Life's no beach for holiday donkeys

Hundreds of thousands of horses and donkeys are suffering overseas due to tourists, yet many holidaymakers are unaware of their impact and how to act responsibly when they encounter working animals abroad.

While British beach donkeys are regulated - no passengers over eight stone, a day off each week and a one hour lunch break - overseas it is a different story.



Egypt and Jordan have been recognised by the Brooke, the UK’s leading overseas equine welfare charity, as popular tourist destinations that widely use horses and donkeys for tourist trade.

With recent ONS statistics showing that the number of Brits travelling to Jordan doubled last year and that nearly half a million British people travelled to Egypt within the first nine months of 2008, it is important that British travellers are aware of the issues concerning the use of working animals abroad. Horses and donkeys are used to taxi tourists across difficult and dangerous terrain to historical landmarks.



The animals are often over-worked, under-watered and under-fed, 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 and quibble over the last pound. Owners, whose livelihoods are dependent 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.

The Brooke has released video footage and images from popular British tourist destinations including the Temples of Luxor and the Ancient City of Petra, showing that many tourists disregard the welfare of animals while they have fun in the sun.