PETA’s Global Compassion Fund: Bringing the Doctor to the Doorstep and the Desert

Veterinary Help and Healing Are the Mandate

When animals become ill or injured, they can only count on humans to notice and help. But what if their humans can’t afford a veterinarian – or if the nearest one is hundreds of miles away?

That’s where PETA’s Global Compassion Fund (GCF) saves the day. By funding staff and trusted partners on the ground worldwide, GCF delivers vital medical care to animals who would otherwise go without and even die without it – and prevents countless more from being born into hardship. Here are just a few recent cases.

Hoofing It to Help in Jordan

Limping slowly, this donkey carried tourists on her back along Petra, Jordan’s hot, rocky paths. But when she could no longer move, her owner called the Petra Veterinary Clinic, which is supported by PETA’s GCF. With one look, the veterinarians spotted the source of misery: a rusty nail driven deep into her hoof. The team administered painkillers, carefully removed the nail, and cleaned the wound with an anti-bacterial. Afterwards, their grateful patient leaned in for a head scratch and carrot pieces.

Last year alone, PETA’s GCF provided free veterinary care to 8,761 donkeys, horses, and camels forced to work at Petra’s ancient ruins, as well as some cats and dogs. The team also visits schools when it can, to give donkey touts’ children a different perspective on the animals they use and often grow up thinking are just unfeeling machines. In one lesson, the vets asked students to place a stone in their shoe and hop on one foot, to help them empathize with animals’ feelings of pain, fear, and relief.

Spay Days in India and Surgery for the Suffering

Diya wagged her tail bravely, despite the pain from a massive mammary tumor. A kind man who was feeding this village dog contacted GCF-supported Animal Rahat, and veterinarians performed the delicate surgery that made her life livable again. Once she recovered, the team vaccinated and spayed her – and returned her to the man who had looked out for her, who asked, “How can I ever thank you?”

Animal Rahat’s work is transforming whole communities: In 56 villages, they have sterilized every single dog – 5,467 animals – preventing many hundreds more from ending up sick, pregnant, and on the streets.

From Affliction to Affection in the Philippines

Cheddar, a tiny orange-and-white kitten, was fighting for every breath, wracked with a respiratory infection, and hobbling on a painfully infected leg, when PETA Asia’s team came across him. They rushed him to a veterinarian, and after weeks of care, his strength returned – along with his kitten-sized swagger. Today, he’s thriving in a loving home. Cheddar is one of 9,495 animals spayed or neutered this past year through PETA Asia’s Ampon Alaga program, which also provides emergency aid, humane education, and disaster relief.

Saved in the Nick of Time in Ukraine

In the war-ravaged Donbas region, a woman spotted a puppy with a collar embedded so deeply in his neck that it had sliced into his flesh. Desperate, she approached a stranger for help. By a stroke of luck, that stranger happened to work with Animal Rescue Kharkiv (ARK), PETA’s partner in Ukraine. Nick received lifesaving care, and his playful spirit soon returned.

We were deep in Konstantinovka – it’s swarming with drones. There were several situations yesterday that could have cost us our lives. A drone spotted us. We immediately parked the car under a tree. The drone hovered above us for at least two minutes, keeping us in its sights. It was waiting for us, with a grenade! In moments like that, all you can do is hope.”
—Simone, ARK team member

Since the war began, GCF-supported teams have saved the lives of more than 30,000 animals, including Mriya, a gentle cow gravely wounded by shrapnel. Terrified by the drones buzzing overhead, she froze in place, but ARK rescuers refused to abandon her. They patiently coaxed her into a trailer and evacuated her. She is now healing and enjoying treats fed to her by hand.

Rushing Relief to Romania

Tiny Alfie was clinging to life – he weighed barely a pound and couldn’t see a thing because his eyes were sealed shut with mucus – when the GCF-supported Eduxanima team found him. Under the team’s intensive care, the fragile kitten has blossomed into a lively youngster and has been adopted into a home where he’s adored. For seven years, the “PETA Helps Romania” program has been a lifeline in communities with no veterinary services, offering medical treatment and sterilizations to animals like Alfie, as well as teaching humane education in schools.

Putting the Brakes on the Crisis Worldwide

PETA’s Global Compassion Fund keeps expanding its lifesaving reach – including into South Africa and Peru. In Peru alone, some 24 million dogs and cats struggle to survive on the streets.

This little one won’t be adding to that number – a clinic supported by PETA’s GCF spayed her at no cost to her family. Since 2014, GCF-supported teams there have sterilized 2,577 dogs and cats, with no plans to stop!