Karozzini horses are suffering from dehydration and this could reduce their alertness on the road, according to two British animal welfare experts.
Carl Boyde and Ramsay Hovell, who have been brought over to Malta by the Animal Welfare Coalition to witness the conditions faced by the horses in the heat of summer, said their access to water needed to be improved.
“The horse owners are so used to not having water points available for their horses that they themselves do not realise the animals are dehydrated,” said the experts, from the World Society for Traction Animal Welfare and Studies (Taws).
They recommended the introduction of water points at cab stands so that owners would have the facility to ensure their horses were adequately hydrated throughout the day.
“When a horse lacks water its alertness is hampered. This means it does not respond immediately to the driver who ends up beating the animal even harder. This is not welfare and can even be dangerous,” Prof. Hovell said.
The experts were in Malta last November and drew up a report which was submitted to the authorities. They had pointed out that horses did not have adequate shade, shelter, water troughs and hygiene facilities at stands where they waited for custom or rested.
Since then, they feel, little has been done to remedy the situation but on the second visit the authorities were more interested in meeting them to find a solution.
Accompanied by Myriam Kirmond from the coalition, they inspected horses and met representatives from Transport Ministry and the Animal Welfare Council among others.
They found that most of the horses they inspected at Valletta Waterfront were dehydrated. This was evident through a test that included pinching the horses’ skin gently. If, once let go, the skin bounced back in place the horse was healthy. But in most cases the skin remained raised, like a small tent, or went back in place slowly. This meant the animal needed water.
They recommended moving the cab stand at the Waterfront to a shadier place and suggested a sheltered area near the tunnels leading into the Floriana MCP car park.
The first move to protect horses from the summer sun came in 2005 when the government set up provisional shelters in St George’s Square, Valletta. However, 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 temporarily relocated to various areas on the outskirts of the capital but there are no shelters in place yet.
The Animal Rights Coalition is insisting that 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.
However, Transport Malta said owners of the horse-drawn cabs should build and maintain the shelters without expecting the government to do so.