10 Unbelievable Details Surrounding Overweight Tourists, Who Are Crippling The Donkeys On Santorini

6 /10 Disinfection Materials

Another part of the regulation requires donkey owners to take better responsibility for the animal’s well-being. Every donkey put to work must be confirmed healthy, to begin with.

The workstations and living quarters for the animals must also provide disinfectant materials.

In case of injuries or open wounds, a disinfectant can prevent infections and worsening conditions before a veterinarian gives the animals more intensive care.

Even when carrying a weight-appropriate load, a donkey can still suffer from injuries due to poorly-designed saddles and restraints.

5 /10 Decontaminated Water Container

Only healthy donkeys are allowed to carry weight. The rule states that unfit donkeys should not be used under any circumstances. Unfit donkeys are those found to be ill, injured, in advanced pregnancy, or with poorly-maintained hooves.

Appropriate and adequate food and water put into decontaminated containers must be easily accessible by the donkeys, and the container must be cleaned at least once a day.

The international program director at PETA UK suggested that an adult donkey could take a maximum of 500 steep steps five times a day while carrying 100kg of cargo.

4 /10 Increased Obesity

According to Christina Kaloudis, a co-founder of the Santorini Welfare Association, overweight tourists have increased three times higher in the past decade.

Most of them were from the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Tourists indeed pay to ride on donkeys, but animal rights campaigners argue that some of them are too heavy for the animals.

Charity organizations for animal welfare are especially concerned about crossbreeding issue. Some locals have no choice but to crossbreed their donkeys with mules to produce stronger animals.

3 /10 Whole Year Round Of Working

Animal activists point out overweight tourists and the donkeys’ working conditions. There are more than 560 steps from the starting point to the top of Santorini, and every animal makes up to five journeys on a typical day.

In the town of Fira, the temperature can reach 30 degrees Celsius. To make things worse for the donkeys, the holiday season on the island is now much longer than it used to be.

Without any weight restriction and improvement on animal welfare, every donkey is at risk of being put to work all year round.

2 /10 Barely Alive, Outside Shelter

Christina admits that some owners are unwilling to play by the regulation.

There are good owners, but things are still not good enough for the donkeys in general. Some donkeys are forced to work until their last breath; when the animals cannot transport tourists, the owners sometimes abandon them outside the shelter without care of any sort.

For the donkeys, their final walks are trips to death. Many owners don’t even bother paying the fee to put the donkeys to sleep. Instead, they choose to abandon the animals in terrible conditions.

1 /10 Social Media Campaign

Social media is part of the success in raising public awareness of donkeys’ welfare in Santorini. With pictures and videos circulating online, it has become more difficult for the locals to conceal the abuse.

Donkey Sanctuary in the UK has also expressed concerns about the evil practices of using animals for the tourism industry in Santorini.

It is not about stopping people from making money but encouraging them to treat animals fairly and humanely.

Despite the regulations set by the Greek government, the challenges remain mostly the same such as lack of shade and excessive workload.