Polish organizations acting on behalf of animals rights, are once again appealing to the management of the Tatra National Park and Starosta Tatra for an immediate end to the criminal abuse of animals at the Sea Eye in the Tatras. Horses working in the TNP die not only in slaughterhouses, but also in stables and on the trail, occurring often in the presence of bystanders and tourists. Recently when these activists tried to prevent the passage of animals pulling carriages on the route, unscrupulous delivery men rode in carriages all while the activists stood firm on the tarmac.
The dispute between the Tatra National Park and the local government and the group defending the use of horses to transport tourists to the Sea Eye, have taken place since 2009. On this same horse carriage route, tourists have filmed the death of one of these horses. Minutes before the filmed tragedy occurred, this horse had pulled a wagon full of tourists uphill on a steep, seven mile route. Data from the Horse Breeders Association show that from January 2012 to June 2013, 44 horses working at this point, have been sent to the slaughterhouse, including horses as young as 4 and 5 years old. Also some horses have died after only a few months of work. During this period, three horses have died, including two during peak tourist season in August.
This means that in the last 18 months, 20% of these horses have lost their lives. The average time a work horse is killed in a slaughterhouse is 10.8 months.
A study about the overwork and overloading of horses on a route shows that animals can over extend themselves beyond their own physical load carrying capabilities by nearly a ton of additional weight. Making matters worse for them, during the winter, when the horses are pulling the sleigh on sections that consist of naked asphalt.
"We wanted to assist with the overloading, which the winter horses are subjected to, but we could not find any frictionless sled to use on the asphalt", says Cezary Wyszynski, president of Viva. "Just one before the Polish wozakami not hit it to the naked sledge ride asphalt," he adds indignantly.
It is unfortunate for all of this to be occurring in the heart of the Tatra Mountains, on the way to one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.
"Polish Law on Animal Protection prohibits the abuse of animals by overloading their towing cargo in relation to their strength," says Beata Czerska of TTOZ. "For almost 80% of the route to Morskie Oko, there is occurring some level of overloading for these horses." "Horses on this route are pulling tons too much," he explains. This is serious, because the public road to Morskie Oko, National Park, is meant to protect nature and all of its inhabitants. The overloading of horses in accordance with the current animal protection law is treated as felony cruelty towards animals and is punishable by up to two years in prison. Animal protection organizations have been notified about the prosecution of these offenses as well as have the local authorities. However, for over two months, no one has responded to the notice.
November 9, 2014, members of the animal protection organization decided to take action to prevent the crimes committed towards these animals and peacefully sat on the road to prevent the carriages from passing without obstructing any tourists, passing cars or other thoroughfare. These horse carriage drivers then proceeded to ram through these protester's peaceful manifestation.
"Each of these cars with cargo, weighs about 3 tons," says Anna Plaszczyk from Viva. "It's hard for me to believe that the delivery men do not realize that they can cause us serious bodily harm and even kill."
"Horses pulled the harnesses driven by the carriage operators. They did not want to enter the sitting people. It was a miracle that nothing serious happened during the attack." he adds. Unfortunately, beatings were also administered by people wearing traditional highland costumes resulting in two activists being sent to the hospital. One of the three men involved in the beatings has several broken bones in his face. Also, another of the activists was hit with a metal staircase, resulting in a damaged tibia and articular ligaments. The horse carriage men had also used physical violence towards women who were present, peacefully assembling to try to prevent the horse abuse.
On the way to Morskie Oko, there are about 300 horses. Polish animal protection organizations are demanding the complete withdrawal of these animals from working on this route. They also want to remove the following unfortunate demise of these horses who are being prematurely sent to the slaughterhouse. An open letter and petition for the complete ban of horse transport on this route was signed by more than one hundred Polish animal protection organizations and more than 90,000 Poles outraged with the unfair treatment of animals in the Morskie Oko National Park.