Many cities throughout Spain see horse-drawn carriages, carrying tourists around town, in the old-fashioned way. Visitors tend to love this, and find it a unique way to see the sights. However, animal protection organizations are slamming the carriages, stating that it is cruel to the animals. However, the situation became even more urgent after images on social media captured a horse, pulling a carriage in Palma de Mallorca, collapsing to the ground.

Mallorca to replace horse-drawn carriages with electric carriages

After the image of the injured horse went viral on the Internet, officials in Palma de Mallorca finally made a change. As reported by 20 Minutos, in July 28, 2022, the city, which is the capital of the Balearic Islands, approved a new proposal. In fact, horse-drawn carriages will officially to be replaced by an electric version.

Animal protection party, Progreso en Verde has been calling for this change for a number of years. However, every time the subject was brought up, nothing happened. The party consistently denounced the administration for its inaction. Finally, officials in the town hall have voted in favor of the change, with the only abstentions by members of Spain’s right wing parties, Partido Popular and Vox. Horse-drawn carriages are to be a thing of the past and will be replaced.

Keeping horses out of the hot weather

On top of this resolution, the town hall approved another amendment, that will come into force this month. Under this amendment, horse-drawn carriage operators will be prohibited from taking their horses out to work when there is a yellow, orange or red weather alert for heatwaves. This summer has been particularly hot throughout mainland Spain and also the Balearic Islands.

It was likely the heat that caused a horse to collapse and fall to the ground in the Mallorcan capital. At the end of July, some images that quickly went viral on the internet showed what had happened just a few days before in a square in the Majorcan capital, where a horse that was pulling a carriage collapsed and fell to the ground.

While this first step is good news for animal protection organizations, there are other destinations that need the same ruling.

According to a petition by PETA, besides Palma de Mallorca, other towns, such as Alcudia and Sant Llorenç des Cardassar see many exhausted horses. The animals struggle while pulling carriages full of tourists in the busy streets in the heat.

A number of the horses, especially during the summer when temperatures reach 35 degrees C (95 degrees F), collapse from exhaustion. As this often happens in busy traffic, this can lead to accidents. Meanwhile, the honk of a car horn is enough to trigger the horses’ instinct to bolt.

Other cities banning horse-drawn carriages

Barcelona in Spain has already stopped issuing licenses for horse-drawn carriages. Meanwhile, cities in other countries, like New Delhi, Tel Aviv, Oxford and Melbourne have banned them altogether. Moreover, other cities, including Charleston, New York and Prague, are also planning to phase out this tourist attraction.

Of course, with the effects of climate change and global warming, temperatures may soon surpass Mallorca’s usual 35 degrees C (95 degrees F). This would make the practice even crueler to the horses. In the case of Mallorca’s other popular destinations, PETA is petitioning the mayors of the towns to ban this charming, but an outdated and cruel form of transport.

So far, no descriptions are available about the electric carriages. However, it is likely they will similar to the Tuk-Tuks, the three-wheeled electric vehicles used in Asia and pictured here. It might not be as charming, but it is f.