The torment and the tourists

It is only April but the unforgiving sun is already beating down on Egypt as waves of tourists descend on the Karnak and Luxor Temples. Coachloads of people brandishing iPhones and clutching bottles of water stream through the gates of Luxor temple and onto the main square where huge wooden carriages line the taxi ranks. Attached to the carriages are little horses which wait patiently in the glaring sun, with neither shade nor water. 

The horses are mostly emaciated, their skeletons protruding through matted fur. Tied tightly around their mouths are straps and metal barbs which dig into their skin. On their back and flanks are open wounds which fester with flies, cuts from where they have been whipped by their drivers or abscesses caused by heavy harnesses. 

It is inconceivable that tourists could be so blind to the suffering of these poor creatures

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Tourists coming from the temples are accosted by aggressive cab drivers eager to sell rides down the promenade. Once in the carriage, the little horses are whipped into action, heaving the enormous carriages and setting into as fast a pace as they can manage, their toothpick-thin legs and mangled hooves producing a sorry clatter that is impossible to watch.

It is inconceivable that tourists could be so blind to the suffering of these poor creatures. And yet, carriage after carriage leave the taxi rank and head onto the main road, a mess of cars, motorbikes, coaches, and carriages. Parents lift excited children into the buggies undeterred by the sound of the whips cracking as the little horses labour under the weight of the carriages and the hot sun. 

A few lucky horses may find themselves parked under some shade between rides. At night some of them are taken back to a stable but many are left on the side of the busy roads, often still attached to the carriages. 

Egypt’s booming tourism industry — thus far undeterred by the Iran US war — sees around 15 million people visit the North African country each year. Contributing roughly 8-12 per cent of the national GDP each year for the national economy, it is by far one of the country’s biggest industries with millions of Egyptians dependent on it for their livelihoods. This constant flow of visitors means that the little horses are stuck in an endless cycle of abuse that will see them worked until they, literally, drop dead in the street. 

The Brooke charity, which was founded in 1934 when the wife of a British Cavalry Brigade commander discovered the extreme plight of Britain’s abandoned war horses, is one of a handful of equine charities operating in Egypt. 

Dorothy Brooke discovered that horses sent to serve on the front in North Africa had been sold to local Egyptians when the war ended. The warhorses, which had fought alongside British soldiers, had spent over a decade working in quarries or as carriage horses in unthinkably cruel conditions before Dorothy found them. After appealing to the British public by writing an article in a newspaper she was inundated with donations which she used to set up the charity which is the world’s leading global welfare charity for working horses, donkeys and mules.  

Part of the Brooke’s ethos is to “make life worth living for working animals” and along with other charities, like Egypt Equine Aid, provide free veterinary care to the owners of working equines. 

However, Egypt’s nonexistent animal welfare laws means that charities like Brooke cannot intervene without the owner’s permission. Despite it being free, many owners eschew vets help. The owner’s lack of empathy is startling. On the days that representatives from various equine charities do not fill the troughs the horses go without water, no matter the heat. Despite water taps located a few meters away from each Brooke trough, the taxi drivers do not see the need to fill them for their horses themselves. 

The Brooke charity says that their Luxor team know practically all the 350 registered carriage drivers and treat about 4,500 working horses, donkeys and mules. Brooke Egypt has 7 clinic centres in the whole of Egypt, and 26 mobile veterinary teams. They say they help 120,000 working horses, donkeys and mules in 170 communities each year. “It is important to know that equine owners bring their animals to us voluntarily, we don’t have the authority to force them,” said Luxor vet Dr Ahmed Atef. 

The charity, whose President is Queen Camilla, receives upwards of £20 million a year, but sends less than 2 per cent of this to its Egyptian subsidiary. In total Brooke Egypt receives around £1.5 million a year, but most of this is raised by Brooke Netherlands, not Brooke UK. 

The charity does not have a policy of purchasing horses from abusive owners in Egypt and does not have rehabilitation farms in which to retire them. 

Still, charities like Brooke are the only thing these horses have. Throughout Egypt, the Brooke has built many shelters and water troughs that would not otherwise exist. 

One of the Brooke’s carriage horse shelters sits next to the Luxor temple. Horses line up, heads drooped, some attached to carriages, some loose. One horse had its front and back legs tied with a chain. The water trough was bone dry. 

One horse in particular stood out. A small chestnut mare with every bone visible, who was resting her left hind which had swollen to many times the size of her other legs.  She had open sores teeming with flies on her sore leg and her back. Her name was Sabrina, I was told, she is over twenty years old and has had thirteen foals. I was amazed that she was able to stand, but despite her condition she was still attached to the carriage that the drivers were lounging on. When I told her owner that in this condition she would die soon, he responded that she has been in this condition for over three years. “I won’t take her to the vet because they will put her down”, he told me. Instead, he plans to work her until she drops down dead. 

Some of the horses were in good condition, but they were the exceptions. Each horse’s condition was a reflection of its owner; some were kind, many were not. When I asked Sabrina’s owner, who looked younger than she was, if he would ever retire her, I was told that he had five children to feed. As always, it is animals that must pay the price. 

In the shadow of the great pyramids in Cairo, the situation is the same. Painfully thin horses and camels stand tied to bollards without shade or water throughout the heat of the day. Despite being painfully thin and covered in sores, tourists line up to ride them around the nearby track, yanking the fragile horses around as they pose for photographs. One owner had tied a horse by its bridle to a stone bollard, meaning that it couldn’t lift its head more than two feet off the ground. He had tied another horse’s reins about her neck. At one point a group returned back from a ride and a small bay horse collapsed under the weight of a heavy tourist, its sides heaving. The owner whipped it repeatedly as the horse lay motionless about in the sand. 

It is hard to watch, and harder still to understand how so many people have so little empathy for animals. Poverty may push desperate people to work their horses and camels to death, but nothing is forcing the tourists to ride them.

“We can help animals immediately and equip owners to do the same, but our work has to be sustainable to make a difference and this means training, empowering and instilling kindness and compassion everywhere we work,” a representative from the Brooke said.

Charities like the Brooke do an incredible job of providing water and care for the horses that they would not otherwise receive. The charity insists that it is crucial to instill compassion and kindness in the local communities. But as the situation across Egypt proves, the carriage horses continue to be abused regardless.

The worst part of Sabrina and the other horses’ suffering is that it is entirely avoidable. In the heat cars are an infinitely preferable means of transport, and little open air motor buggies give the experience, minus the abuse. If tourists stop paying for rides, the carriage horse industry must eventually cease to exist.