ANDA and Animals' Angels are with the horses at the annual market in Puigcerda in northeastern Spain. We check if the situation for the animals has improved compared to last year.
Most of the 600 horses at the market come from the region - they are to be slaughtered. Alex, Mar, Fede and many of the other horses normally spend the whole year outside. Today, they stand in pens all day. Some don't have enough room to lie down or rest. Nevertheless, we can be happy about some clear improvements: the veterinarians control more and the handling of the animals at the market has improved. We see less violence during loading and the animals are generally in better health.
We take the opportunity to meet with the official veterinarians and the organizers of the market. They take our reports from last year seriously and want to improve the welfare of the horses at the market. Nevertheless, there is still a lot to do here. Many horses spend the whole day without water and we still observe some problems in handling the animals. To further improve the conditions for the animals, we are planning a workshop for next year together with ANDA and the market operators. We want to further educate and create more awareness among farmers and traders about the needs of the animals.
