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| MSU undergraduate students (L-R) Danielle Vandine, Laura Simmons, Francesca Church, Christine Hudecek, Melissa Liszewski, Steph Dawes, Beth Ventura, Andrea Trist, and Sarah Gray will travel to Brazil this summer. Photo by Kurt Stepnitz, University Relations. Hi-res jpg. |
MSU women to globetrot to improve horse welfare in Brazil
Contact: Adroaldo Zanella, animal welfare, (517) 432-4134; or Sue Nichols, University Relations, (517) 353-8942
The downtrodden urban work horses of southern Brazil have friends at Michigan State University.
Nine undergraduate women and Animal Behavior and Welfare Group director Adroaldo Zanella will spend three weeks in Brazil in June working along side students and faculty there. The MSU Equine Welfare Interaction Strategy-Action team (EQWIS-Action) will assess and improve the lives of some of the more than 6,600 working horses in and around Porto Alegre and Passo Fundo, Brazil.
“It’s kind of a thrill knowing that you’ll make a difference in these people’s and these animals’ lives,” Beth Ventura, a MSU student and EQWIS member, said. “That’s such
a
big thing.”
In parts of Brazil, as in low-income countries throughout the world, the horse is an impoverished family’s key to survival. Human poverty and animal suffering are side by side in these areas, Zanella said.
The urban environment is particularly hard on horses. They haul daunting loads of garbage or wood through crowded streets. At night, short tethers hold them to ground strewn with trash while they pick futilely at sparse clumps of weeds.
The animals’ condition is not the result of intentional cruelty, but a lack of education and poverty, Zanella said. The team understands the human-horse connection and has designed a tailored approach to this situation that involves horse owners and their families.
The goal is to teach adults and children to appreciate their horse and understand that a horse can be a member of the family, EQWIS-Action member and MSU student Melissa Liszewski said.
EQWIS-Action’s long-term goal is to raise $240,000 to build and maintain an animal welfare training center in southern Brazil where horse owners and their families can go for an educational crash course in horse husbandry, nutrition and management. The half-day-long courses will be taught by MSU and students from the University of Passo Fundo. So far, the team has raised 10 percent of the funds and is actively seeking financial donations.
“It’s quite an ambitious undertaking and we want to have a student-based activity with faculty support,” Zanella said. “That is what makes this program unique. It’s student driven and the energy they bring is contagious.”
Three years ago, the EQWIS team spent 10 days in southern Brazil assessing the work horses’ condition. More than 50 percent of the horses showed signs of dehydration, malnutrition and harness lesions. Thanks to volunteers and donated medical supplies, many of the horses received vaccinations, supplements and supplies for a more nutritious diet.
“I think it’s important to work on equine welfare because it’s not just about the horses. It’s about the people too,” Steph Dawes, MSU student and member of EQWIS-Action said. “The horses’ quality of life will not only be improved, but the community will benefit too.”
While in Brazil the students will have a busy agenda. It includes:
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Conducting a survey of the work horse owners in Porto Alegre, the world’s work horse capital, and assessing horse lameness, work load size and distance traveled.
Currently EQWIS-Action’s focus is in Brazil, but Zanella said in the future he would like to expand the program to other countries. Zanella’s brother, Ricardo Zanella, currently studying at the Washington State University in Walla Walla, Wash., has nurtured the EQWIS-Action program in Brazil the last three years and will mentor the MSU team.
To learn more about EQWIS-Action or to make a donation, visit the team’s Web site at www.msu.edu/~zanella/eqwis_action.html or send an e-mail to msueqwis@msu.edu.
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