We have just returned from our holiday to Malta. What my husband and I were both looking forward to most was relaxing with a cool drink under a shade with book in hand and cooling off in your beautiful sea.
Alas, our holiday was completely spoilt when we decided to do some walking, only then realising just how hot the sun gets when being directly in it. A karozzin horse came by amid the traffic, frothing profusely at the mouth, carrying a load full of passengers; its discomfort was plainly visible.
As we thought this was a one-off case we tried to read the number plate as we planned to report this, but the number was barely visible due to its size and colour. We were walking in the same direction and consoled ourselves into believing that this working horse would be offered water and shade once it returns to its horse stand.
When we walked further ahead, we spotted other horses, standing in the hot sun, marked as horse stands without shade and no water facilities. All the horses had bowed heads and sweaty bodies. I felt such pity that I touched a couple of these horses, and to our utter dismay their bodies were scalding hot.
To animal-loving people this is a cause of great shock and sadness, definitely not expected from a country of Malta’s renown. After this episode our holiday was practically ruined as every time we sat down to a drink the image of these horses foaming at the mouth, obviously parched, and their overheated bodies kept coming to mind.
This cause is what led us to write this letter in an effort to remind the authorities that due to their lack of compassion by not providing these animals with shade and water points, promoting them as a tourist attraction will backfire when tourists such as ourselves return home and recount what they have seen.
We were later pleased to note that the animal rights organisations in Malta have handed a petition signed by over 8,000 supporters to your Prime Minister to rectify this situation and that a commitment has been made by the government to provide these necessities.
We are closely following developments.