What will happen to the horses in Malaga now the tourist carriage licences have been withdrawn?

One of the big questions left to answer after the revocation of the 25 active horse-drawn carriage licences in Malaga is what will happen to the animals. The city council has already compensated each of the licence holders with 125,380.48 euros and has given them one month to leave the stables in Teatinos, but the fate of the equines remains an unknown.

If there are no changes to the current regulation, the future of each horse depends on the owner's decision. Many of the licence holders have already started to look for buyers for both the animals and the carriages. However, the task will not be easy, because these animals have been domesticated and they are used to performing only the carriage service.

Another possibility, although with more complications implied, is for the animals to be moved to other places where the tourist service is still operating, such as Marbella, Fuengirola, Mijas, Ronda, Seville and Cordoba.

The last option is for the animals to be slaughtered. Naturally, this is the last decision anyone would want to make, although some of the horses are quite old and costly to look after. For this reason, it would be unfeasible to take them to an equestrian centre as this implies rent, food and vet expenses. Some of the owners have complained that the revocation of their licences achieves the opposite of ensuring animal welfare.

Trying to find the best alternative, the horse-drawn carriage workers suggest that the city council either let them stay at the stables for a longer period of time or take over the animals' maintenance for as long as they have left to live. "We must not forget that we have been compensated for the revocation of the licences, not for the maintenance of the animals and their belongings," they say.