Laurence Dollimore
DONKEYS in Mijas Pueblo won a small victory today after the local government ushered in new rules with immediate affect.
In a statement online, the Ayuntamiento de Mijas said donkey taxis and horse-drawn carriages must be reduced when there are weather warnings in place for extreme heat.
When official weather agency Aemet issues an orange or red level warning, no services can be run.
If there is a yellow warning in place, services will not be operational between 2pm and 6pm, the hottest time of day.
The town hall claimed it had been working on the decree ‘for some time’, but did not respond to the Olive Press’s request for comment two days ago when we pressed them on the issue.
Marco Cortes, Councillor for Animal Welfare, said the measures were ‘very necessary’, not only for the workers in the sector, but for the animals themselves.
He said: “The situation we are going through with constant alerts for high temperatures made the existence of this order very necessary, on which the council has been working for some time.
“Health must come first and what is sought with this decree is to guarantee that the well-being of both the coachmen as well as the animals prevails.”
The new decree came just 48 hours after the Olive Press reported outrage among tourists who compared the treatment of the donkeys to ‘animal abuse’.
It also came a day after our follow-up story in our printed paper about British expat Linda Martin, who vowed to visit the town hall and filed an official complaint with the police today.
The British expat told the Olive Press: “These donkeys need a voice, what is happening to them is not right.
“Every time I’m in the Pueblo I see these big, fat tourists sitting on these tiny donkeys or being pulled along by them in carts.
“The other day a baby donkey was forced to pull two carts of people at the same time.”
She insisted it’s regularly happening despite the town hall introducing weight restrictions.
“But I never see them enforced, and when I tell the donkey owners they don’t have enough water they basically tell me to bugger off.”
Lynda added she is set to launch a campaign which will hand out leaflets informing tourists about why they shouldn’t ride the donkeys.
Tourist Nicola Sweeney wrote to the Olive Press yesterday to plead for more to be done.
“I am staying in Mijas Pueblo and this will be the last time. Two donkeys have collapsed this week and the owner would not untie it so it was left hanging.
“Another donkey was videoed collapsed in the street last night,” she added.
“When I asked about water for them I was met with anger from the owners.
“This is shocking blatant animal abuse in full view of tourists. This has to be highlighted.”
The Olive Press has contacted Mijas town hall for comment.
