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Legendary actor and Academy Award nominee James Cromwell sent an urgent letter to Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities, Sherif Fathy, calling on him to end the widespread abuse of camels and horses who are forced to haul tourists at the pyramids in the sweltering heat.
Animals Beaten, Malnourished in Egypt’s Tourism Industry
In the letter, Cromwell notes that the agency promised meaningful changes after a 2019 PETA Asia investigation first exposed the appalling abuse of horses and camels at the country’s top tourist sites. Yet PETA’s latest mini documentary shows that handlers violently whipped exhausted horses in front of the tourists they had been forced to haul in the blistering sun—with no access to food, rest, adequate shade, or proper veterinary care.
Investigators saw injured and malnourished horses eating from garbage dumps and found the bodies of dead horses at trash sites outside the pyramids of Giza.
“When their bodies give out, these gentle, sensitive animals are left to die and their bodies are dumped in the piles of trash just behind the pyramid complex,” writes Cromwell. “While it’s encouraging to hear that at PETA’s urging, you have introduced a few electric vehicles and added some water for the animals, Egyptian authorities have chosen to shut their eyes to the extreme and obvious cruelty that horses and camels are subjected to.”
PETA’s mini documentary revealed that market traders punched camels and beat the animals with batons and that one trader threw sand into a camel’s face. A dead camel was tied by their feet to a truck and dragged through the streets, and another was found dead in the middle of a road with their throat slashed open. When camels were no longer considered “useful,” they were often hauled to a slaughterhouse, where workers slit their throats while they were still conscious.
“Egypt is a magical place with so much to see and experience, but no one wants to have cruelty to animals included in their travel plans,” Cromwell’s letter concludes. “Please end the suffering at the pyramids now.”
Tourist Attractions That Abuse Animals Belong ‘Six Feet Under’
Horses and camels are highly social animals who form lifelong friendships within their herds. These sensitive, emotional animals do not want to be forced to carry tourists or used as photo props. Please join Cromwell and PETA in urging Egyptian officials to ban the use of these animals in the tourism industry:
