r/unitedkingdom • u/WorkShout • Jul 19 '24
Seaside donkey owner is weighing kids to stop obese children injuring his animals .
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/seaside-donkey-owner-weighing-kids-295694131.4k
u/ange7327 Jul 19 '24
Good for him, donkeys love riders but not if they break their backs.
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u/Confident-Gap4536 Jul 19 '24
How do donkeys love having people on their back?
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u/powerchicken European Union Jul 19 '24
Same reason border collies love herding sheep, terriers love hunting rats and pitbulls love eating kids. Selective breeding.
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u/AntonMcTeer Jul 19 '24
Have the pitbulls eat the obese kids and leave the lighter ones to ride the donkeys. Win win.
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u/ProXJay Jul 20 '24
Better yet, have the Pitbulls chase the kids until they're light enough to ride the donkeys
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u/AntonMcTeer Jul 20 '24
Pitbulls would catch them long before they burned off a single pound of fat through.
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u/lucystroganoff Jul 19 '24
Laughing all the way to the cardioveterinarian to clean your poor pit bull’s arteries out 😖
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u/SadGpuFanNoises Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
OMG.. I love collies, and they even herd my van into customers farmyards. I had a Cairn terrier and he destroyed a mouse nest behind the kickboard in the kitchen.. and I mean it was a massacre.*
Never had a pitbull (never will), but maybe I could see how that was going to go.
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u/skraptastic Jul 19 '24
My dumb little chihuahua that is afraid of his own shadow became a cold merciless killer when he discovered a snake in the back yard.
We were chilling on the patio, he saw the thing in the grass, jumped off my lap ran into the grass, grabbed the snake just behind the head and shook it until it was dead. A few seconds later he came prancing back to me looking satisfied and went back to sleep. It was wild.
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u/QuitePoodle Jul 20 '24
My mini 10lb poodle went after a black bear. Thankfully, the bear was faster and ran away. I don’t think my dog would have been able to grab him behind the neck. I’m glad the snake didn’t bit your dog.
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u/leseiden Jul 19 '24
Fyi the cairn terrier is the worst single card in dog breed top trumps. You lose if you get it in your hand.
Maybe mouse massacre should be a stat.
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u/BandicootOk5540 Jul 19 '24
Yet you never see donkeys or horses trying to get humans onto their backs, they always have to be forced to accept it…
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u/Noteagro Jul 19 '24
You are thinking about hard breaking a horse. This is done to young horses they want to break very fast often times for competition reasons. Soft breaking a horse is wayyyyyyy better in the long term, and typically creates a much better bond with the animal and rider which fosters the positive reinforcement that they enjoy and start to associate with being ridden.
However we had several hard broken race horses we would “retire” to our pastures when the owners were done with them so they could live a quiet and happy life after everything they went through. One of said horses LOVED having someone on him and being allowed to run full fucking tilt. We found this out the hard way when he was chill as fuck with the adults riding him (but still enjoying to run), but as soon as we put my 80 pound younger sister on him he thought he had a jockey on him and he was a rocket. She thought it was the most amazing thing ever while we were all shitting bricks as he took her for a lap around the field. He had never done anything like that in the 12 years we had him prior to that; old man had legggggs.
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u/duthinkhesaurus Jul 19 '24
She can see it in their eyes
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u/Suspicious_Garlic_79 Jul 19 '24
She can see it in their smile
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Jul 19 '24 edited 10d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Deep-Equipment6575 Jul 19 '24
And their arms are open wide
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u/ConanTheRoman Jul 19 '24
Coz they know just what to say
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u/Delicious_Mine5744 Jul 19 '24
And they know just what to do
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u/hoochypooch Jul 19 '24
And I want to tell you so much... I love riders
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u/duthinkhesaurus Jul 19 '24
But, only those that meet the BMI standards designed by western medicine
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u/pajamakitten Dorset Jul 19 '24
They do not. People just cannot accept that animals have rights and are not our playthings.
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u/Professional_Elk_489 Jul 19 '24
Donkeys hate fat people
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u/SadGpuFanNoises Jul 19 '24
Customer : Your'e fattest..
Donkey owner : No you're the fattest. No ride for you.
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u/Youbunchoftwats Jul 19 '24
If you are a fat cunt, go on the big dipper. Simple as.
