WSPA comes to the rescue of karozzini horses

An international animal welfare association has called on the Maltese authorities to set up adequate shelters for the karozzini horses.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is urging the authorities to take action to provide the horses with shade and drinking water. It suggested that a small fraction of the €1 million budget allocated for the regeneration of Valletta's St George's Square - from where karozzini stands were recently removed - should go towards providing horse shelters.

A chorus of 20 local animal rights organisations joined the request the WSPA sent to the ministries responsible for rural affairs, transport, tourism and to the Animal Welfare Department.

A government spokesman said the transport and tourism authorities were discussing the possibility of setting up shelters around Valletta and a water fountain was planned near the police station at Valletta Waterfront. Kevin Debono, from the karozzini association, welcomed the organisations' interest in the cause. "Our horses clearly suffer in the heat. They sweat and pant. Something needs to be done. All we want is healthy horses so that we can offer a good service to tourists," he said.

Earlier this month horse-drawn cab drivers were stopped from entering the centre of Valletta that was turned into a pedestrian area. Cab stands were temporarily relocated in various areas on the outskirts of the capital. The cab drivers have been insisting on a permanent base. The WSPA has called on the authorities to take action to safeguard the long-term welfare of the horses. "As a member state of the European Union... it is important that Malta not only maintains high standards of animal welfare but is also seen to do so internationally," it said.

The 20 local NGOs said it was important that any shelters set up were spacious enough to accommodate both the horses and the cab so as to avoid situations where the horses still ended up in the sun. Animal Welfare Department director Mario Spiteri explained that the department planned to have a drinking fountain for horses at the Waterfront. In fact, pipes were already in place.

Dr Spiteri said his department was not empowered to build shelters for horses, however it was ensuring animal welfare by asking owners to cover the animals with a protective cloth when standing in the sun. Those who did not comply were fined for animal cruelty.

While shelters only catered for a few horses, Dr Spiteri said, such protective cover helped keep the animal cool wherever it was standing.

He added that the department was having talks with the Malta Tourism Authority to have uniform protective cloths that would make cabs look neater in the eyes of tourists.

While welcoming the initiative taken by the Animal Welfare Department, the NGOs said that covering cab horses with a protective cloth was "far from satisfactory and is surely not an ideal solution to ensure and safeguard in the long-term the well-being and welfare of cab horses".