It is a pity that infrastructure issues related to building shelters for karozzini horses are overshadowing the welfare of the animals, according to a group of animal rights’ organisations.

The Animal Rights Coalition is insisting Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt should live up to a promise made last year and build the shelters to protect the horses from the sweltering summer sun while they waited for business.

However, Transport Malta said owners of the horse-drawn cabs should build and maintain the shelters without expecting the government to do so.

Transport Malta added that while it was willing to “facilitate the funding”, the cabbies should not expect public funds to be used to compensate for their legal obligations to make sure the animals did not suffer unnecessarily.

Last year the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), an international animal welfare association, called on the authorities to set up adequate shelters for the karozzini horses.

A government spokesman had said the transport and tourism authorities were discussing the possibility of setting them up.

In a report issued earlier this year, WSPA and the World Society for Traction Animal Welfare and Studies (Taws) pointed out that horses did not have adequate shade, shelter, water troughs and hygiene facilities at stands where they waited for custom or rested.

While animal welfare experts agree on the need to provide horses with shelter, the issue has now fizzled into an infrastructure debate – on who should build the shelters – rather than focusing on animal welfare.

Myriam Kirmond, from the coalition, said she hoped some form of temporary shelter would be set up until a solution was found for permanent structures.

“It’s already August and the poor horses are forced to wait for business in the blistering heat,” she said.

She thanked Environment Minister George Pullicino for his work on the well equipped animal aftercare centre in Ta’ Qali. It will include an area for horses following consultation with animal groups.

“This ministry is clearly one of the few that communicates with the people, in this case those who have been working for more humane animal conditions for years,” she said.

The first move to protect the animals from the summer sun came in 2005 when the government set up provisional shelters in St George’s Square, Valletta.

The shelters were dismantled last August when horse-drawn cab drivers were stopped from entering the centre of Valletta so the area could be turned into a pedestrian zone.

Cab stands were tempora-rily relocated in various areas on the outskirts of the capital where there are no shelters yet.