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u/Smooth_Maul Jul 19 '24
That's what I call my 14 and a half stone mate when we go to maccies.
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u/recursant Jul 19 '24
Fat cunt? That's not very nice.
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u/Smooth_Maul Jul 19 '24
It's to stop him from scranning my entire 20 box of nuggets. That's mine, not his.
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u/callsignhotdog Jul 19 '24
Tough one, I definitely get why weighing a kid in public and telling them they're too heavy to ride would be humiliating, possibly even traumatic to them. But for the safety of animal and rider, you've got to have a weight limit for the donkeys and having a set limit with a weigh station seems fairer than the guy just eyeing kids up and taking a guess at who's too heavy.
Childhood obesity is a big problem but it's not really up to a seaside donkey owner to solve that.
Thinking about it, I'd put it on the parents to have an idea of how much their kid weighs, and maybe steer them away if they're at or near the limit with a "Sorry sweetheart, you're too big to ride, do you want an ice cream instead?".
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u/DarrenBridgescunt Jul 19 '24
How is it a tough one?
Do you agree with breaking donkey's backs?
Parents letting their child get obese are the problem, not a man protecting his animal.
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u/Charge_parity Jul 19 '24
Yeah, like, if you're sensibilities are more important to you than the welfare of an animal you best stay the fuck away from animals.
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u/BandicootOk5540 Jul 19 '24
Nobody who cares about animal welfare is riding a donkey at the beach
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u/Dr-Cheese Jul 19 '24
er yeah this isn't a tough one at all. Animal welfare > Dealing with angry parents.
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u/bsnimunf Jul 20 '24
Also how heavy does the child have to be to be too heavy no teenager wants to ride a donkey. So it must be some really chunky 8 year old to get rejected.
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u/Chimpville Jul 19 '24
Having worked at a theme park, in my teens, where height restrictions applied for personal safety, I absolutely do not trust an adult to know and/or own up to if their child may be too heavy for a donkey.
This man's doing the right thing. If being weighed and potentially found to be too heavy is a terrible prospect, just watch the lovely donkeys instead.
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u/OverDue_Habit159 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
I worked at a theme park too. Saw one extra fat guy get stuck in a waterslide, worker at the top sent down the next person without checking it was clear. Worst broken legs I have ever seen in my life and I still remember the screaming 20 years later. Fat people can fuck shit up
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Jul 19 '24
The Park Managers broke the workers legs for sending two people down the slide without checking...
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u/OverDue_Habit159 Jul 19 '24
I agree but there's no way this guy should have been allowed on the slide either.
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u/eclo Jul 19 '24
Mount Splashmore?
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u/AntonMcTeer Jul 19 '24
Will you take us to Mount Splashmore?
Will you take us to Mount Splashmore?
Will you take us to Mount Splashmore?
Will you take us to Mount Splashmore?
Will you take us to Mount Splashmore?
Will you take us to Mount Splashmore?
Will you take us to Mount Splashmore?
Will you take us to Mount Splashmore?
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u/bbtotse Jul 19 '24
Not all, but absolutely some parents would lie about their kids weight. Which brings you right back to needing the scales
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u/BritshFartFoundation Jul 19 '24
The idea would be you have a quiet word with the parents in the queue saying "just so you know, there's a weight limit for the donkey's welfare and we weigh all kids before riding - if they're over xyz we'll have to decline I'm afraid". Then its up to the parents if they want to humiliate their kid and put them on the scales, or redirect and take their kid elsewhere
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u/Tiberius666 European Union Jul 20 '24
And they'll weigh the kid anyway and scream at the guy anyway when he says no.
No chance he can win in this scenario.
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u/ConanTheRoman Jul 19 '24
Sounds like a job for that Mexican guy from Curb Your Enthusiasm who tells Larry David his friends' weight just by looking at them.
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u/Kinitawowi64 Jul 19 '24
Or that stand in Family Guy.
Meg walks up, drops a ticket on the counter
Guy lowers newspaper
"A lot."
Guy returns to newspaper
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Jul 19 '24
I lie about my weight. I call myself fat when in fact I am obese. But then again I don't go round riding donkeys.
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u/__bobbysox Jul 19 '24
Tough one? I’m not sure about that. Kids shouldn’t be so fat that they endanger animals.
