Animal rights activists will request at a new rally

September kicks off with a new call for a protest by animal rights groups against the donkey-taxi service in Mijas. This time, it's organized by the community behind the social media profile 'Free Mijas donkeys and horses', and is scheduled for September 18th at 18:00 in front of the village's Tourism Office.

The administrator, Anne Blitz, highlighted that the purpose of the call is to request to “stop the activity” of the transport service and that “tourists stop riding the donkeys because they are also responsible” when using this means of transport. “If there are no customers, there is no activity,” she emphasized. At the same time, she criticized that the recreational park project announced by the City Council has not been adopted, stating that the drafting of the project is still "pending."

This is the second call against the donkey-taxi service to be held this year in the municipality, with an appointment also on September 18th at 18:00, in front of the Tourism Office of Mijas Pueblo, right in front of one of the stops for this means of transport, following the one called by the Pacma party last May to demand its abolition.

“We have been betrayed by the City Council with this project that was never adopted,” Blitz said regarding the recreational park project for the donkeys announced by the City Council last May, aimed at their preservation, hence she reiterated that “now we want the activity of the donkey-taxi service to stop.”

The municipal initiative includes the creation of this space on the southern road of the village with more spacious stables and recreation areas for the animals, on a plot of more than 10,000 square meters to promote interaction with the donkeys in semi-freedom, where they can walk around and which can be visited.

"We do not trust them, they have not kept their word. The project was supposed to be approved in March, then they said June, then July and then nothing," the Frenchwoman stressed, believing that “they want to pass the problem onto the next government in 2027.”

Therefore, the group has called for a protest in which they will demand to "stop the activity of the donkey-taxis and tourists stop riding them." "There is no other solution, because the solution we had has not been respected and the donkeys are suffering," she pointed out regarding the recreational park project.

Blitz insisted that the donkeys are supposedly “standing for many hours, tied up without moving their heads or facing the wall in the resting area," emphasizing that they need “to walk and to lie down," and lamenting that the animals of this service “are always standing still, whether they work or not." She added that supposedly "there is no one to check if the heat rules are being respected."

On the other hand, she criticized that a permit was granted for the protest, but "without making noise, without approaching and without a megaphone," and with the provision of the service.

The City Council says the contracting of the project's drafting is pending

The City Council announced in May that it was processing the recreational park project, stating that by then it already had a feasibility study and the drafting of the project was “included in the next budget amendment” of 80,000 euros, which was approved in June, declared the mayor, Ana Mata.

In this regard, the City Council has indicated that the “contracting of the project's drafting is pending,” ensuring that “it has a budget and a feasibility study.”

The City Council has again highlighted that the government team has as a “premise to ensure animal welfare and to rigorously comply with any relevant regulations, ensuring fairness between legislation and idiosyncrasies.”

On the other hand, it recalled the improvement measures it has adopted so far in relation to the donkeys, such as the creation in November 2023 of an Animal Welfare Council, nonexistent until then, as well as the hiring of a municipal veterinarian, something that will soon become a reality.

It has also added “the expansion of the shade areas, the increase in the number of drinking fountains, the creation of a rest area for these animals, and the extension of the length of the rope that ties them,” among others.