“Behind every camel-ride photo posted online is a hideously violent trade that leaves camels beaten and bloodied before ultimately sending them to slaughter,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk.
GIZA, EGYPT – As people make their travel plans for 2023 – with post-pandemic tourism in Egypt growing more than 60% from 2021 to 2022 – a new video exposé from PETA Asia shows that camels used for rides at the Great Pyramid of Giza and other top Egyptian tourist attractions are beaten bloody, prodded, yanked, tugged by the nose, and tied up and forced to walk on their knees.
The video was taken in Birqash Camel Market, the chief supplier of camels to the Egyptian tourism industry. It shows camels with bloody faces and men repeatedly whipping and hitting the animals as they scream. The animals’ legs are tied tightly together to prevent them from moving or escaping, and some camels are tied to the backs of vehicles and dragged through the dirt. When their bodies are too worn out to use for rides, they’re sold to be killed for meat.
“Behind every camel-ride photo posted online is a hideously violent trade that leaves camels beaten and bloodied before ultimately sending them to slaughter,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges every traveler to leave animal rides off their itineraries in Egypt and worldwide.”
PETA Asia is calling on the governor of Giza to investigate the traders who have been caught abusing the camels at the market and for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to remove animal rides from the Great Pyramid of Giza.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
Tourists Leave Shocked and Appalled
Travel review sites are filled with comments from travelers denouncing the abuse that they witnessed to both camels and horses:
- “I travel all over the world and have witnessed animal abuse but what I saw at the pyramids is by far the worst. If you are planning to go first read up on this, I wish I had done so before. The horses and camels work in deplorable conditions in the heat, no water, no rest, beaten.”
- “Injured camels, forced to work without proper hydration. Not impressed. We brought this to their attention and the staff ignored us.”
- “Very bad animal welfare on the camels and horses underneath the blankets they are walking skeletons. Do not ride these poor animals it is animal abuse.”
- “These poor horses and camels are beat for any reason.”
- “We didn’t ride any camels or horses as after seeing the way they treat them we didn’t want to contribute to the abuse, the poor animals are worked into the ground and it’s heartbreaking to see.”
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
