as El-Sherbini goes on to assert, the abuse results from either ignorance or financial straits. The workshop was preceded by an intensive orientation session at the Oasis Hotel, where Ahmed Tawfiq, chairman of the General Organisation for Veterinary Services (GOVS) provided animal owners with information aimed at enhancing awareness of animal needs. It also provided for a neutering- spaying programme, the second by ESAF, the first having taken place at the Gezira Club last August. This is generally perceived as one of the more humane methods of reducing the number of stray dogs and cats and thus controlling diseases they might be responsible for spreading; the operation also involves vaccination against rabies. Yet by the end of the two days only two dogs and 10 cats had been treated, as opposed to 520 equines and 60 camels; this is partly justified by the open-air conditions. There was a logic to the choice of location, too. El-Sherbini explained that part of the purpose of the workshop was to counter Egypt's image as a hotbed of animal abuse -- and the Pyramids is a place with a high concentration of foreigners. Yet it presented workshop organisers with a major challenge -- obtaining permits in a high-security area. "Enormous amounts of red tape", as El-Sherbini put it -- and Sami concurred. Both expressed the concern that obtaining permits might in itself impede holding such workshops as often or as regularly as they hope to. That said, Brooke agreed to hold a weekly follow-up and implement an equine identification system in the area -- in direct collaboration with the tourism police. It was at this point in the conversation that a workshop participant came up and, chatting, told his donkey's story: "I got her almost a year ago after a car had run her over, crushing her legs and breaking a hoof -- she almost died in the accident. I've been checking her regularly since then." The man was interrupted by a young man galloping a horse at a mad pace. "Stop," shouted El-Sherbini. "That's the problem," he said. "The young." They are thought to hand out a good portion of the cruelty, which exists in Egypt, he said, the way it exists everywhere in the world. Those who abuse animals, he said, are themselves often the victims of (child) abuse. Being cruel to a weaker party is psychologically embedded in such people, who tend to come from economically depressed areas, where the bulk of the problem is found. Only 50 years ago, El-Sherbini added, economic conditions were sufficiently better for animals to receive better treatment on the whole. And this is the reason animal rights activists have been campaigning for including animal rights awareness in school curricula.
