Horse carriage drivers denouncing animal rights party

On Sunday, passers-by recorded an incident when a horse fell to the ground. This was shared on social media and provoked complaints by groups such as Progreso en Verde.

Venancio Vargas, the owner of the horse carriage in question, says that the horse had collided another horse and had fallen to the ground after having apparently been startled by a woman with a baby buggy. "Within minutes, the police arrived and saw that the animal had been lifted up in perfect condition. The horse was working on Monday with no problem." He adds that drivers are subject to insults. "Last Saturday a guy on a motorcycle stopped next to me and called me a 'shitty gypsy'."

The town hall explains that the police didn't make a report of the Sunday incident. "It's therefore difficult to open a file based only on a video on social networks."

Vargas points out that if there is a weather alert for high temperatures, "they don't let us go out all day". "These are determined by Aemet, which issues a yellow or orange alert for between Andratx and Ses Salines, despite the fact that in Palma it may be cloudy and the temperature is lower." He is ruling out the proposal to substitute horse carriages with electric ones. "The cheapest electric galley costs 70,000 euros. The prices are enormous and the batteries are polluting."

At Palma's council session on Thursday, the proposal for electric carriages will be on the agenda.