\n<\/p>\n
A pair of tourists admire the shimmering Mediterranean from their horse-drawn carriage on the seaside promenade in Spain’s southern port of Malaga — a postcard image whose days are numbered.<\/p>\n
The city wants to ban horse-drawn carriages from its streets this year to protect the animals after years of criticism of the trade.<\/p>\n
The decision to follow in the footsteps of other tourist hotspots such as Rome and Chicago dismayed visitors including Anastasia, a chef who had travelled from Britain.<\/p>\n
“It’s really nice, I was impressed — seeing Malaga like this is completely different,” said the 47-year-old as she dismounted from a carriage.<\/p>\n
Fellow British tourist Robert agreed, expressing his wonder at his “amazing” trip with a “beautiful” horse.<\/p>\n
“I am sure it helps the city attract more tourists,” added the 46-year-old business owner.<\/p>\n
Animal rights activists criticise horse-drawn carriages for tourists because of the strain they put on the animals, especially during the searing summer heat.<\/p>\n
Summer temperatures in Malaga can soar to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), said Concordia Marquez, founder of a nearby shelter called “Todos los Caballos del Mundo” (All the Horses in the World).<\/p>\n
“Horses and horse-drawn carriages have to cover a lot of ground, both to get to where they spend the night, where they sleep, and to get back to their place of work,” added Marquez.<\/p>\n
“That’s inhumane to make a horse work like that.”<\/p>\n
– Animal welfare concerns –<\/p>\n
Malaga city hall had announced in 2015 that it aimed to ban horse-drawn carriages from its streets by 2035, but it now wants to bring the ban forward to this year.<\/p>\n
Officials are in talks with the holders of the last 25 licences \u00a0to reach an agreement.<\/p>\n
“We have been negotiating for a long time, we have met 99 percent of the demands of carriage owners,” Malaga’s city councillor for mobility, Maria Trinidad Hernandez, told AFP.<\/p>\n
“What we are looking for is animal welfare, but it is also the case that they used to have more places to circulate,” she added.<\/p>\n
“With the building works that have gone on for the last 20 years, there is hardly any left. There is the park and a little bit of the promenade left.”<\/p>\n
Horse-drawn carriages will not totally disappear — they will still be allowed as part of festivals and traditions like Malaga’s annual fair in August.<\/p>\n
“What there won’t be are municipal licences, the tourist horse-drawn carriage, the one you take and pay for as if it were a street taxi,” said Hernandez.<\/p>\n
str-mdm\/ds\/imm\/jxb<\/p>\n<\/div>\n