Police in the Krasnodar Territory, southern Russia, have launched a search for the donkey forced to parasail as an advertising stunt high above the beach last weekend as well as its owner, a police spokesman said, RIA Novosti reported.
On July 15, the donkey was forced to parasail along a beach on the Sea of Azov for half an hour to promote paragliding. The donkey was braying with fear and children were crying. The shocked beachgoers reported the incident to local newspapers but nobody called the police.
The donkey's ordeal was over when it landed in an atrocious manner: it was dragged several meters along the water, after which the trembling animal was pulled out half-alive onto the shore.
"We identified the businessman who organized the donkey's flight and questioned him but he claims the donkey's owner had asked him to send the animal on a parasailing ride and said he has no idea why [the owner requested this]," the police spokesman said.
She added that the donkey's owner had also been identified but police could locate neither him, nor the donkey.
The animal should undergo a medical examination and if a veterinary finds any injuries caused by the flight, the police will launch a criminal case on animal cruelty charges, she said.