Owners of traditional karozzini have proposed importing horses from the Indian subcontinent to relieve the burden on Maltese animals.
The question of whether horse-drawn carriage rides for tourists should be banned returned to the spotlight last week, following an incident in Mdina in which a horse panicked and toppled its carriage.
“If my horse could speak, I’m certain it would tell you it loves pulling tourists along in a heavy carriage up a hill on a hot summer’s day. Have you ever seen a horse? That’s what God intended them to be used for,” said karozzin owner Joe Micallef.
“But I’m tired of everyone moaning about animal cruelty, so I’ll stop using Maltese horses- just as long as I can bring over a horse from India or Pakistan or wherever to do the same job,” he added.
“Isn’t that what everyone else is doing? My friend who owns a restaurant tells me that having workers from India is great because you can pay them peanuts and make them work long hours, and no one bats an eyelid. Maybe I’ll even use the Indian horse to deliver takeaway food to people. I’ll call it ‘Curry-zin’.”
Asked whether the public would still be outraged regardless of the nationality of the horse, Micallef replied:
“U aqqalla – then how about a karozzin pulled by Indian humans?”
Meanwhile, Mediterraneo Marine Park announced it was also looking into hiring dolphins from Nepal.
