Greek Authorities Censor PETA Ads Against Cruel Donkey Rides

For Immediate Release:

21 June 2019

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

GREEK AUTHORITIES CENSOR PETA ADS AGAINST CRUEL DONKEY RIDES

Santorini Officials Refuse to Run Ads Highlighting Animals’ Suffering

London – Authorities on the Greek island of Santorini have refused to allow PETA to run ads on local buses and taxis that show an exhausted donkey next to the words “Donkeys Suffer for Tourists. Please Don’t Ride Them”. The group had intended to place them across the island in time for tourist season.

Images are also available here, here, here, and, here.

A local ad company representative explained that because many taxi and bus drivers also own donkeys who are forced to transport tourists up the steep Santorini steps, the municipality of Santorini refused to issue the necessary authorisation to run the campaign. The censored ad campaign follows a recent PETA eyewitness exposé revealing that handlers drag animals down the steps and whip and hit them with sticks to make them continue walking.

“Greek authorities should be stepping up and stopping donkeys from being marched into the ground in Santorini, not covering up the cruelty of forcing them to carry heavy loads of tourists up hundreds of steps,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “PETA is urging people everywhere to tell their travelling friends and family members to refuse to support this abuse and to use Santorini’s cable car instead.”

A new law passed this year prevents donkey and mule owners in Santorini 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. When not being made to carry extremely heavy loads on their backs, they’re often tethered in the blazing sun without access to water or shade.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. The group will be exploring other avenues for targeting tourists visiting Santorini this summer.

For more information about PETA and to take action for donkeys, please visit PETA.org.uk or click here.

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