Let's Stop Cruelty to Animals . . .
I am writing my column on Thursday, which is predicted to be the hottest day of the year and temperatures could reach 38 degrees. I wonder if the horses that take tourists around the city of Salzburg, in horse-drawn carriages, will be given another day off. Animal rights groups, both in Salzburg and Vienna, are demanding that the horses be taken out of the heat as they are suffering. The drivers, on the other hand, keep insisting that the horses stay put, as it is their busiest time of the year and the horses are their only source of livelihood. The official veterinaries suggest that the horses should have a break from midday to 4pm on extremely hot days, but it can be just as hot at 4pm as it is at noon. As the discussions continue, the poor horses are still huddled together in the shade of the Salzburg Cathedral and St. Stephen’s Cathedral, in Vienna. By the time the officials come to some sort of conclusion, the heatwave will be over.
It is important that people pay attention to the well-being of animals as they don’t have the possibility to speak for themselves. Of course, the "Fiaker" take care of their horses, but in other countries this is not the case. When I worked as a tour guide in Marbella, Spain, I refused to sell tickets for the bullfight and of course got into trouble for doing so. But this was the cruellest tourist attraction I had ever seen and I was determined not to give it any publicity. These magnificent bulls suffered in an unimaginable way and I couldn’t bring myself to be part of this. In 2011, the government in Barcelona banned bullfighting in Catalonia, but Madrid and Andalusia continue to host bullfights throughout the summer and the stadiums are usually full.
Travel agents are also becoming more aware of the cruelty to animals that is taking place in some tourist destinations. Thomas Cook, for example, has been running welfare audits on 49 animal attractions in holiday destinations and sent animal welfare specialists to check them out. When the results and the scientific evidence came back, it decided to remove 29 of them from its books. They have stopped selling tickets for Seaworld in the United States and Loro Parque in Tenerife because of concerns about the welfare of killer whales in captivity. The tour operator sold 10,000 tickets last year at £100 apiece. Needless to say, the Orlando-based attraction, which has been fighting with animal rights activists since 1990, was not too pleased. Seaworld said it provided "incredible care" for its animals, which they are bound to say as they risk losing millions of dollars in business. However, many people believe that these magnificent creatures should be free and swimming in the ocean.
A new report by the World Animal Protection has criticised the popular honeymoon islands of Bali and Lombok for being amongst the worst destinations in the world when it comes to animal cruelty. Most of the wildlife entertainment venues that were investigated, did not meet the basic needs of captive wild animals. Elephants, tigers, dolphins and civet cats were found to be living in horrific conditions – just to please the tourists. Elephant rides and elephant shows used to be very popular until tourists began to realise that these animals were suffering and TripAdvisor ceased to sell tickets to "cruel" animal attractions in 2016. Swimming with dolphins sounds quite harmless, until you realise that some dolphins have their teeth filed down or removed to make sure that they do not bite.
No animal should suffer for the sake of tourists or a "selfie" opportunity.