2023-07-21 07:29:00
Europe four-legged friends in action
These animals work in tourism
Whether pleasant or not – on vacation you often meet animals that you would not meet in everyday life. But there are also four-legged friends that are specifically used for tourists. We present five examples from different countries that invite you to stroke and smile.
Status: 21.07.2023 | Reading time: 4 minutes
In Austria, many family hotels keep pygmy goats – which is especially good for the little guests
Quelle: picture alliance/ WILDLIFE/ G.Lacz
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1. The Therapist: A hangover at the airport in California
Travel fever, fear of flying? Or annoyed by long queues at check-in? For such cases, there has been an airport tomcat named Duke in San Francisco for a few months. His purr is said to help calm stressed passengers in the terminals.
Duke Ellington Morris, the cat’s full name, is part of the famous “Wag Brigade”, a team of trained airport therapy animals. He is the only cat among them, most of the animals used by the “Wedeltruppe” are dogs.
Animals have been used in all terminals for ten years, they wear a shirt with the inscription “Pet me!” (“pet me”). The service is free, but the responsible San Francisco “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for Animals” – an organization that protects animals from abuse – welcomes donations. She founded the Wedeltruppe together with the airport.
At the airport in San Francisco, the tomcat Duke calms down stressed passengers
Those: SFO Airport
The animals live quite normally with their owners, with whom they then work on an hourly basis. This is a happy ending for the tomcat Duke: the stray was once found half starved and nursed back to health.
also read
Additional Information: flysfo.com/passengers/services-amenities/wag-brigade
2. The Fitness Instructor: A Labrador at the hotel in Canada
The five-year-old black Labrador, Bear, is arguably the most popular employee at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel resort in Banff National Park in Canada’s Rocky Mountains. As a “Canine Ambassador” (ambassador dog), it is his job to inspire guests with his good-natured nature, to be petted and to motivate visitors to go for walks together. As provisions and a reward for the dog, there is water (with a small bowl) and a few treats provided by the hotel staff.
In the hotel resort “Fairmont Banff Springs” in Canada, Labrador male Bear, here with his colleague Lily, motivates guests to go for a walk
Quelle: Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
Many hotels in the Fairmont group have such barking ambassadors. Most of them are herding dogs like Labradors and Golden Retrievers, such as the couple Stanley and Calla in Jasper, Canada, Ella and Elly in Vancouver, or Bixby and Gibbs in Scottsdale, Arizona. According to the hotel group, guests traveling alone like to use the dogs for a walk, also to feel safer.
Additional Information: fairmont.de/offers/fairmont-canine-ambassadors
3. The Entertainers: Hotel Garden Pigs in England
Anyone who has observed domestic pigs outside of a stable in the garden knows that they are intelligent, curious and playful animals. Therefore, mini pigs are very popular as pets – especially since, contrary to all prejudices, they do not stink, like to bathe and be housebroken.
Kunekune pigs entertain guests in the garden of The Pig hotel in Brockenhurst, England
Source: picture alliance/ dpa/ Libor Sojka
If you want to have pigs on holiday in southern England, you will find what you are looking for at “The Pig” in Brockenhurst (Hampshire). It is the parent company of the hotel group of the same name, of which there are now several in Great Britain – small hotels with a casual, luxurious flair, shabby-chic interiors and regional cuisine based on the farm-to-table concept – and Kunekune pigs grunt in the garden.
As “Resident Pigs”, these brightly spotted animals are permanent roommates, so they don’t end up on the plate, but work as entertainers for the guests. All they have to do is run around freely, like the pigs Biggy and Spot. These Kunekune pigs come from New Zealand, in the language of the Maori their name means “round and fat”. With their soft bristles, prick ears and friendly nature, they are sweet-hearted animals.
Additional Information: thepighotel.com
4. The cuddly toys: pygmy goats in Austria
Being together with animals on vacation is one of the greatest wishes for children. Many family hotels, especially in Austria, therefore keep dwarf goats in the garden or in a species-appropriate outdoor enclosure. These animals are very sociable, become tame – and live up to 18 years. In this way, children can visit their “holiday kids” again and again.
More about animals and tourism:
For example in the “Hotel Wagrainerhof” in Salzburger Land or in the “Family Resort Petschighof” in Carinthia. Correct feeding with the palm of your hand is done under supervision, so that children learn how to handle the animals with care. Parents are also explicitly invited to visit the hotel animals.
Additional Information: wagrainerhof.com; petschnighof.at
5. The meditation teachers: Cows for milking in Finland
Many like dairy products, but hardly anyone knows how to milk cows by hand. Vacationers in Finland can learn this almost meditative craft – in a four-day “Cow Camp” in North Karelia. The region with its mountains, lakes and rivers is also considered an ideal holiday destination for nature lovers by Finns.
In North Karelia, vacationers learn how to milk cows by hand
Source: Josi Purhonen
In this environment, the camp participants get to know traditional life on a farm every summer. The brown spotted cattle with their calves are kept on the pastures, the cows only come into the barn to be milked.
Additional Information: thecowcamp.com
When snakes are used as mini-masseuses
In Egypt’s capital Cairo, a spa offers snake massages.
Source: WORLD / Kevin Knauer
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