Exactly a month ago, if you had glanced at the chaotic mêlée of Andalusian life crammed into El Rocio’s sandy streets, it would have been easy to think it was business as usual at one of southern Spain’s most irrevocably traditional of religious festivals. And indeed it was, as the village with a population of 1,635, performed its unfathomable annual swelling act to accommodate around one million visitors over the weekend of religious devotion and fervour.
Leading up to this year’s event there had been a low hum of concern over issues such as the pilgrimage’s environmental impact on the nearby Doñana National Park and, more vociferously, from animal welfare charities highlighting the impending catalogue of equine deaths and mistreatment during the period. But from an outside perspective, the concern seemed to come from a position of resignation, whereby it was almost a matter of taking bets on how many animals would die this year.
In fact 11 animals did perish in 2014 – six less than last year. While marking a faltering step in the right direction, it certainly hasn’t appeased the outrage from many, commenting on the fatalities across different social media.
But perhaps the most important change has been brought about by an Anglo-Spanish collaboration between Málaga-based charity El Refugio Burrito and its British equivalent The Donkey Sanctuary, which alongside UK animal welfare consultant Animal Kind, were there on a fact-finding mission to compile an independent report on animal welfare issues at El Rocio and provide hands-on veterinary assistance to any animals found in distress.
According to El Refugio del Burrito: “What our welfare team found there … was a scene fit for Dante’s Inferno. Hundreds of equines were being forced to work day and night, with little rest, food or water. Some of the animals were starving, extremely thin and exhausted. Our team has found some cases in which privately owned animals were in bad condition, but it was mostly animals for rent that got it worse. They were rented out illegally, sometimes even to minors, and then terribly abused by those renting them … Our team treated dozens of equines in urgent need of vet treatments in situ. Mainly the open wounds were caused by poor, inadequate, rusty bridles and harnesses. Many exhausted animals were also seen to.”
Suzi Cretney from the UK Donkey Sanctuary is quick to point out that not all the animals at El Rocio are abused, and there is some incredible horsemanship on display, but agrees that it is the rented animals that appear to suffer the most.
Such was the poor state of some illegally rented animals that were “old, tired, undernourished and full of open wounds” that the charity volunteers, with the cooperation of the authorities, facilitated the confiscation of three horses and a pony. The animals have since been moved to El Refugio del Burrito’s headquarters where they have been receiving veterinary treatment with a view to being re-homed in the future. The animals’ owner is being prosecuted by the Civil Guard.
This collaboration with the Civil Guard marks perhaps the most important change from this year’s proceedings at El Rocio. In the past a much-levelled criticism has been the authorities’ reported ambivalence towards animal abuse during the festival. But over the course of the few days that the triumvirate of charities was present, there was a distinct thawing of hostilities, culminating in the unprecedented move to facilitate the seizure of the four animals. Rafael Benjumea from El Refugio del Burrito says: “The collaboration of the authorities with us has been exemplary; they saw to every request and helped promptly and efficiently. We believe things can improve greatly at this festival, and our charity will strive towards making a big impact next year, hopefully with the help of many volunteers, the authorities, and other animal welfare organisations that may want to help.”
So with winds of change reaching the powers that be, it just remains for such a change in the mindset of some of the less-caring individuals with animals in their charge. But even here Suzi Cretney felt a shift in the time that they were manning the dusty El Rocio streets. “As soon as owners saw that we were there to help their animals in a practical way, they got on board pretty quickly. We could give them simple ideas like putting gauze on the serrated nosebands so that open wounds could be protected.” They were even approached by a group of children who had rented a mule and were so disgusted by the state of the animal that they felt compelled to get help from the team.
Despite the sometimes upsetting scenes of animal neglect and cruelty at the festival, Crezney remains upbeat and positive. “This year was really an investigation mission and it was important to carry it out in a measured way. We’ve come away with a tremendous feeling of optimism and look forward to coming back next year to improve the welfare of more animals.”
If you want to make a donation towards the upkeep of the rescued animals or to find out about next year’s campaign at El Rocio, contact www.elrefugiodelburrito.com