PETA's Guide to Compassionate Living

Tips for an Animal-Friendly Holiday Travelling this summer? Fantastic! Everybody needs a holiday. But don’t add cruelty to your itinerary by visiting marine parks, roadside zoos, captive-dolphin shows, or beaches that offer donkey rides. Animals in these dismal destinations never get a holiday. Day in and day out, they’re confined to tiny cages or pools or tethered in a barren spot without shelter from the elements. They live an unfulfilled life that is light years away from what nature intended, and they’re forced to dance around in tutus in the circus or give rides all day long in the heat – or worse. Europe offers so many great opportunities for tourists that your trip can be crammed full of cruelty-free memories. You should walk the other way whenever any attraction includes captive animals. Here are four of the worst: Cruelty-Free Travel Every year, tourists travel to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls, during which bulls are forced to run through the slippery, narrow city streets to the bullring. After the run, the bulls are fought in the arena. Petroleum jelly is often rubbed into their eyes, and heavy sandbags are dropped on their backs to weaken and disorientate them before they’re sent out into the bullring, where they’re then taunted, stabbed repeatedly, and finally killed by the matador in a stadium full of screaming onlookers. The majority of Spaniards reject bullfighting – please don’t support this archaic spectacle. Running of the Bulls (Pamplona, Spain)

What to Do if You Spot Cruelty When travelling, it’s always best to be prepared for the unexpected. Before you go, use WorldAnimal.net to obtain contact

information for local shelters and animal groups in the areas

where you’ll be travelling, and carry this information with you. Then if you see a horse-drawn carriage, travelling animal exhibitor, or other abusive

Horse-Drawn Carriages (throughout Europe)

© PETAAsia

“attraction” with sick, listless, or otherwise distressed animals, you can turn to locals for help.

City streets are no place for horses. The animals toil in all weather extremes, suffering from respiratory distress caused by inhaling exhaust fumes as well as numerous hoof, leg, and back problems from walking on pavement all day long. As skittish prey animals, horses who are subjected to the loud noises and unexpected sounds of city streets are inevitably involved in accidents – often deadly ones. Bikes, buses, and even boats offer safe and humane sightseeing.

First, document what you see: take photographs or video footage and note the date, time, and location. Do the animals have water and food available to them? Are they confined amid filth or exhibiting signs of injury or illness? Then turn your information over to the local contacts. Tell the managers of hotels, restaurants, or other facilities that are hosting or promoting the animal exhibit that you and other kind people won’t visit if suffering editor of your hometown newspaper asking those with travel plans to skip the cruelty, and be sure to post negative reviews on online travel sites. animals are present. Write a letter to the

© traslosmuros.com

Marine Parks (worldwide)

Cruel marine parks such as SeaWorld (US), Loro Parque

(Tenerife, Spain), and Marineland (France) keep highly intelligent orcas imprisoned in small tanks. These animals, who would swim over 100 miles a day in the open ocean, are forced to spend their entire lives confined to these tiny, concrete cells, in which they can do

Donkey Rides (throughout Europe)

The beach is great for humans – we can sunbathe or go for a dip when we get too hot. But it’s pure hell for the donkeys who are forced to cart children around on the hot sand. Some donkey-ride operators at beach resorts in Europe even keep the animals chained together at all times. Instead of going for a donkey ride, swim in the sea or build a sandcastle.

nothing but swim endlessly in circles. A great alternative is to watch a wildlife documentary or an IMAX film to learn more about these fascinating marine mammals.