The Transparency Commissioner of the Government of the Canary Islands has upheld the request made by the Franz Weber Foundation after not receiving any information from the Yaiza City Council, following the viral video where a baby dromedary was cruelly treated by several camel herders last summer.
These dromedaries, which on the islands are popularly called "camels", are used to take tourists around the Timanfaya National Park, a protected area whose management falls to the central government, through the OAPN, the Autonomous National Parks Organization.
"The images, recorded by a tourist inside the Park, generated a terrible image of Lanzarote because of a minority sector determined to continue exploiting mammals as a proposal for national and international tourism," says Birgit Wenning, president of the NGO ADEMAL, an association from Lanzarote that has been denouncing the implicit cruelty in the camel activity for years.
It was precisely at the request of ADEMAL that FFW pointed out back in 2021 the significant shortcomings in the welfare of dromedaries, through a strong veterinary report that warned about their living conditions, the long days of transport to which they are subjected and the incidents that occurred.
In addition, this document detailed excessive loads of people, dangerous pressure on the joints of dromedaries during transit, as well as the harmful use of wire muzzles or the absence of water. The conclusion was clear: "Significant physical and behavioral problems in the dromedaries of Lanzarote, so the welfare of these animals should be considered deficient."
After the hundreds of thousands of reproductions that the video accumulated, the Yaiza City Council announced the opening of a file. In October of last year, several months after requesting data on this alleged municipal investigation, the naturalists went to the Deputy of the Common, who in turn referred the matter to the Transparency Commissioner.
Now this body understands that Yaiza has not complied with the transparency regulations and gives it 15 days to deliver the documentation to the representative of the NGO. In addition, it warns that failure to perform this task could incur infractions in accordance with sector regulations.
According to the Franz Weber Foundation, throughout the process the consistory "has not responded even once to the Commissioner, evidencing the possibility that such a file or the alleged investigation does not even exist."
