As a new case of abuse, the Animal Network of Yucatan announced that a Mérida downtown carriage driver, placed colored lights on the face of a horse to capture the attention of people who were passing through the Historic Center of Mérida.
Edmundo Caballero and Karla Caballero, who, upon encountering this scene, decided to record and broadcast the images so that the person responsible would desist and remove those lights that undoubtedly hurt the poor horse´s eyes and vision.
In this regard, Raúl Argáez Ortega, representative of Un Millón de Esperanzas at the national level and spokesperson for the Yucatán Animal Network commented that it is not the first time that cases like this have been reported, since on previous occasions horses have fainted, they have suffered heatstroke, and even bone fractures when slipping on the streets during the rainy season.
“In Mérida, they continue to use carriages pulled by animals, instead of using electric carriages, as they are apparently using in Motul and Progreso already,” Argaez said.
The activist recalled that on different occasions they have requested that the horse-pulled carriages be removed, but the Mérida City Council and the state government have not responded.
The requests arise only from the fact that the animals spend long hours exposed to the sun and then are forced to go for tours pulling the weight of up to five people in a carriage.
Those who are in charge of them, ensure that the animals have the necessary conditions that guarantee a good quality of life, in addition to having adequate food and medical care.
However, Argáez Ortega said that there is insufficient evidence that this is true because according to the activist, there are no studies that support these claims.