HERITAGE
Brooke USA would not exist today if it were not for the determination and passion of one woman: Dorothy Brooke. She served as the inspiration for the organization we are today.
Extraordinary people often describe the moments that defined their lives, and for Dorothy Brooke, that defining moment came when she arrived in Cairo, as the newly married wife of British cavalry officer Brigadier Geoffrey Brooke, in October of 1930.
Dorothy soon discovered that several thousand former British war horses who had served their country bravely during World War One had been left behind after the war. These noble animals had been sold into unimaginable hardship, doomed to lives of unending toil and unspeakable misery, working on the mean streets of Cairo in the early 1900s.
There is a significant possibility that some of the animals she discovered could have originally been American horses and mules who were sent from the U.S. to serve the British Army in Egypt.
...It was from this moment that her life became dedicated to the welfare of Egypt's working horses and donkeys.
Upon meeting one of those old war horses in particular, Dorothy wrote,
"I shall never forget the shock he gave me. I stood staring at him. Heaven knows the other horses were bad enough but somehow he was different.
"Obviously he had been a good horse, once. He had been happy and well fed as other horses had never been. He had been born in England; had known our green fields, had been groomed and cared for. He had moreover served in Palestine and had suffered hardships in that Campaign as few horses have endured in modern times. And then we had sold him into this."
Dorothy set about rescuing those heroic horses, and by the time she was through, more than 5,000 old war horses and mules had been reclaimed, and their suffering was peacefully ended.
Brooke founder Dorothy Brooke with some rescued war horses in Cairo in the 1930s.
Brooke USA partners With its sister organization Brooke to positively change the lives of working equines
Brooke USA grants funds to Brooke, Action for Working Horse and Donkeys, which are carefully reviewed, traced and monitored by the Brooke USA Board of Directors. These grants are made thanks to the generosity of friends and supporters across the United States.
Brooke, Headquartered In London, England, Is Widely And Highly Regarded As An International Leader In Equine Welfare. Brooke’s scientifically proven, sustainable equine welfare programs alleviate the suffering of animals while helping to ensure the livelihoods of the families who depend on them in some of the poorest countries on Earth.