Giant ‘Camels’ at Egyptian Consulate to Launch U.S. Protests Over Animal Rides
For Immediate Release:
July 3, 2023
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
On Thursday, a herd of PETA supporters wearing giant camel masks will hoof it to the Egyptian Consulate and demand a ban on using horses and camels to transport tourists at the Giza pyramids. The action follows newly released footage from PETA Asia showing that camels used for tourist rides are routinely beaten and bound at Egypt’s notorious Birqash Camel Market, including one who was tied to the back of a truck and dragged through the street.
When: Thursday, July 6, 12 noon
Where: Outside 180 N. Michigan Ave. (near the intersection with E. Lake Street), Chicago
PETA Asia has shared multiple videos of animal abuse with Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism—one showing a horse at Giza collapsing while pulling a carriage and being beaten until she managed to stand up again. Other videos show horses with open sores and severe, untreated injuries forced to wait for the next paying customer in the blistering heat without shade or water and trying to subsist by eating trash. The ministry previously pledged to ban the use of horses and other animals at tourist sites and replace them with electric carts but has failed to provide a definite date for implementing such a ban.
“While Egypt’s government drags its feet on banning animal rides, handlers are literally dragging animals through the streets and beating them bloody,” says PETA Asia Senior Vice President Jason Baker. “PETA is calling on the Egyptian government to start switching over to eco-friendly electric carts as promised and urges people never to ride an animal at any tourist attraction or anywhere else.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