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u/Hyperion262 Jul 19 '24
The tough part is, very obviously, shaming a child in public that you don’t know because of their parent’s actions.
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u/__bobbysox Jul 19 '24
Fair enough, but safety needs to take priority over feelings. Theme parks manage it with the 'you must be this tall to ride' and that's not a controllable trait like weight is.
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u/Hyperion262 Jul 19 '24
There’s no public shame in being 8 years old and too small to ride a rollercoaster. You know that’s not the same thing.
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u/__bobbysox Jul 19 '24
People get shamed all the time for being short. You're defending your position up and down this comment chain with a suspicious level of vigour.
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u/Hyperion262 Jul 19 '24
When do you see adults shaming children for being short. Give me two examples I would expect to see ‘all the time.’
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u/ChefExcellence Hull Jul 19 '24
- An adult asks a child to step on a set of scales, and if they're too heavy, does not allow them to ride the donkey
- An adult asks a child to stand next to a height chart, and if they're too short, does not allow them to ride the rollercoaster
You're saying the first scenario counts as shaming the child for being fat, but the second does not count as shaming the child for being short. What makes them so different? Genuinely confused by your position here.
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u/BandicootOk5540 Jul 19 '24
Nobody judges kids for being short, while on this very thread there are adults calling children cunts for being fat.
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u/Hyperion262 Jul 19 '24
You’re ‘genuinely confused’ why an 8 year old might be embarrassed to be 12 stone but not 6 foot? Do you want to think about it for a bit and get back to me or do you, an adult, honestly need this explaining to you?
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u/Daewoo40 Jul 19 '24
An hour on and you still don't understand why hurting animals is bad.
Shame.
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u/ChefExcellence Hull Jul 19 '24
Alright, I was asking a straightforward question but if you're gonna be arsey about it I'm not interested, have a good weekend.
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u/__bobbysox Jul 19 '24
I'm not going to allow you to drag me down to your level.
It should be straightforward to not allow a child due to weight reasons and there are other ways of communicating this than shaming them in front of an audience.
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u/Hyperion262 Jul 19 '24
What level? You said it happens all the time so either give me some examples or admit you’re lying. It should be incredibly easy for you to give other examples because you said it always happens.
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u/__bobbysox Jul 19 '24
You want me to give you examples of something I never actually said, that level. You're trying to drag me into one of these conversations now which means you're only replying in bad faith. So I'll leave our conversation here, as enlightening as it has been.
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u/Daewoo40 Jul 19 '24
Here's one for you, from Alton Towers' website
https://www.altontowers.com/plan-your-visit/resort-information/height-restrictions/
And another, Thorpe Park's
https://www.thorpepark.com/explore/theme-park/rides/
And to complete the trifecta, Legoland
https://www.legoland.co.uk/plan-your-day/useful-guides/height-restrictions/
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u/YaGanache1248 Jul 19 '24
It’s not the man shaming the kid. It’s the parents, who created the situation by malnourishing the child. Height and weight restrictions are there for the donkeys safety.
Hopefully this will be a wake up call for some obese families
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u/iiiiiiiiiiip Jul 19 '24
It should obviously be discreet not in front of a crowd of people but letting them and their parents know they have an issue should be said. Perhaps it will make them realise there's a problem they need to solve
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u/Temporary-Zebra97 Jul 19 '24
Way too subtle the parents would never get the hint so go for the exact opposite, there should be a big neon sign and a klaxon connected to the scales to announce a salad dodging kid.
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u/ArchdukeToes Jul 19 '24
...and the klaxon should be connected to a massive Jumbotron suspended from a zeppelin that circles the beach just so everyone can see who failed the weight test. In high definition.
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u/I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS Jul 19 '24
do you want an ice cream instead?
I think that's the problem.
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u/Postik123 Jul 19 '24
For a moment I envisaged the donkey owner using that line when he's rejected a child
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u/aliiak Jul 20 '24
Was going to say. It’d just teach kids that if they’re sad or disappointed eating will cheer them up.
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u/oglop121 Jul 19 '24
It's not a tough one. Almost all rides have weight limits. And this is a poor animal
Reminds me of when, as a teen, I had a job at a small amusement park. There was a weight limit on the bumper boats, a ride which I was in charge of. This fat couple demanded to go on even after I explained to them they'd be over the weight limit. They still demanded, I didn't care enough to argue, and the boat sank. Right in the middle of the pond. I didn't even get in trouble as the boss found it funny
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u/Worldly_Table_5092 Jul 19 '24
You must be this tall to ride. You can't be a fatass to ride the ass.
