The month of June is dedicated to the celebration of our founder, Dorothy Brooke. This remarkable woman changed the course of history for working horses, donkeys and mules, and her passion has continued to create lasting change for years to come through the work of Brooke and Brooke USA, with your support making everything possible.
Before embarking on her new life in Cairo with her husband Major-General Geoffrey Brooke, Dorothy had become aware of the fate of former war horses that were now languishing in poor conditions in Egypt. These horses had been born in the UK and were shipped overseas to serve in WW1, but they had never been returned home. The official reason at the time given for this was ‘lack of transport’, but it was a commonly held view that they were sold to Egyptian horse traders as the easiest option after the war, and many British horse lovers felt a sense of betrayal about this.
Now residing in Cairo, Dorothy felt a strong urge to seek out these horses and do whatever was needed to ease their suffering. It wasn’t an easy task at first – it took weeks of enquiries before she found her first one, an emaciated old chestnut horse with a clear army brand on his near quarter, whom she named Old Bill. He had served in Palestine once, but was in a terrible state now, with lifeless eyes and a gaunt frame supported by four shapeless swollen legs that trembled under his weight.
Dorothy went on to find hundreds of poorly and worn-out animals desperately in need of help. She set up the Old War Horse Campaign of Rescue and began raising the funds needed to buy the horses from their owners, the first stage in lifting them out of a life of pain.
To raise more funds, she wrote a letter to the Morning Post (which later became the Daily Telegraph) exposing their plight. The public were so moved they sent her the equivalent of £20,000 in today's money to help end the suffering of these once proud horses.
Within three years, Dorothy Brooke had purchased five thousand former war horses. Most were old, exhausted and had to be humanely put down. But thanks to her compassion, they ended their lives peacefully.
Dorothy Brooke knew thousands of hard-working horses, donkeys and mules were still out there suffering, so in 1934 she founded the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital in Cairo, with the promise of free veterinary care for all the city’s working horses and donkeys. And that is how The Brooke Hospital for Animals was born, and from which Brooke USA Foundation was born.
Happy birthday Dorothy and thank you!
