Bóthar
Bóthar is a charity operating in Ireland and the United Kingdom specialising in helping poor farmers in Africa and third world countries to become self-sufficient by giving them livestock. The charity began in 1989 and sent its first animals in 1991.[1] By sending cows, goats, camels, pigs, trees and providing education and veterinary back up, Bóthar helps tackle poverty and support sustainable development.
Irish BSE and Foot and Mouth Outbreak
In 1996 Europe was faced with the crisis of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and this brought a halt to heifer airlifts for two years. During this period the only animals that Bothar sent abroad were dairy goats. However Bothar continued to assist wherever they could with veterinary supplies, vehicles, artificial insemination straws and training literature. During this period Bothar was forced to broaden its scope and look in other directions for ways of assisting struggling families in the developing world. Bóthar began investigating other countries that needed assistance and also researched other types of farm animals that they could work with. This led, subsequently, to the establishment of both the chicken and pig projects in Cameroon. More recently Bothar have established bee projects in five African countries: Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Cameroon and Zambia, a breeding yak programme in Tibet and a rabbit programme in China. Following the lifting of embargoes after recent Irish foot and mouth outbreaks, the heifer programme has continued to expand and now operates in Cameroon, Rwanda, Uganda, Lebanon, Malawi, Albania and Kosovo and Bothar goats are now present in Tanzania, Kenya, Lebanon, Mozambique, Poland, Uganda and Gambia.