Heavy riders to be BANNED from riding donkeys in Spain’s Mijas come 2020

HEAVY people will be banned from riding on Mijas’s famous donkeys from 2020, in an effort to improve the animals’ welfare.

From next year the donkeys will not be allowed to carry people weighing more than 80kg, after politicians in the Andalucian mountain village approved the new protections. 

It comes after a long campaign by local animal rights activists who say some donkeys have died due to their poor working conditions.

In August, PP councillor Mario Bravo’s original plans to ban people weighing over 80kg from riding the donkeys were quashed by local PSOE and Ciudadanos politicians who said the measures were ‘excessive.’

Bravo wanted to use cameras in order to monitor the donkeys walkers’ were implementing the 80kg rule. 

Now the PSOE councillor Nicolas Cruz has drawn up new plans which would impose the 80kg weight limit, improved veterinary checkups and better hygiene standards. 

He said that the new regulations have been given the informal seal of approval by councillors across the political spectrum and animal rights activists. 

As part of the plans, the current 60-year-old stables in Mijas town square are likely to be moved to a new location better suited to meeting the donkeys’ welfare standards. 

Muleteer Salvador Torre gave the thumbs up to the plans: ‘Donkeys have to be well cared for, well-nourished and given proper veterinary care,’ he said.

The proposals will now go to public consultation before being fully passed into law.