Ezeiza led a strong movement in favor of animal rights: a campaign against horse-drawn carts (TAS). The municipality embraced the cause and the activity moved everyone in the local forests.
Even Facundo Palomino, a sportsman committed to the cause, ran 20 kilometers pulling a cart, to symbolize the suffering that thousands of horses undergo in the country.
The initiative, led by the management of Mayor Gastón Granados, had the support of the Secretariat of Animal Protection and Welfare, led by Carolina Basso.
Here’s how the campaign against horse-drawn carts in Ezeiza went
The race, held alongside Ailín Jeanney, also an athlete and defender of animal rights, served as an urgent call to attention regarding this issue.
Granados joined the challenge by accompanying Palomino for a stretch of the race. It took place in the forests of Ezeiza, a few kilometers from the Ministro Pistarini International Airport.
The event was filled with emotion as it paid tribute to Atlas, the horse that inspired this movement against the practice. Each step during the race was a homage to the silent victims of horse-drawn carts.
He ran 20 km with a cart: the story of Atlas and Palomino
On February 22, 2017, Atlas came into Facundo Palomino’s life. That horse, a survivor of the cruelty of horse-drawn carts, crossed paths with the athlete for the first time at an animal sanctuary in General Rodríguez, where he was recovering from a terrible accident.
Days earlier, he had been rescued on the road after a vehicle collided with the cart he was pulling, leaving him with a fractured leg.
Despite the efforts, years of carrying carts with weights exceeding his capacity had greatly deteriorated Atlas’s body and he passed away.
However, he left a strong mark on Palomino and many people who met him. “I will use my own body to show what horses suffer,” the athlete had said.
That promise materialized in the forests of Ezeiza, when Facundo ran over 20 kilometers pulling a cart. He ran alongside his fellow fighter, Ailin Jeanney, also an athlete and vegan activist.
“I am here because I chose to be, but they don’t choose their fate. It is up to us to change it,” added Palomino.
Ezeiza’s work against TAS
The municipality (where TAS is prohibited), with the Secretariat of Animal Protection and Welfare at the helm, carries out a program of voluntary exchange of horses and carts for a motorbike cart.
Mayor Granados also participated.[/caption>
“This action we carried out alongside Facundo in honor of the horses is a request for the prohibition of animal traction at a national level. He pulled a cart as if he were a horse and in this way demonstrated the suffering and efforts of the horses,” stated Basso.
“This act was voluntary, but in the case of horses, it is not, and they often do not get any rest, are frequently rented out, and on top of all this, they are also mistreated and not provided with veterinary care, proper nutrition, or the care they need,” added the official.
“In Ezeiza, animal traction is prohibited. There is an ordinance and a program where horses and carts are exchanged for a motorbike cart. We have already rescued 262 horses,” she detailed.
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