Beware of animal cruelty when you’re on holiday

It seems like such a fun activity to do when you’re on holiday: riding a donkey in Greece or an elephant in Thailand. According to animal welfare organisations, you have to be really cautious about this, though. These animals are often treated very poorly and they sometimes even die due to injuries and exhaustion. Don’t participate in this; avoid animal suffering!

Don’t contribute to animal cruelty.

Donkeys in Greece

You might have heard about the donkeys in Santorini. Santorini is a picturesque Greek island with tons of steep stairs. Because of these stairs, donkeys are often used to carry stuff up and down the island. To make a little extra money, the donkeys are also used to carry tourists from the harbour up to the top of the island. If you know these donkeys can actually only carry a maximum weight of 50 kilograms, you’ll know that the average adult person is much too heavy for them. Those poor donkeys often end up with wounds caused by the saddles or even broken backs because of the weight. They don’t get enough water and rest and they’re often treated badly by their owners. When the donkeys are too old or simply no longer up to the tasks set for them, they’re left behind or pushed off a cliff. Animal rights group ‘Help the Santorini Donkeys’ calls on tourists to not get onto these donkeys and just walk up the island themselves. Can’t do it? Then just stay below.

Elephants in Thailand

Many people love taking a ride on an elephant when they’re on holiday in Thailand. Unfortunately, most of these people don’t know how much animal cruelty goes on in this industry. The elephants are separated from their mothers at a very young age and are then ‘raised’ as a money machine. They are mistreated and abused for days and weeks on end so they will perform the tricks they need to know on command. The elephants are locked into small cages without food or water and they are tortured with sticks. They call this the breaking of the soul. A lot of young elephants don’t survive this process. The elephants that do survive first go into the circus to entertain people there. When they’re grown up they are sold so people can ride on them.

Do you want to know how you can recognise good and bad elephant tourism in Thailand? Go to the next page to keep reading.

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