The Fundación Franz Weber has launched on the morning of this Monday a proposal of dialogues with the Ministerio de Transición Ecológica and FELAPYME, an organization of small and medium-sized enterprises of the Canary Islands, to advance in the campaign Canarian Camels, which it announced a few weeks ago to totally reconvert the sector of dromedary rides, which in the archipelago are usually called camels.
In this way, the Foundation has thus continued with the initiative to transform the camel rides that take place in "very delicate spaces", such as the Parque Nacional de Timanfaya. The naturalists have registered a written document before the Vicepresidencia Tercera with the objective of working from the Ministerio on change in this practice.
After the naturalist Foundation made its initiative known, the Association of Camel Drivers of Lanzarote warned that it had considered suing them for defamation and accused the environmentalists of spreading “false and without scientific basis” claims.
The initiative promoted by Franz Weber is accompanied by the more than 35,000 signatures on the digital activism platform Change.org, two weeks ago there were 33,000, of "potential visitors and tourists, also local population, who join the petition to end these practices after the string of incidents documented in different videos".
In 2021 denounced the "unacceptable conditions"
In this regard, the Foundation has recalled that in 2021 it documented in a report the "failures in the welfare and integrity of the animals used in this tourist activity, highlighting situations that threatened their health, from musculoskeletal problems to the continuous use of muzzles that prevents the natural behaviors of camels".
Thus, naturalists have pointed out that the image of Lanzarote, and of the rest of the island territories, is "much more than riding on domesticated animals and when furthermore the constant incidents are creating a very negative image externally".
In addition, the letter sent to Minister Sara Aagesen has criticized the lack of response from the Directorate of Timanfaya National Park, whom it has accused of remaining "on the sidelines in each and every situation of inadequate treatment of the camelids, appealing again for dialogue to reconvert the sector".
From tillage in the field to the walks of the 70s
The Franz Weber Foundation has responded to one of the arguments used by administrations such as the Yaiza City Council, dictated word for word by the camel lobby, is that the rides are a “traditional activity”.
Finally, he/she has highlighted that public authorities "confuse public opinion" by linking the presence of dromedaries since the 15th Century and linked to agricultural tasks, often for subsistence, with the contemporary ride, which dates from the mid-70s of the 20th century. "The historical process evidences a transformation typical of the primary sector to the services sector," he/she has concluded.