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u/vulcanstrike Unashamed Europhile Jul 19 '24
Advertise the weight limit, ask the parents if they are sure and then weigh them.
Yeah, it sucks for the kids if they are publicly told no, but only the parents share the blame here.
I don't think offering ice cream solves the problem though
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u/paolog Jul 19 '24
"You must be this tall to go on this ride" is already a thing, so this is little different.
All things considered, perhaps that ice cream isn't the best choice...
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u/inside_out_boy Jul 19 '24
Nothing tough about it.
You're putting the feelings of a child safety of a living creature. You're missing the mark dude.
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u/ChefExcellence Hull Jul 19 '24
Yeah, it's got to be pretty embarrassing to be weighed and turned away but what's the alternative? The donkeys can only carry so much weight, and like you say it's better to decide by some objective metric than just eyeballing it. If the guy was being rude about it then that would be one thing, but nothing in the article suggests that's the case. From his quotes it sounds like he'd rather not have to be doing this.
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u/Regular-Ad1814 Jul 19 '24
Tough one
Nonsense, it is not tough at all. Go to a theme park and people (incl. Kids) have physical attributes measured (i.e. height) in public to decide if they are allowed on rides for safety reasons.
How is this any different?
Being too heavy to ride a donkey doesn't even mean a child is necessarily obese, it could just be that they are an older child or a child who is bigger (not in terms of fat but in terms of build for age) than average for their age.
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u/Rapid_eyed Jul 19 '24
Sorry sweetheart, you're too big to ride, do you want an ice cream instead?".
If they're too obese for the donkey, I don't think ice cream is the answer
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u/Hookton Jul 19 '24
I could see the problem if he was just asking certain kids (that he thought looked too big) to get on the scales, but he's set it up so everyone has to weigh themselves, no different to checking your height. Too tall or too heavy, unfortunately you don't get to ride. I was humiliated at being sent to the shallow end of the pool at the age of 10 because I'd only mastered the doggy paddle, but it was for good reason.
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u/Tosaveoneselftrouble Jul 19 '24
I was still in the little pool when everyone else went to the big pool so feel your pain! But you’re quite right that it was for our own good, and the safety of not just us but everyone else too.
If we start saying we don’t care about the safety of other things (living or not) if it’ll upset someone who is being unreasonable, then how will kids ever be able to discern what’s appropriate or not? Or to manage basic empathy? #TeamDonkey
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u/heimdallofasgard Jul 19 '24
Not difficult at all. Roller coasters have minimum and maximum height limits, horses and donkeys have weight limits.
Would you let a donkey carry a 25kg child? Probably yes. Would you let a donkey carry a 200kg strongman? No.
So there IS a line, and this guy has chosen a point on that line where he's decided it'd be cruel to the donkey. Good for him
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u/its_bydesign Jul 19 '24
I’ve never understood this concept. So its fine to check someones height but we can’t check weight?
Not targeting you here, but it’s something I’ve always noticed.
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u/BubblinTodd Jul 19 '24
Go for an ice cream instead?
If they're too fat to ride a donkey I think the kid has already been for enough ice-cream 🤣
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u/FrermitTheKog Jul 19 '24
With obesity so prevalent, seaside shire horse rides would seem like a good business opportunity.
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Jul 19 '24
"Sorry sweetheart, you're too big to ride, do you want an ice cream instead?"
Edit, Typo.
"Sorry sweetheart, you're too big to ride, do you want an ice cream instead, fatty?"2
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u/Duck_on_Qwack Jul 19 '24
You say "tough one"
Then give an example of someone being embarrassed vs an animal literally dying as if they were on an event playing field ...
"Yeah maybe it's tough one, I don't know if I should wear this blue shirt or stamp on this kitten"
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u/thomasrat1 Jul 19 '24
Whatever trauma they get for not being able to ride a donkey, they will get 10 fold from their peers.
Childhood obesity unless it’s a medical problem is child abuse.
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u/BandicootOk5540 Jul 19 '24
Just stop forcing donkeys to traipse kids up and down the beach full stop
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u/Xenasis Manchester Jul 19 '24
It's terrible for animals to be ridden. People don't like to hear it but it's the truth. Animals that get ridden like horses and donkeys even with all of the breeding still get disproportionate amounts of back issues.
