Staff Reporter
MALAGA has finally moved to ban horse-drawn tourist carriages in the city with immediate effect – with the fate of the animals yet to be determined.
The decision comes after years of campaigning from animal rights activists who argue it is a form of animal abuse.
Chief among their complaints are punishing summer temperatures, the perils for the horses navigating city traffic, as well as the physical burden they have to endure.
Malaga mayor Francisco De la Torre announced that the decision was made ‘with the welfare and safety of the animals in mind’.
“From today, there will no longer be horse-drawn carriages as a tourist transport in Málaga,” he announced.
“We have taken this step thinking about the welfare and safety of the animals; the 25 carriages that were still circulating through the city will cease to operate[, and] the City Council has reached an agreement with the license holders.”
Each of the 25 license holders have been offered €125,380.48 as compensation due to the ban – but there are no confirmed plans for the 61 working horses’ futures.
PACMA, The Animalist Party, expressed concern over the fact that there was no discussion of the working horses’ futures as recently as May this year.
The group demanded that the City Council assume direct responsibility for the ‘life, health and well-being of the horses involved’.
To guarantee this, the PACMA proposed that the horses be given a ‘dignified retirement’ through the creation of adapted municipal facilities where they can live in semi-freedom.
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Alternatively, they should be transferred to specialised private sanctuaries.
PACMA offered to collaborate in managing the transfer to private sanctuaries, should this be the chosen option, however they emphasised that the services should be complementary as the relocation process could take several months.
Even with this offer, Malaga City Council have not addressed what will happen to the horses.
The Council had originally intended for the ban of the horse-drawn tourist carriages to occur in 2035 but, in January, De la Torre stated that they aimed to implement it by the end of this year.
PACMA has questioned the huge jump in the license redemption fee; today’s price of €125,380.48 is significantly higher than the €45,000 that was previously offered to license holders.
In 2018, three years after this initial redemption fee was offered, there were 55 horse-drawn carriage licenses in Malaga.
Since then, 30 of these have been voluntarily amortized in line with the agreement by the Local Governing Body at its meeting on 25th May 2018.
The earlier than planned revocation of the remaining 25 licenses has occurred as a result of the transport service not aligning with Malaga’s development.
Horse-drawn carriages are now seen as a threat to public safety and health, for members of the public and the animals alike.
According to a poll by SUR, 54% of people agree with the decision to ban horse-drawn carriages, 44% disagree and 2% are indifferent.
Today, signs which reserved parking spaces for horse-drawn carriages will be removed from Cortina de Muelle, Paseo de los Curas y Avenida Cervantes.
The spaces in Paseo de los Cursos and Avenida Cervantes have already been marked as designated parking spaces for motor cycles.
The horse-drawn carriages will not totally disappear. They will still have a role in festivals and play a part in traditions like Malaga’s annual fair in August.
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