For Immediate Release:
May 24, 2023
Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382
San Diego – After hearing from PETA, locally based luxury tour operator Scott Dunn, which also has offices in London and Singapore, has agreed to stop promoting and selling tickets for exploitative camel rides at the pyramids of Giza and has confirmed to PETA U.K. that it doesn’t promote marine parks or elephant rides. In thanks, PETA U.K. is sending the company delicious vegan chocolates.
The move follows a recent video exposé from PETA Asia showing that camels used for rides at the pyramids of Giza and other top Egyptian tourist attractions are beaten bloody, yanked by the nose, forced to walk on their knees, and tied up. 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 and slaughtered for meat.
“Thanks to its new policy, Scott Dunn’s clientele will enjoy the stunning views at Giza without supporting abusive and deadly animal rides,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is celebrating Scott Dunn for taking a stand for animals and urges other tourism companies to follow its lead.”
Scott Dunn joins several other tour operators nationwide in removing the rides from its site. PETA Asia is calling on the governor of Giza to investigate the traders who have been caught abusing the camels and for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to remove animal rides from the Giza site.
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. For more information about PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
