Life's no beach for holiday donkeys

(14 May 2009)

Shock footage reveals horses and donkeys are paying the price for cheap rides and overweight tourists.

Horses and donkeys are used to taxi tourists across difficult and dangerous terrain to historical landmarks in destinations such as Egypt and Jordan.

Brooke, the UK's leading overseas equine welfare charity, says the animals are often overworked, under-watered and underfed, and have the added burden of frequently carrying passengers who are too heavy for them.

Haggling is common as credit crunch tourists negotiate rock-bottom prices. Owners, whose livelihoods depend on these earnings, are often left short-changed and are tempted to overwork the animals in their desperation to bring in enough money to feed their family.

Following the release of video footage and images showing that many tourists disregard the welfare of animals whilst they have fun in the sun, Brooke wrote a code of conduct for travellers.

The code of conduct advises tourists to match their size with the size of the animal and pay a fair price for a ride, as "bargaining means the animal will have to work harder and longer to bring in an income".

The number of people shouldn't exceed the number of wheels when using a horse and carriage and there should be only one person per animal when riding.