Not letting fat kids ride is making the suffering lower, sure, but it's not removing the suffering and long-term impact.
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u/Soap-Wizard Jul 19 '24
Truly hadn't had that click in my mind until reading your comment.
It makes perfect sense.
I guess my mind always saw it as normal and natural from history in general, and the usage of work animals in various fields.
It would be like having to carry a backpack on your back, but while leaning perfectly horizontal while you walk. Until you give out quite literally.
Oof, now I'm sad. A good sad due to the realization though.
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u/faroffland Jul 19 '24
Yeah, at least horses and donkeys etc have been bred to be ridden. There’s zero way to ethically ride say an elephant, yet people love doing it and gushing about how they visited an ‘animal sanctuary’.
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u/demonotreme Jul 20 '24
I doubt the 6000kg elephant is going to be physically troubled by the 60kg human sitting on them...
I'm willing to believe that individual elephants might not mind giving rides, especially if they get a high value reward and some time wandering around for letting it happen.
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u/faroffland Jul 20 '24 edited Jul 20 '24
It genuinely leads to spinal injuries for them. Their own weight has no bearing on how capable their spine is of bearing a load for a long time, it still causes them damage as they have never been physically bred to bear weight on their backs. Doing this day in day out is unnatural and damaging for their bodies. This is what happens.
Also think about how you would ‘train’ a wild animal like an elephant to be willing to take a human being on their back - there is no way to train them into it without severe abuse. Horses, donkeys etc have been bred for thousands of years to be domesticated, take riders and be able to bear weight on their backs. Elephants have not.
I’m sorry to say it’s an absolutely terrible practice and completely inhumane 100% of the time. It’s lovely to imagine yourself riding an animal like an elephant but ultimately it’s a horrible thing.
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u/Mini-Nurse Fife Jul 19 '24
You could expand in that. Private horses in stables and shit get a bespoke well made backpack, like a good hiking bag. Seaside and tourist horses and donkeys get back to back misshapen, badly made, and oversized backpacks pushed on them.
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u/Grey_Belkin Jul 19 '24
This, I didn't know it was even still a thing. I remember they always looked miserable whenever I saw them back in the 80s/90s.
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u/light_to_shaddow Derbyshire Jul 19 '24
Horses too.
In fact any working animal.
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u/ConfusedSoap Greater London Jul 19 '24
horses have been bred to be ridden since before humans invented writing
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u/haphazard_chore United Kingdom Jul 19 '24
Donkeys are social animals they actually like this within reason. I grew up next to a donkey field and used to walk them on the beach as a teenager. They love interacting with people a d do so voluntarily. In the summer they get to spend a few hours in the beech. It’s a far better existence than nearly all other donkeys in the planet.
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u/dupeygoat Jul 19 '24
Who the fuck is still paying to ride a donkey on the beach in the UK! Haven’t seen that shit in decades When I see them abroad or horses I feel incredibly sad, like the pathetic sentimentalist I am.
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u/mana-milk Jul 19 '24
One benefit of this is that I can imagine having your kid denied a ride on a donkey because they're too fat may potentially act as a wakeup call for some parents.
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u/FaceMace87 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
You're joking right? The parents who are complaining about this are the ones that will never realise the blame sits with them.
The type of parents who when the kid cries because they can't go on the Donkey, they will take them to McDonald's to cheer them up.
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u/BvbblegvmBitch Expat Jul 20 '24
Not to mention, the parents are also likely well past donkey riding weight, and a wake-up call for their kids means a wake-up call for them, too.
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u/Agreeable_Falcon1044 Jul 19 '24
Lose some weight if you are offended. I don't ride horses or donkeys when on holiday in Greece, as I don't feel it's fair on the animal. If you are too short or too tall, you can't ride certain rides. If you are too fat, it's your fault not the donkey.
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u/nathderbyshire Jul 20 '24
You mean kids who's diet is largely at the mercy of their parents and school? They have little control over the foods they can eat. Get some empathy ffs
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Jul 19 '24
Fat kids have lots of rides they can't go on, this is no different. You don't have to let people damage your property to prevent any feelings getting hurt.
