MALAGA horse carriage owners forced an expat animal sanctuary boss to outbid a slaughterhouse in order to rescue two of the beasts from being killed.
Signe Frossle, who runs ‘A Better Life 4 Horses’, told the Olive Press she was obliged to pay ‘€50 more’ than the €600 the slaughterhouse was offering per horse in order to convince the owners to sell to her.
It brings the total for saving the pair to well over a thousand euros with funds that were raised by ‘people and supporters who follow the rescue centre’.
It means that the horse owners were unwilling to hand the animals over to the rescue centre without squeezing every last drop out of the sanctuary and its supporters.
The two horses were among over 60 affected by Malaga’s recent horse-drawn tourist carriage ban, which ended the use of the mode of transport in the city.
When the two horses finally arrived at the Antequera-based sanctuary, it appeared that they had ‘not been taken care of for a while’.
Frossle accused the owners of deliberately neglecting the animals in the run up to the band, knowing that it would mean the end of the business and so the owners ‘didn’t want to spend money’ on the animals.
One of the nags that arrived at Frossle’s safe haven for horses is riddled with injuries and is afflicted by serious eczema with very long hoofs whilst the other is ‘nervous’ and reacts fearfully to movement.
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Despite their apparent reluctance to care for the horses, the owners still refused to give them away without receiving a final payout.
Since this pair’s rescue, Malaga has now allegedly prohibited former carriage license holders from selling directly to slaughterhouses.
They can, however, still sell to horse dealers who can then send them on to slaughter – a change that Frossle believes just adds ‘one more move’ to the chain.
‘It’s ridiculous that what’s going to happen to the horses hasn’t been agreed with a contract’, she said.
The sanctuary owner is hoping that she will be able to bring more of the animals to safety and is currently ‘awaiting further information’ about at least one more horse.
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‘A Better Life 4 Horses’, which is located in Antequera, is now home to 36 rescued horses and has the space to take in over a dozen more.
Frossle says that ‘it feels good to know that at least two are not going to the slaughterhouse’ but she is aware that the future of many animals still hangs in the balance as negotiations between owners, dealers, slaughterhouses and sanctuaries continue.
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