Experts weigh in: Should donkey rides be banned at the seaside?

What are the arguments for keeping the rides, and for banning them for those involved?

Transcript

00:00Donkeys aren't taxis and they're not fairground rides and treating them as such is completely

00:06outdated cruel and unnecessary and frankly there is no excuse for forcing an animal to work under

00:12the hot sun often for hours on end and forcing them to carry people on their back and you know

00:19by banning donkey rides it would do absolutely nothing to diminish the fun that families could

00:23have at the beach but it would mean the world to these animals because we know that whenever

00:27animals are treated as commodities their best interests are compromised. Peter argue that while

00:32there are rules in place to protect these animals they're sometimes found to be not followed in

00:37practice. They also point out that giving people rides puts immense pain and stress on their joints

00:43and muscles. Richard Warburton has worked for what's thought to be Britain's oldest donkey

00:47ride firm for the last 40 years and shares his reaction to finding out about the petition to

00:52ban seaside donkey rides. Hello there I'm Richard Warburton. I run the donkeys on Western Beach for

00:58Terry Vinton. I only heard about it last week. Somebody brought it to my attention and then I

01:04looked down through the arguments that they've given for the no donkey rides at Western but I

01:11don't feel they relate to the condition of the donkeys here in Western Supermouth. We're always

01:17in the public eye. There's water on tap here. There's plenty of hay out for them and there is always hay

01:23in the lorry so their needs are met during the day. We've got about 30 donkeys.

01:32We've split them into two teams so this group of donkeys here, the nine that are here today, all

01:38had yesterday off and I brought the other team so you've got two teams of nine and then a few spares.

01:45Only children can ride donkeys so you've got to be under the age of 14 and under about seven

01:50and a half, eight stone to ride on a donkey so the argument that they're carrying heavy

01:55weights all day long is not relevant to donkeys here.