For donkeys condemned to the tourism industry, there are no holidays.
Most of their long days will be spent hauling tourists in the often scorching heat—their exhausted legs nearly buckling under the load, their abscessed hooves aching with each agonizing step. Sometimes, their owners leave them so hungry that they resort to scavenging food from garbage cans, all the while steering clear of cruel humans who might beat them, throw rocks at them, or even slash them with razor blades.
A PETA Asia investigation revealed the misery and abuse that donkeys faced when they were forced to carry visitors in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan; on the Greek island of Santorini; or at other tourist sites. Most of these gentle, sensitive animals are denied proper food, water, rest, and even the most basic care—but rather than providing treatment for donkeys' painful, fly-infested wounds and other ailments, owners often use violence to make them keep working despite their pain.
One donkey in Petra was seen being beaten in the head 14 times with a heavy, sharp object, nearly amputating his right ear. There's no telling what his fate might have been were it not for the 80 stitches that a PETA Asia veterinarian used to save the ear and sew up his severe facial injuries. And other malnourished donkeys, stricken with colic after eating plastic from trash cans, would surely have died if they hadn't received emergency surgeries at PETA Asia's clinic.
While lockdowns may have brought tourism to a temporary standstill, donkeys' suffering hasn't ended—and PETA's determined to prevent a return to "business as usual" when global travel resumes.
Despite the many challenges of working during the pandemic, PETA Asia's team is still active in Jordan, treating and feeding hundreds of hungry, injured, and overworked animals and providing crucial humane education to help instill respect and compassion in animal owners. Through creative advertising, petitions, celebrity support, and costumed demonstrations at embassies, PETA and our affiliates are keeping pressure on government agencies to end donkey rides and replace the miserable animals with cruelty-free and eco-friendly electric vehicles. And our exposés and online resources are inspiring the public to embrace fun, safe, and humane travel activities.
PETA can't let up until every one of these donkeys can live free from suffering, abuse, and hard labor!
Thank you for your dedication to donkeys and for everything that you do to help animals.
Kind regards,
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President
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