A PROLIFIC horse trader notorious for his treatment of animals has finally been put behind bars after years of campaigning.
He will now spend the next three years in jail in a move that activists, police and local authorities are celebrating.
A call from the Policia Local in Campo de Gibraltar alerted the Andalucian Rescue Centre for Horses (ARCH) to a number of animals that were being kept behind a supermarket in La Linea in appaling conditions.
Living without food or water, officers found the living equines to be sharing space with a dead donkey.
It was revealed that the owner of these animals was the same trader that activists have been after since 2021 when ARCH first rescued animals from his care.
Over two years they took 15 equines that were confiscated by SEPRONA but failed to get the dealer behind bars as he managed to get ‘round his sentence by putting the animals into the names and codes of other people’.
Now however his dodgy dealings have come to an end as a ‘more sympathetic judge’ has sentenced the owner to three years in prison after what Jean Joss, the ARCH publicity officer, called a ‘combined effort from the Policia Local, The Animal Collective, ARCH and their animal rights lawyer’.
ARCH has taken in a total of six animals from this recent case that led to the dealer’s conviction.
“We have rescued two old mares, one donkey, a mule who is emancipated and a younger donkey and mare who we believe were not with the dealer for as long as they are not as hurt,” Joss told the Olive Press.
All of these animals, including the younger pair, require veterinary care with some in a ‘truly dreadful condition’.
The elderly donkey, named Margarita, had to have her stomach pumped due to colic and is extremely depressed – it is suspected that she was related to the dead donkey found behind the supermarket.
The other mares and mules require treatment for worms and lice and need special diets for rehabilitation.
Five years ago the animals confiscated from the same dealer were in an equally bad state.
Then in the weeks following these 2021 and 2022 rescues, more equines were revealed in a variety of places.
With distance between them the animals kept popping up and now ARCH fears that the same could occur – Joss says the ‘investigation is continuing which could result in more horses being discovered’.
Even without these potential extra equines ARCH are under financial pressure as they ‘receive no funding from authorities and have to pay for the transport costs that come with bringing rescued animals to the centre’.
The organisation exists in a ‘constant battle to make ends meet’ with persistent torrential downpours during recent storms adding to their financial burden and raising questions over whether they could save any more animals.
“These poor animals were in an appalling state of neglect and there was nowhere else for them to go.
“We felt we could not turn them away in spite of the extra difficulties they present for our team of horse carers and the extra burden on finances already stretched to the limits for extra feed and bedding in this dreadful weather,” says the group’s president Jill Newman Rogers.
To help cover the costs ARCH is appealing to the public.
“No one gives us money so every single donation, however small, really helps,” Joss said.
Donations can be made here.
Click here to read more Gibraltar News from The Olive Press.
