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MALAGA horse-cart owners forced an animal sanctuary boss from abroad to bid more than a slaughterhouse to save two of the animals.
Signe Frossle, who runs ‘A Better Life 4 Horses’, told the Olive Press she was obliged to pay ‘€50 more’ than the €600 the slaughterhouse was offering per horse in order to convince the owners to sell to her.
It brings the total for saving the pair to well over a thousand euros with funds that were raised by ‘people and supporters who follow the rescue centre’.
The horse owners did not want to surrender their horses to the rescue center without getting every last penny from the supporters and the sanctuary.
READ MORE : Exclusive: A sanctuary owner from abroad steps in to rescue over a dozen animals facing slaughter, after Malaga bans tourist carriages.
Two horses are among the 60 that were affected by the recent ban on horse-drawn carriages for tourists in Malaga. The city has now stopped using this mode of transportation.
When the two horses finally arrived at the Antequera-based sanctuary, it appeared that they had ‘not been taken care of for a while’.
Frossle accused the owners of deliberately neglecting the animals in the run up to the band, knowing that it would mean the end of the business and so the owners ‘didn’t want to spend money’ on the animals.
One of the nags that arrived at Frossle’s safe haven for horses is riddled with injuries and is afflicted by serious eczema with very long hoofs whilst the other is ‘nervous’ and reacts fearfully to movement.
READ MORE: Victory for campaigners as Malaga bans horse-drawn carriages – but what will happen to the animals?
Owners refused to sell their horses unless they received a final payout.
Malaga, after this pair was rescued, has allegedly banned former carriage license holders to sell directly to slaughterhouses.
They can, however, still sell to horse dealers who can then send them on to slaughter – a change that Frossle believes just adds ‘one more move’ to the chain.
‘It’s ridiculous that what’s going to happen to the horses hasn’t been agreed with a contract’, she said.
The sanctuary owner is hoping that she will be able to bring more of the animals to safety and is currently ‘awaiting further information’ about at least one more horse.
READ MORE: Palma and Marbella outraged by horse-related scandals in tourist carriages
‘A Better Life 4 Horses’, which is located in Antequera, is now home to 36 rescued horses and has the space to take in over a dozen more.
Frossle says that ‘it feels good to know that at least two are not going to the slaughterhouse’ but she is aware that the future of many animals still hangs in the balance as negotiations between owners, dealers, slaughterhouses and sanctuaries continue.
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