Franz Weber Foundation boasts social support with 41,000 signatures against camel rides in Lanzarote

The Franz Weber Foundation has publicly shown the social support it is receiving with its campaign to end tourist rides on dromedaries (called camels on the islands) in Timanfaya National Park. The petition has already surpassed 41,200 signatures on the digital activism platform Change.org.

Thus, this Swiss organization dedicated to nature protection has celebrated the constant growth of the initiative and has pointed out that this increase in signatures signals "the openness and continuity of an unavoidable debate, both within Lanzarote and in its relationship with the outside." At the same time, it has indicated that "thousands of people consider that these practices must be transformed," as FFW proposes in the petition itself.

Response to institutional statements

The Foundation has taken the opportunity to respond to institutional statements in support of the "camel sector" and has pointed out that the number of signatures is also "symbolic, as it practically doubles the aggregated population of Yaiza and Haría," the only two municipalities in Lanzarote that approved institutional declarations. For the moment, it has not been approved in other towns on the island. 

The Canarian Camels campaign has a very clear objective, the reconversion of a contemporary sector. Thus, it has insisted that the rides with tourists began around the 1970s and represent in themselves "a transformation of the exploitation of camels, from the primary sector to the service sector."

Thus, the naturalists have considered that there are "sufficient experiences" in the world that allow affirming the great possibilities of a positive reconversion, taking advantage of the workers' experience to reorient the use of animals to other vehicles, or even to walking routes through the National Park, opening new avenues for sustainable tourism with little environmental impact.

Lack of response from organizations "that called for dialogue"

In this regard, Rubén Pérez, spokesperson for the Franz Weber Foundation, has stated that "weeks ago FELAPYME spoke publicly about dialogue with the sectors involved, and it has also been weeks since we have awaited a response to our proposal."

Pérez has indicated: “We get the impression that the employers’ association of small and medium-sized enterprises is more concerned with defending an activity, even against science, than opening up to the reality of the most questioned forms of tourism. All over the world there are campaigns to eradicate the use of animals and here our proposal starts from an ethical reconversion”. “If FELAPYME does not want to talk, let them say so publicly and retract, which seems more and more evident every day”, has concluded the FFW spokesperson.