Spain:  Stop Donkey Abuse in the name of Mardi Gras!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/29/ndonk29.xml&sSheet=/news
"The Pero Palo festival is meant to commemorate the capture of a rapist in Villanueva de la Vera many years ago, when he was paraded through the streets on a donkey before being executed.

During the festival, however, the donkey is subjected to a grotesque ritual that can leave it badly injured, lame or crushed to death. Alcohol is sometimes poured down its throat to enhance its performance.

The festival achieved notoriety in Britain in 1986 when a public outcry and media campaign led to the rescue of Blackie, the donkey that was to be used in the ritual that year. "Blackie was saved and taken to our sanctuary in Devon, but nothing has really changed," said Mr Svendsen.

"On Tuesday the donkey was pushed around for over an hour, and was slipping and sliding in the rain. It was clearly distressed but the crowd seemed to take pleasure in its suffering. They thought it was a huge joke.

"The man riding it was drunk and laughing like a madman. When the donkey collapsed through sheer exhaustion they would not let it stay down but dragged it back on to its feet."

At one point, the donkey keeled over on to its side, and the rider responded by biting the animal on its ear.

The donkey's ordeal lasted for an hour before it was bundled into a trailer and driven away to an unknown fate. "It is difficult to describe just how sickened and disappointed we all are," said Mr Svendsen.

His team of campaigners was concerned that its vet was refused permission to examine the animal. Mr Svendsen - who is in Spain setting up the country's first donkey sanctuary, near Malaga - had hoped that tougher animal welfare laws would bring an end to such cruelty."

http://www.faace.co.uk/donkeyvillanueva.htm
"Each year a donkey is physically and psychologically abused in a festival in Villanueva de la Vera, in the Spanish province of Extremadura. During the "Pero Palo" Fiesta on Shrove Tuesday the animal is jostled and dragged through the village by a partially drunken crowd.He is exposed to gunshots near to his head and firecrackers, and due to the stress involved, the donkey sweats heavily and collapses a number of times."

http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/site/6/Villanueva_de_la_Vera.html

"The festival of Pero Palo takes place in Villanueva de la Vera (Cáceres- Extremadura-Spain) every Shrove Tuesday. In this popular festival a poor and helpless donkey is taken through the streets of the village to be ridden by the drunkest rider and to be subjected to degrading and cruel treatment for more than an hour. The parliament of Junta de Extremadura passed a law (Ley 5/2002) for the Protection of Animals in the region of Extremadura which forbids the utilisation of animals in festivals and public shows when the animal receives cruel mistreatment.

However, every year the Junta de Extremadura approves the celebration of this unkind festival, forgetting what the law says.

El Refugio del Burrito and The Donkey Sanctuary have witnessed this festival since 1986. We thought that the passing of that law meant the end of the torture the donkey receives, but reality has proved that nothing has changed. "