A BRAVE animal rights advocate has rescued one of Malaga’s last remaining carriage horses and prevented it from an otherwise uncertain fate.
Anne Blitz, from France, said she is ‘very excited’ but admitted that it was a ‘hard decision’ to spend a large sum of money in order to save the animal.
Her association, Burrito y Caballo Libre, has already secured two of the former carriage horses. One was purchased by her with the help of the group, and another by a friend.
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Malaga horse carriage owners ‘forced expat sanctuary to OUTBID slaughterhouses to save the animals’ – before sending them over ‘injured and skittish’
The pair are expected to arrive in the coming days at sanctuary, A Better Life 4 Horses, owned by Dane Signe Frossle, with Blitz covering the cost of their transport.
Anne’s new horse was one of more than 60 left without purpose after Malaga City Council summarily banned horse-drawn carriages last week.
Since the ban, sanctuaries have scrambled to rehome the animals. A coordinated rescue effort led by Frossle and Concordia, who runs Todos los Caballos del Mundo, has already secured 12.
Most of the animals have now found new homes, but two young horses remain unclaimed. Both are at a prime age of five years and come with what Frossle described as a ‘very expensive’ price tag of €6,000 for the pair.
The steep cost of the remaining horses has made it nearly impossible to secure their future, fuelling fears they could be sold to work in other cities such as Sevilla, where two former Malaga horses have already been sent to haul tourist carriages in the stifling heat.
READ MORE: Victory for campaigners as Malaga bans horse-drawn carriages – but what will happen to the animals?
Blitz is now appealing for help from the public to save the remaining two horses from a similar fate.
Her activism extends well beyond horses. The French campaigner has long fought for the welfare of Mijas’ working donkeys, organising protests and calling for boycotts of the town’s controversial ‘donkey taxi’ service, which has faced repeated accusations of animal abuse.
She wants the service replaced with other forms of transport and insists that ‘in this day and age, animal abuse cannot continue and we cannot accept it’.
For now, however, her focus is on the two remaining horses in Malaga whose futures still hang in the balance, as campaigners and sanctuaries race to raise enough funds before it is too late.
Click here to read more Malaga News from The Olive Press.
Málaga Horses. Could it be that O.P. has joined the ranks of those publications caught recently publishing misleading photos of starvation? The click-bait photo of the emaciated horse, ribs visible, leading the article suggests that this is the state of the Málaga carriage horses. Cue – oh those cruel Spaniards ( do I hear the Anti-corrida Taliban coming round the bend ?) The photos of actual carriage horses in the article tell another story. Prompted by another recent item about the Málaga ban I spent an interesting afternoon talking to a few of the drivers waiting for a fare here in Sevilla ( direct research – worth a try ). They were all appalled at the suggestion that their horses were ill-treated. Now, of course these men are not direct descendants of Saint Francis of Assissi – they are pragmatic mortals earning a living. They know that no tourist is going to go for a ride in a dirty carriage pulled by a half starved old nag on its last legs – thus their horses are extremely well cared for, fed, watered and groomed – tails plaited and manes combed. I have the greatest respect for the French lady fighting the good fight in her little corner ( she is certainly more honest that your photo editor ) but the symbiotic working relationship between man and animals goes back millennia and, however much our Walt Disney inspired sentimentality might wish, there are very few people in the world who can financially afford to maintain large beasts of burden in a state of inactive bliss.
How can we send Anne money in order to help her save the remaining two horses? I am sure there are readers who want to help, we need a GoFund me account, or something similar to wire money.
Thank you
Hope our readers can help …