Donkeys get married to protest donkeys getting married

AA photo

A group of animal rights activists in Turkey has organized a wedding to protest an Istanbul district mayor who “wed donkeys.”

Büyükçekmece District Mayor Hasan Akgün had issued a symbolic “marriage certificate” over the weekend to two stray donkeys that his municipality had started to treat. 

Kadife, a female donkey whose leg was broken when discovered abandoned in nature, recently gave birth to a baby from Karakaçan, her “husband.” The donkey family lives in the Büyükçekmece Stray Animals Treatment and Rehabilitation Center.

However, animal rights activists condemned Akgün in front of the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) headquarters in Ankara on Oct. 14, saying such measures were insufficient and did no practical good for animals.

The Çankaya Animal Lovers Platform brought four donkeys adorned in wedding paraphernalia to a park near the CHP HQ, carrying placards reading “Thank you CHP,” “We celebrate the CHP’s marrying of donkeys,” according to the semi-official Anadolu Agency.

Protesters presented golden bracelets to the two newly-wed “couples” as gifts.