Subspecies

A Supreme Court prosecutor has ordered an investigation into the holding of a donkey road race on the island of Lesvos after footage showing youths riding the animals surfaced online.

In the videos, children can be seen riding donkeys on the road while other children are hitting the animals to make them go faster.

In the wake of the backlash created by images of a mule on Hydra carrying a refrigerator, the island's mayor, Giorgos Koukoulakis, has argued that working animals are a necessity, adding that no legislation is being violated.

Speaking to state broadcaster ERT, he stressed that these are not donkeys, but mules that can lift up to 100 kilos. Cars are banned on the island.

Mongolia is the second Asian country after Japan that will produce Bulgarian yogurt with the Lactobacillus bulgaricus bacteria. An agreement on the use of the license was signed between the state company "LB Bulgaricum" and one of the largest Mongolian food production companies - APU Company, the Ministry of Economy reports.

The earliest known chicken remains were dated to between 1650 and 1250 B.C. in central Thailand

Payment of one-off aid of 300 BGN to farmers who have taken measures to clean and disinfect their farms after complying with orders to cull domestic pigs will begin after September 1, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency said on August 21, writes BNT.

From today, employees of the Food Safety Agency will begin checks on the private farms of people in the 20-kilometer surveillance zone. The aim is to determine whether farmers have voluntarily killed their domestic pigs.

The deadline expired on Friday. In the Plovdiv region the villages around the Industrial Zone of Rakovski, Stryama and Belozem will be checked first.

Greece's Ministry of Agriculture has introduced new rules to protect the donkeys of Santorini, including a riding ban on tourists who weigh more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds), following a campaign by animal rights groups saying that burdening the donkeys with excessive loads is tantamount to torture.