A pair of vacationers admire the shimmering Mediterranean from their horse-drawn carriage on the seaside promenade in Spain’s southern port of Malaga — a postcard picture whose days are numbered.
Town needs to ban horse-drawn carriages from its streets this yr to guard the animals after years of criticism of the commerce.
The choice to comply with within the footsteps of different vacationer hotspots similar to Rome and Chicago dismayed guests together with Anastasia, a chef who had travelled from Britain.
“It is very nice, I used to be impressed — seeing Malaga like that is utterly totally different,” stated the 47-year-old as she dismounted from a carriage.
Fellow British vacationer Robert agreed, expressing his marvel at his “superb” journey with a “lovely” horse.
“I’m positive it helps town entice extra vacationers,” added the 46-year-old enterprise proprietor.
Animal rights activists criticise horse-drawn carriages for vacationers due to the pressure they placed on the animals, particularly in the course of the searing summer season warmth.
Summer time temperatures in Malaga can soar to 45 levels Celsius (113 levels Fahrenheit), stated Concordia Marquez, founding father of a close-by shelter referred to as “Todos los Caballos del Mundo” (All of the Horses within the World).
“Horses and horse-drawn carriages must cowl quite a lot of floor, each to get to the place they spend the evening, the place they sleep, and to get again to their workplace,” added Marquez.
“That is inhumane to make a horse work like that.”
– Animal welfare considerations –
Malaga metropolis corridor had introduced in 2015 that it aimed to ban horse-drawn carriages from its streets by 2035, but it surely now needs to deliver the ban ahead to this yr.
Officers are in talks with the holders of the final 25 licences to achieve an settlement.
“We now have been negotiating for a very long time, we’ve got met 99 p.c of the calls for of carriage homeowners,” Malaga’s metropolis councillor for mobility, Maria Trinidad Hernandez, informed AFP.
“What we’re on the lookout for is animal welfare, however it is usually the case that they used to have extra locations to flow into,” she added.
“With the constructing works which have gone on for the final 20 years, there may be hardly any left. There’s the park and slightly little bit of the promenade left.”
Horse-drawn carriages won’t completely disappear — they are going to nonetheless be allowed as a part of festivals and traditions like Malaga’s annual truthful in August.
“What there will not be are municipal licences, the vacationer horse-drawn carriage, the one you’re taking and pay for as if it have been a avenue taxi,” stated Hernandez.
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