Children being weighed before donkey rides

The donkey owner is doing the correct thing, well done owner!

If he was putting the animal fortune wouldn’t be doing donkey rides

I worked in a school where a young single mother died suddently - she was morbidly obese and had a heart attack. Her two children - both seriously overweight - were cared for by average sized grandparents, but GM objected strongly to their being weighed at a school medical. In spite of losing her child she was refusing to see the potential outcome for two young children who were probably 50% overweight, and doing nothing to help them with their diet. I agree wholeheartedly with weighing children before they ride donkeys - these are sentient creatures and deserve better than staggering about overburdened and facing possible injury. There is far too much cruelty inflicted on these poor beasts of burden.

I applaud the owner for it, but it is something that needs to stop.

He could retire his donkey into a sun dappled meadow, and set up a mechanical bucking bronco.

Everyone could have a go on that for their entertainment.

It's always about personal responsibility. ( which is seriously lacking in UK. Litter throwing eg!!!!)
If you don't know roughly weight of your child maybe you should or not mind checking on scales. It's not fat shaming to protect an animal you will sit on!? It's a fact, are you too heavy or not!? No shaming at all

...don't you think this shaming thing gets taken out of context.? It's a personal thing about weight
No it shouldn't be mentioned if skinny or fat unless it's relevant to a topic you've agreed on

Good for him the donkey owner.

Good for the donkey owner. They are cared for well and get most if the year off.
To those that say we shouldn’t keep animals for our entertainment , i hope that you don’t keep a dog or cat.

I agree about the so called ‘fat shaming’. There are a lot of reels that pop up on Facebook posted by obviously very heavy people riding horses and even jumping them. The horses are usually very fine and clearly not up to the weight of the person on their back. This leads to lots of heated comments with some people pointing out the obvious only to be accused of ‘fat shaming’. This is followed by ‘you’re an amazing rider, you ‘ride light’, don’t listen to the haters etc etc’. It makes my blood boil. So much sense of entitlement, just like the parents who have no regard for the donkeys’ welfare.

At last, putting animals welfare first gets my vote.

correct ! Well said

BlueBelle

Donkeys shouldn’t be out in the hot sun walking all day with
6 st on their back It should be banned completely

This! Absolutely right.

Good idea that he’s thinking of his donkeys so he should be.

Donkey riding should be abolished. Animals cannot tell you when they are feeling ill and they are out day after day on a hot sandy beach walking back and forth all day.

They should strap a saddle on a human being and make them carry people on their backs on a hot day across hot sandy beacks.

I don't even like seeing dogs on leads being out on hot days, the pavements can get really hot. I have just come back from a holiday in the UK and could not believe how many poor dogs were being dragged through streets of shoppers and holidaymakers, terrible. The poor things.

I don't like donkey riding. Always feel sad for the animals.

However I am totally on the owners side. This isn't fat shaming. It's keeping the donkey safe which is far more important.

Maybe the parents of these kids should weigh their children first, before setting off for the seaside- if they know their kids are too heavy, they won’t need to fat shame them in front of the queue.

When I owned a donkey he really seemed to enjoy giving our kids and their friends a ride. If the donkeys you see on the beach were retired to a leafy meadow who would be paying for their keep and the the use of the land. Like most of us it’s a sad fact of life we have to earn our keep

Your donkey was in a very different situation. He didn’t have to walk up and down for hours every day in the heat with children on his back. I don’t agree that any animal has to earn its keep.

Me neither.
Let's face it, most pets would be given their matching orders if they had to "earn" the privilege of being kept by us.

Oh bum.
marching.

Good idea in my view…adding that I never really saw the fun in being led up the beach and back on a smelly-ish animal!

I totally agree with BlueBelle. It's cruel and very outdated now. There's plenty of other ways to amuse children at the beach.

Totally agree with you bigmamma taking dogs out in hot weather on hot pavements in and out of crowded shops Why???
Take the dog for a long cool walk early morning and evening and let it relax in between not cart it around hot crowded shops and pavements
It seems some people just cannot leave them at home

suelld

Good idea in my view…adding that I never really saw the fun in being led up the beach and back on a smelly-ish animal!

As a child I’d have adored a donkey ride, but it never happened. 🙁

auntieflo I totally agree with you!! The poor animals toil all day in the sun, walking endless circles. Then you put on a frisky, possible overweight child and they start kicking the poor animal in the haunches to go faster! Like the poor donkey is going to gallop off the chain gang.

When I was a young child and saw that at the fairgrounds or circus - it made my young heart hurt to see that. I did not want to do that myself.