Photos: PETA ‘Donkeys’ Demand End to Greece’s Animal ‘Taxis’ at Embassy

Photos: PETA ‘Donkeys’ Demand End to Greece’s Animal ‘Taxis’ at Embassy

London – Today, with temperatures still high in Santorini, a pack of PETA supporters in donkey masks gathered outside the Embassy of Greece in Holland Park to pressure officials to ban donkey and mule rides on the Greek Island. A PETA exposé showed the animals tethered in the blazing sun, without access to water or shade, and forced to transport tourists up more than 500 steep steps to the old town of Firá, even though a cable car has been operating nearby for a decade.

Images from the action are available here.

“Greece’s mule and donkey rides are a Sisyphean nightmare,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “PETA is calling on officials to retire these long-suffering animals to reputable sanctuaries and embrace modern means of transportation.”

A recent law prevents owners from burdening their donkeys with weights exceeding 100 kilograms, even though, according to veterinary recommendations, donkeys shouldn’t carry more than 20% of their body weight – approximately 50 kilograms. What’s more, many animals stumble – often after being beaten with a stick by a handler – endangering nearby tourists who are on foot.

None of the existing measures taken by the government to protect the animals are sufficiently monitored or enforced, and misconduct is rarely punished. PETA is demanding an immediate ban on donkey and mule rides.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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