Bird-riding loses luster in South Africa's ostrich capital

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Clambering onto an ostrich for a journey was once famous amongst travelers in a South African metropolis referred to as the "ostrich capital of the sector."

Not a lot anymore.

Two essential ostrich farms inside the Oudtshoorn vicinity have stopped providing ostrich rides to tourists, responding to issues from European clients and others approximately the birds' welfare. A 1/3 farm is sticking with the function, announcing its regulations consist of traveler weight restrictions and that an ostrich does not revel in soreness even as trotting with someone on its returned for 10 seconds or so.

FILE -- In this Sunday, June 27, 2010 file picture two guys compete in an ostrich race at Highgate ostrich farm in Oudtshoorn, South Africa. Clambering onto an ostrich for a journey used to be famous among travelers in a South African town of Oudtshoorn known of because the "ostrich capital of the sector." Not so much anymore. Two fundamental ostrich farms in Oudtshoorn have stopped offering ostrich rides to vacationers, responding to worries about the birds' welfare. A third farm is sticking with the feature, pronouncing it's far regulated and that ostriches do no longer experience discomfort.. The Highgate farm, however, maintains to offer ostrich rides.(AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)

The debate is a part of a wider discussion in Africa and beyond approximately the ethics of human interaction with positive animals for amusement or different functions. Ostrich farmers pressure that riding an ostrich isn't the same as using an elephant, which would need to gain knowledge of. Nor, they say, can or not it's compared with the petting of lion cubs, whose time in captivity prevents them from learning how to continue to exist in the wild.

But ostrich rides, which used to be "some thing that sincerely captured the creativeness," at the moment are regarded with distaste by many customers, stated Douglas Bester, proprietor of Cango ostrich farm in Oudtshoorn. The farm scrapped rides at the give up of February.

"It's a marketplace demand," Bester said, including: "It's greater moral to teach youngsters to like the birds than to sit down on them and have fun giggling whilst someone falls off."

Oudtshoorn is in South Africa's arid Karoo region and ostriches had been first farmed there for his or her feathers within the 19th century. Feathers ranked fourth behind gold, wool and diamonds within the fee of South African exports earlier than World War I, whose economic fallout devastated the ostrich industry, in step with the internet site of the Safari Ostrich Show Farm. Besides feathers, there is also a marketplace for ostrich eggs, meat and leather-based.

The Safari farm commenced regulating ostrich rides about 15 years ago, sooner or later reducing the load limit for tourists to 60 kilograms (132 pounds), and dropped the practice altogether on May 5, stated advertising supervisor Billy Engelbrecht.

"We noticed that a number of our local and worldwide travelers were not that keen on driving ostriches anymore, like they could have been forty or 50 years ago," Engelbrecht said.

Highgate, any other ostrich farm, nevertheless offers rides in its excursions, which consist of a visit to a breeder room wherein ostrich chicks hatch and an "ostrich derby" wherein employees race on the birds at the same time as vacationers watch. The farm does now not permit all of us above seventy four kilograms (163 kilos) to sit or experience on an ostrich, which could without problems bring a weight of 90 kilograms (198 kilos), stated proprietor Johan Keller.

"The ostriches experience no pain or soreness with any of these sports," Keller wrote in an electronic mail. He stated: "Our birds are happy birds."

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