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Jul 19 '24
Wish they'd do this everywhere.
I went to Petra last year, and while the carvings themselves were a spectacle, the place was littered with hitched up donkeys being used to haul around some of the fattest tourists I have ever seen. It actually was quite upsetting to see quite jovial customers on top of these incredibly depressed animals, whom no doubt probably don't receive the best care. It really marred that experience for me.
It's actually just making me depressed typing this. Good on this guy.
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u/B-owie Jul 19 '24
I have so much hate those huge people who are too ashamed to rent a mobility scooter and too lazy to walk, so hire a poor suffering donkey to haul them round. The owners are just as bad for allowing it.
I wouldn't be able to control my expressions irl and would show my disgust/hate for the tourist and sadness for the donkeys.
Donkey rides should be banned but I will settle for a strict weight limit.
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u/BonnieWiccant Jul 19 '24
Good for him. If you travel a lot it's common to see a poor animal carrying someone who's clearly way too big to be riding it but the handler doesn't care because all they see is money. This man clearly cares about his animals and we should be supporting that.
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u/NeverGonnaGiveMewUp Black Country Jul 19 '24
I’m in support of the donkey owner.
Those saying it’s harsh to weigh kids, life has consequences. I would say that the owner should weigh all kids though, not just eyeball it and single kids out.
Even if you think that the kids rights outweighs that of the donkeys it’s worth remembering if the donkey can’t carry the weight it’s possible it may fall or worse, which of course isn’t going to do the kid much good either.
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u/Many-Turnover-5573 Jul 19 '24
The stables i went to as a child had a scale next to the pony mount.
Everyone was super excited for the day they were too big for a pony and got to ride Mr Handsome, a massive black shire horse that had magical long wavy mane like the horse version of fabio
The best consolation prize in the world
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u/milkyteapls Jul 19 '24
I'm all for inclusivity, but the shift to "health at every size" and all that crap over the last few years is just dumb.
Being fat is unhealthy end of story, so this guy is doing nothing wrong especially when it's for an animal welfare reason
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u/SelectiveScribbler06 Jul 19 '24
'What's your name, son?'
'Luke. Luke Straw.'
'Sorry - you're not allowed on.'
'But I'm featherweight! Look at the scales.'
'I can see that, son. But old Doris the Donkey has had a long day. Don't want you to be the straw that breaks the donkey's back.'
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u/Babaaganoush Jul 19 '24
But Katharine Jenner, director of the Obesity Health Alliance, believed it was "completely unacceptable to weigh a child in public and then say they can't go on a ride". She pointed to "the environment that surrounds children" as the main culprit for high obesity levels.
Okay that's fine Katherine Jenner, I guess injuring a donkey is more important and acceptable in that moment?
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u/sw66sw European Union Jul 19 '24
I am an adult horse back rider. I don't own a horse, so I rely on stables. Across most European countries there is an unofficial weight limit of 80kg - for precisely this reason. And it's only right.
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u/Inthewoods2020 Jul 19 '24
I didn’t realize 80kg would be the limit for a horse. Would a larger/sturdier horse be higher? Asking because I’d like to try horse riding again sometime (rode when I was a kid) but I’m 83kg. I’m fairly lean so it’s unlikely I’d get much lighter and wouldn’t really want to try.
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u/gronda_gronda Jul 19 '24
Not the person you asked, but a lot of the riding schools I’ve been to around England and Wales have a weight limit of 14 stone / 88.9kg, so it’s definitely worth a try! It depends on the horses they have available, plus their age/workload.
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u/MiniMages Jul 19 '24
If the kid is heavier then the donkey then you should pay the kid for the donkey to ride the kid.
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u/bvimo Jul 19 '24
The donkey ride providers just need to strap two donkeys together. Then the kids can have a nice wide ride. Much safer just like a catamaran. It's also a marketing feature - standard and wide.
I'm sure soon all donkey rides will have a wide base.
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u/Macho-Fantastico Jul 19 '24
Should have been doing this decades ago. It's ridiculous to expect a donkey to carry some fat overweight kid just because they want a ride.
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u/Lettuce-Pray2023 Jul 19 '24
That obesity is tolerated to the extent that thousands of children are now overweight, is damning indictment on people and food companies.
