Tourists surprised by what they found in the Tatra Mountains. “Shame and Disgrace”

On Saturday, July 18, neither horses nor cab drivers appeared on the route to Morskie Oko. Carriers suspended services on the day of the announced protest by activists who have been demanding a complete end to horse transport for years.

Tatra Mountains. Fiak carriers suspended transport to Morskie Oko

At the beginning of the route, there was only an empty fag with a message informing that the transport was canceled “for the safety of tourists, the peace of our horses and to avoid unnecessary, planned escalation of emotions.”

Activists from the Lower Silesian Animal Protection Inspectorate and the Animal Protection Office have been picketing in Palenica Białczańska since the morning. They put up banners, talked to tourists and encouraged them to complete the route on foot. Their main demand remains unchanged: the complete withdrawal of horse transport to Morskie Oko.

– It is simply a great shame and disgrace to use horses for such hard work. Especially when we have electric buses, when we have electric trains, we have electric cabs, but above all, when walking here, it would be worth walking on your own feet. And this is also our message today. The cart drivers didn’t come here today. Horses don’t ride. We are happy that at least today, on this one day, they are resting, said the protest organizer Joanna Marcinkowska.

The vast majority of tourists side with the activists and support the protest. – We also support and educate children. I think this is animal torture. I guess legs are the best alternative. We don’t want to go. There are disabled children among us, I have a heart problem, but above all we want to spend time together, rest, and not tire the horses, said one of the women in an interview with Radio Kraków.

Morskie Oko. Protest against horse transport

Local authorities have a different opinion. The Tatra staroste, Andrzej Skupień, excludes the elimination of horse riding and ensures that the animals are under constant control. – The regulations are quite restrictive. Horses are regularly examined, they are better examined than many of us. It cannot be that someone will come from outside and dictate to us how we should live. We are at home, he noted.

Saturday’s protest is expected to last until the end of the day. Activists reject the compromise reached last year, which assumed shortening the route of horse-drawn transports and partially replacing them with electric buses. They demand a complete end to horse transport, as well as the resignation of the Minister of Climate and Environment, Paulina Hennig-Kloska, and the director of the Tatra National Park, Szymon Ziobrowski.