Donkeys in Petra, Jordan were a means of livelihood for several people. Hordes of the hardworking beasts would carry tourists on the rocky paths. But, numbers have dropped considerably due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the animals are left without work.
Hordes of the hard-working animals would carry tourists on the rocky paths of Jordan's Petra, but visitor numbers crashed amid the pandemic and the loyal animals are left without a job.
“Before coronavirus, we all had work,” said Abdulrahman Ali, a 15-year-old donkey owner at the ancient rock-carved desert city told AFP.
“When tourism stopped, nobody could buy fodder or medicine anymore,” he added. Someone like Ali would earn up to $280 on a good day. For some of the donkey owners, they are the only source of income for the family.
The city of Petra reopened in May, but tourism numbers still need to pick up. Jordan, like several nations, was hit hard due to the coronavirus—one of the main reasons was that the travel industry took a severe hit. Tourism revenues made up more than one-tenth of Jordan’s GDP.
The tourism board, however, hopes to replace the donkeys with a new system of electric cars, that will be driven by owners of the animals.
Egyptian vet Hassan Shatta, who runs the PETA clinic, who launched a donkey-feeding programme late last year said, “Some of them ended up starving and we picked them up brought them here.” According to Shatta, some vets maltreated the donkeys. Due to a drop in the number of tourists, hotels, souvenir shops and several other establishments are facing losses. One donkey owner said that he had to sell some of his donkeys as he couldn’t feed them.
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Nayef Fayez, on Tuesday, said that Jordan was fully prepared to open borders for tourism as the country has been able to maintain low rates of COVID-19 cases.
Fayez said that the government is in the process of gradually lifting COVID-19 restrictions. He added that travellers needed to provide proof of vaccination. But, if they weren’t vaccinated, would need to be tested negative on a PCR test 72 hours prior to travel. The Kingdom is currently open to tourists from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Morocco, United States of America, United Kingdom, European Union countries, Turkey, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Russian Federation, and Canada.