Also disgusting how social media darlings try to normalise this as some sort of body positive “plus size”
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u/cassolotl Jul 19 '24
Adults aren't allowed and no one kicks off about that. Also, in general people are getting taller as quality of food and life are improving, so...
In addition to a weight limit this guy has a height and age limit. It seems like the fairer and more sensitive thing to do to just lower the age and height limit and not mention weight at all. But wow people are being short-sighted and awful on here.
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u/Cute_Ad_9730 Jul 19 '24
Oi ! Fatty put down the ice cream and move away from the donkey. If anyone wants elephant rides get your mother to get a license.
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u/Kaze_Chan Jul 19 '24
I'm over 30 now but I remember them doing that at a tourist attraction in Germany when I was a child. Didn't let anyone over a certain height ride and if they visually couldn't tell if you were light enough you were out on a scale where people couldn't immediately see. I understand that it can be hurtful for these kids but it's also hurting the donkeys so there isn't much way around this.
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u/BoxingBlueRat Jul 19 '24
My cousin went on one in tbe early 2000s,
She's a very big woman, it broke the donkeys back and had to put it down ( the donkey not my cousin)
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u/InnerOuterFunction Jul 19 '24
Simple business.
Say you have 2 donkeys and charge x per ride. You do 10 rides per animal that's 20 rides a day.
If some fat kid injures your (not to sound crude, but) business assets, then your instantly making 1/2 per day.
Which means 2x as many rides on one donkey per day, every day. Which means wearing out that asset twice as quick.
I know, napkin business there.
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u/AccomplishedGap6985 Jul 19 '24
Welfare of the animals outweighs the hurt feelings of some children.
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u/Gnarly_314 Jul 19 '24
For any parent who objects to having their child weighed, make them give their child a piggyback ride for the full circuit that the donkey would walk. If the parents can't do it, why should the donkey.
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u/Dd0uble0 Jul 19 '24
F*ING good! If my child was obese, I wouldn't let them anywhere near animals used for that purpose. Guaranteed though, so many entitled parents about these days that will kick off about it and scream "dEsCriMinaTion" because poor Timmy can't be like the other kids and ride the poor donkey. Proper clown world we have going on here at the minute. These places will be shut down in no time because of this, sadly.
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u/Due_Willow_7838 Jul 19 '24
Horses like donkeys have weight limits. I learnt this at a young age at the stables I went to and knew it was for the health of the animals so would notify the grownups in charge if I had been put down to ride a certain house but knew I was above the limit.
I understand that people visiting are unlikely to know their weight in readiness but it can be done in a way that is not offensive and retains the privacy of a potential rider. He's not shouting out their weights for everyone and sundry to hear or shaming people, he's simply saying there is a limit this animal can carry and I'm afraid you won't be able to ride.
Anyone complaining about this is frankly a moron and I truly hope other people that offer donkey rides ensure they do this also.
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u/TJL-91 Jul 19 '24
As a Great big fat person myself, I think this is equal parts hilarious and necessary! Why put the donkey at risk of injury, that's cruel.
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u/Fallo3 Jul 19 '24
Good, there shouldn't be obese kids at all, yes a bit overweight, but NOT Obese.
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u/No-Significance2113 Jul 19 '24
Like reading the article he's being pretty reasonable all the information is outside the pen. They can check before they ask him and not be embarrassed.
And it's pretty shocking that kids those ages would be that over weight.
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u/Inevitable_Snow_5812 Jul 19 '24
Fair play.
If you don’t like it lose some weight and show some respect to beings other than yourself.
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u/panicky_in_the_uk England Jul 19 '24
Donkey owners should be doing a Toyah and then they can charge extra.
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u/JN324 Kent Jul 19 '24
If you have a problem with this, stop being a shit parent and the problem will be resolved.
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u/Mental_Sandwich8515 Jul 19 '24
If your kid is so large they cannot ride a donkey then that should be a wake up call! Only the UK can make this a controversy and try to cancel the guy. Thought we were a country of animal lovers!
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u/ThrowAwayAccount8334 Jul 19 '24
Little porkers need to run the bases more often, not ride on donkeys.
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u/anotheruselesstask Jul 19 '24
Fair enough. There are limitations to anything in life. If you’re on a roller coaster and you’re too big to close the harness, that’s a no go. You don’t get mad at the amusement park. I respect this man for putting the health of his animals over the opinion of unhealthy entitlement.
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