Fat tourists are crippling donkeys that carry them on holiday in Greece
by Jane Wharton
A guide leads a group of tourists on donkeys and mules through the streets of Fira, the capital of the Greek island of Santorini (Picture: AFP)
Greece is breeding a new kind of donkey to cope with overweight British tourists wanting to ride them, it has emerged.
Donkeys on the picturesque island of Santorini are being crippled by carrying overweight holidaymakers up the steep cobbled hills. Now locals are starting to breed their donkeys with stronger mules so it is easier for them to carry fatter tourists.
A spokesman for charity Help the Santorini Donkeys told the Mirror: ‘They’re having to resort to using cross-bred mules, as the donkeys just aren’t strong enough.
‘It’s recommended animals carry no more than 20% of their body weight.
‘Obese and overweight tourists combined with the lack of shade and water, heat and cobbled steps is what’s causing such a problem.’