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Animal Abuse Just to Please Tourists - EXPOSED
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Apr 27, 2025
We have recently encountered people offering to take a picture with an owl in Prague. Please don't support this business. First of all, it is illegal in Prague. Second, the owl is a nocturnal animal. And last but not least - these people treat them terribly. Watch the video and please - don't feed the scammers. If you'd like to support the work of the animal shelter, check out the options here: https://lhmp.cz/zachranna-stanice/radi-byste-pomohli/ Support our work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/honestguide Thanks! Honest Guide https://instagram.com/realhonestguide Janek https://instagram.com/janekrubes/ Honza https://instagram.com/honzamikulka/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HonestPragueGuide/ Music used in this video https://bit.ly/HonestMusic 0:00 Nice Picture for Instagram? 1:44 Stories from the Police 2:34 How Much Money They Earn 4:43 Forcing Tourists To Pay 5:22 Police Took Action
View Video Transcript
0:00
Check it out, man. We can take a picture with an owl
0:02
Who cares? It's 20 euros and most likely an animal torture. It's gonna look so cute on my Instagram
0:08
Out of all the stories we have covered in Prague with our show, I would never believe that our video would have this exact title
0:15
Yep, animal torture just to please tourists and their pictures on their Instagram
0:20
Well, today's video is exactly about that. Millions of tourists come to Prague and they obviously take pictures usually of beautiful
0:45
architecture and some take pictures of their lovely Trdelniks, but some take pictures with
0:50
live animals that are being held captive just for that purpose. As you visit our city you may see
0:57
people holding up snakes, offering them for pictures, sometimes even a little
1:01
pig, but mostly for this purpose they use an owl. Now these owls are not only protected by the Czech law but they're also an
1:18
endangered species. There's only about 100 of them left in our country and the
1:23
people who offer them for picture taking are treating them horribly. Not only they carry them
1:28
around in backpacks or some boxes, but they also have them on a string. And if the owl decides to
1:33
fly away, they just pull it back. Now, just to clarify, this activity is illegal and the cops
1:48
partially go after these people. And the people obviously try to get away
1:52
So there are actually cases where they just leave the owl in a backpack on the street
1:57
so they avoid being ticketed. There even a case that we were told by the Czech police where a person was hiding the owl under his t just not to be fined
2:21
Now if you're surprised that they would just leave an animal behind, well they can just buy a new one
2:26
There are listings on the Czech internet where these owls go for sale for around 80 euros a piece
2:31
Now the window where Honza is filming me from right now is one of my favorite coffee places in Prague
2:37
And this one day, I'm just sitting there and looking out the window, I see a couple of girls and a guy standing here offering owls to be taken pictures with
2:46
And I was watching them for exactly eight minutes. And in those eight minutes, I kid you not, they made 140 euros
2:54
Because for each picture, they demand 20 euros from the person. And if the person refuses to pay, they force them to delete the picture
3:11
So after those couple minutes, I decided to go down and have a short chat with them
3:15
As I walked down, I immediately once again saw how the guy is demanding another $20 for a picture that he just took
3:23
Yet a minute later, he completely denied it. Can I get a picture of Todd
3:28
Yes, it's free. Yes. It's free, the picture, right? No. No? So how much is the picture
3:34
No, people give some donations. They give donations? Yeah. So how much is the donation
3:38
For food? This euro. If you want to give five euro, if you want to give two euro. Okay
3:43
All right. I need some bloggers. I know, guys. Yeah, it's very much possible
3:48
By the way, as it also turned out, these guys knew me. No wonder if we're covering scams in Prague, they probably know who we are
3:55
And this whole time I was trying to talk to them, they were just laughing at me. You can look at it. You're lying. You're lying
4:42
Now these guys, these crooks, not only operate on the square, but they also do this on the bridge here
4:47
And we were actually sent a video with a scene where some tourists refused to pay them 20 euros for the picture
4:53
So these guys just followed the tourists around. And somebody filmed it and sent us the video
4:58
Hello, on Charles Bridge in Prague there are some people with birds that gift the animals in the hands of tourists
5:04
and after they ask for 500 crowns, 20 euros. A lot of tourists get really angry and they start to scream, they follow them
5:12
It is really a horrible thing. Can you do something? Do something
5:16
That's why we're making this video. Some of the footage we just showed you actually surfaced to the Czech media
5:24
So the city police decided to get involved in the issue and try to solve it
5:28
by taking the owls away from these people. Well, they were really unhappy about it
5:33
and this wavy girl was actually fighting with the cops. Even after the cops managed to take the owl away and put it in the safety box
5:41
she grabbed it and thought she's going to run away with it. What the hell
5:46
Now, there is partially a happy ending to the story, because the owls were rescued by the cops and taken to a rescue station here in Prague
5:54
where they are now taken care of. By the way, remember the owl that was left in the backpack on the bridge
6:00
Yes, even this one is there in the rescue station. So the contact with people is not pleasant for them In this story not only the people who have the owls just for the purpose to pleasure tourists are a problem but also the tourists who are willing to take the picture and pay for it are part of the problem
6:27
So please do not do it. If you are so desperate to see animals and take pictures of them, you can go to the Prague Zoo
6:35
Prague Zoo is absolutely beautiful. It costs 10 euros to get in
6:39
I absolutely love it. And the money you pay for the entrance will go to the animals that are there
6:44
Unlike here with the owls, if you give money for the picture, it just goes to the pocket of the person
6:50
They do not care about the animals as you saw today. Oh, and one more tip
6:54
If you want to see animals in Prague, there's this beautiful place called Divčí Hrade where there's the Przewalský Kůň almost freely in the nature
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And it is overlooking the city of Prague. So go there, take a picture of the horse in the wilderness
7:07
It is really a great place, a great tip for you for a nice trip here in Prague
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Very much recommend this place for a trip. We're the Honest Guides
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We're here to give you tips and also prevent you from feeding scammers and feeding the scam business
7:23
Because it is not only hurting our city, the tourism industry, but in this case, it is hurting the animals
7:30
which is the most disgusting part. You can see me here on this channel next Sunday
7:34
or if you come to Prague, I'll be more than happy to take a picture with you. We only charge 20 euros
7:40
All right, that'll be 20 euros. Okay. It will be 20 euros or you delete the picture
7:45
Yeah, we charge 20 pounds for a picture. 20 pounds? All right. Oh, dearie me, no
7:51
We do pictures for 20 euros. Nobody believes me. I've been watching you long enough
7:57
So you're from Indonesia? I'm from Indonesia. How did you like the Prague Ham? The Prague Ham
8:02
Yeah. I've never tried it before. You should. All the people from Indonesia love it
8:07
Okay. And as usual, I'm going to teach you a Czech word at the end
8:11
this time it's how to say owl. Well, in Czech, owl is sova. Sova is an owl. And the specific
8:18
one that you saw in today's video is sova palena, which according to Wikipedia is barn owl. Sova palena
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