Sick and dehydrated at 36 degrees: the police denounce the owner of a dead mare in Seville for animal abuse

3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26.

36 degrees of temperature.

The Local Police of Seville received a call alerting that a mare from a horse-drawn carriage had collapsed on Paseo Colón, a few meters from the Real, the site of the April Fair.

When the agents arrived, the animal was already dead.

The necropsy determined that the equine suffered from acute piroplasmosis, an infection caused by a tick bite that had previously caused bouts of fever and that,

would have required him not to leave the block.

The dehydration that he suffered was aggravated by the disease and caused the death of the horse.

“The owner knew that the animal was sick and that death could have been prevented.

That is why we have opened proceedings for a crime of animal abuse”, Antonio Sánchez Tosina, general director of Health of the Seville City Council, explains to this newspaper.

The complaint filed by the police is based on regional legislation and the municipal ordinance on animal protection, because the animal welfare law, approved in March, has not yet entered into force.

In both provisions, mistreatment that causes death is considered a very serious offense that can result in a fine of between 2,001 and 30,000 euros, the confiscation of the animals and the prohibition of their possession for a maximum period. two years old

Sánchez insists that this is an "unfortunate, but isolated situation", in which the negligence of the owner, who decided to include the mare in the draft horses despite knowing that she was sick and that she should not have left the stables , is a substantial element for the initiation of proceedings.

Going on horseback at the Fair is a highly regulated activity.

The procedures to be able to access the Real begin at the end of January, with the presentation of the applications, the civil liability insurance for the animals and the vehicle, and the medical controls.

"At the time of issuing the license, an inspection of the documentation is carried out, it is verified that the license plate corresponds to the car...", explains the municipal official.

On a day of the Fair, some 1,800 horses can circulate through the Real, including those of the horsemen and those that pull the carriages —there are 98 of public service, which are operational all year round, and another thousand that are granted a license. Extraordinary vehicle license.

Everyone can walk around the Real between 12:00 and 20:00 —until a few years ago the circulation of cars was limited alternately depending on whether their license plate was even or odd―.

At the fair there is a specific veterinary care point that this year, in anticipation of high temperatures, has been expanded with up to eight veterinarians, who attend to the needs of horsemen and coachmen or go to where an incident occurs.

Plainclothes policemen in the Real to control mistreatment

At the entrances to the Fair there is also a control team, as well as a detachment of 20 local plainclothes police officers who are in charge of ensuring that animals are not mistreated and who carry out breathalyzer controls on riders and drivers.

“They usually do about 15 or 20 daily controls.

So far this Fair we will have carried out some 70 interventions”, explains Sánchez.

This year, in addition, in anticipation of high temperatures, a second trough of seven meters with a capacity of more than two cubic meters of water has been installed.

"Your horse is like your friend, you have to take care of it, hydrate it, give it drink, eat, try not to move too much in the hottest hours, put it in the shade, in the end the responsibility belongs to each one", indicates Rosa, a horse rider who this year, due to the high temperatures that were expected during the Fair, has decided to go for a walk.

"I don't know if now that the heat wave has been deactivated I will cheer up, although there are almost no days left," she explains.

Iván Jiménez, who works in one of Seville's public service cars, defends the municipal control to which they are subjected.

“We go with the guidelines of the City Council and our horses cannot be active two days in a row.

I use eight horses for the car, ”he explains.

"This lady's thing," he says, referring to the owner of the deceased mare, "she is inadmissible and she should be penalized for life, but she is a black sheep," he maintains.

His activity at the Fair doubles, not only in rides but in price.

Of the usual 45 euros for a trip of between 45 minutes and an hour, these days around 95 can be charged. "I think that at the access points to the Real there should also be veterinarians, because sometimes they can see things at once", Explain.

The death of the mare has revived criticism of the presence of horses at the Fair by the Pacma animal party, which has been demanding for years that the City Council and the Junta de Andalucía “immediately stop the use of animals”.

Last year an equine also died, but the autopsy ruled that it was due to a cardiac aneurysm.

"It was something fortuitous," recalls Sánchez.

The College of Veterinarians of Seville has published a diptych with tips for the care of horses at fairs and pilgrimages in which, in addition to hydration and fiber feeding every three or four hours, it also recommends stops in spacious accommodation with a adequate temperature or breaks in the shade.

Two other mules die in a fire

Rapid intervention of the emergency services in the fire declared last night in the stables next to the Fairgrounds in Seville

Two people were slightly injured during the evacuation of the horses from inside the stables.

Two mules died as a result of the… pic.twitter.com/ohac7khfnT

– Seville Emergencies (@EmergenciasSev) April 27, 2023

In addition to the mare, two mules died overnight as a result of a fire that started around 11:52 p.m. on Wednesday in one of the tents and boxes at the Seville fairgrounds that are used to house around thirty animals, which were relocated immediately.

The event is being investigated by the National Police which, as reported, "does not rule out any hypothesis."

A 22-year-old girl was also injured when she was hit by a horse that was fleeing the flames, but her condition is not serious, according to municipal sources.