SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Animal rights activists are demanding an end to “zonkeys,” the donkeys that are painted to look like zebras and are used as props for tourists on the streets of Tijuana, and they’re asking the animals be set free and given “a dignified life.”
During a demonstration this week, several groups asked Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda to intervene on behalf of the zebra burros.
“No animal exploited for tourism is a cultural icon,” said Carmen Dayana, an animal rights activist in Tijuana.
Dayana said they are not against the people who use the burros or work with them on the streets.
“We don’t wish to leave them without jobs,” she said. “It’s about using an animal, that doesn’t get the care it deserves, as a prop for tourism, it’s animal abuse.”
Denaya went on to say the animals are simply being exploited.
“We are asking for a dignified and safe place for them, set them all free, there’s no need for them.”
The activists say an alternative would be a statue where tourists could take pictures.
“This is an option to avoid the burros pulling carts or be painted with chemicals that damage their skin.”
Danaya says just along Avenida Revolución, the tourist area in downtown Tijuana, there are always at least three zonkeys being used for photographs.
She argues that people who own and use the animals don’t have business licenses or permits to use the zonkeys out in public.
But the city has said jurisdiction over the animals falls on the Secretary of the Environment.
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