A distressed young woman, who saw the abandoned horse and took photographs as evidence, called police to the Villa Salada centre at Torrevieja on Sunday afternoon.
The horse was still alive at the time, but was moved out of sight before police arrived. It is understood the horse was later put down by a veterinarian under police supervision.
The young woman has since filed a police report with Seprona, Spain’s animal welfare arm, alleging that the owner of the Villa Salada Equine Centre failed to provide adequate food and water for the horse and then abandoned it in cruel conditions.
Villa Salada is a popular tourist attraction offering Spanish horses and flamenco fusion shows, plus riding lessons and livery facilities for horse owners.
The horse is understood to be named ChiquitÃn. Photos by former employees uploaded to a Facebook protest page show the horse in good condition as little as three years ago. The photos taken on Sunday have created a storm on social media, and Villa Salada closed down their Facebook page this week.
A response on the Facebook protest page, purportedly by Villa Salada, claims the 32-year-old horse was found sick and with symptoms of pain early on Sunday morning. The post says a vet was unable to attend but gave instructions over the phone, and the horse was removed from its stable using a hoist. “ChiquitÃn has been looked after and supervised until the very last moment,” the post says.
While some have called for the closure of Villa Salada, Sue Weeding, a British expat who runs Alicante's Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre, said the events should instead serve as a warning to horse owners in Spain to clean up their act.
“We must use pictures like these to ensure people keeping horses realise they can no longer get away with abuse and neglect. Witnesses are now prepared to go to the police and the police will act. Things are changing,” she said.
“We’re not asking for all these places to close down because that would create another problem – where would all these horses then go? But people must realise that if they want to stay in business, they must no longer do this. Public opinion is a very powerful thing.”
Ms Weeding and her husband Rod care for more than 80 horses, ponies and donkeys saved from abuse and neglect, at the rescue centre they founded in 2008 just outside the small southern town of Rojales. Some of the animal's remarkable stories were told in this documentary.
The couple have previously been involved in several high-profile abuse cases, such as the 2010 case of Captain and Hope, two skeletal horses left to die inside a garage. Their dreadful condition attracted major media attention and amid intense community lobbying, police finally acted.
A man was later jailed in what was believed to be the first such prosecution in Spain. Ms Weeding said authorities have been on the rescue centre’s side ever since.
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| Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre founders, Sue and Rod Weeding Photo: Koren Helbig |
The couple earned further fame in Spain for their challenging rescue of the neglected pony Faith, left with a mutilated foreleg after she became entangled in her own rope. Despite their best efforts, Faith’s leg eventually had to be amputated and she became the first pony in Spain to be fitted with a prosthetic leg.
“There are lots of very good people here who do care for their horses. But there are others that abuse their animals and that’s where we come in. We’ll always take in a horse, pony or donkey and do our part to care for it, because the police need us as a tool to work with,” Ms Weeding said.
“Slowly, by working with the police, we’re seeing a huge attitude change. They’re doing the reports and they’re doing the work. We always encourage anyone who sees an animal in distress to report it because police are acting promptly and taking these matters seriously. This is the only way we’re going to move animal welfare forward here in Spain.”
(El Pais - Dec 11, 2014)
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