Demand an end to horse carriage rides in Malta traffic

Malta is a wonderful tourist destination, and one of the 'attractions' on offer in many cities is a ride in the traditional 'Karozzin', a one-horse carriage that seats up to 5 people.

While on holiday this year in Valletta, Malta in 40-C weather, I witnessed one of these carriages stalled in the middle of the street; the horse was standing with feet spread, head down, shaking violently all over, drooling and breathing like a bellows. The driver paused temporarily, then climbed back into the carriage and attempted to whip the horse on.

Shaken and disturbed, I googled these symptoms to discover the horse was in heat exhaustion, a condition which is ultimately fatal for horses which cannot regulate their body temperature as effectively as humans. Additionally, these horses work in sometimes heavy traffic, breathing in vast amounts of carbon monoxide, terrified by honking horns and running on tar that radiates heat and damages their ligaments and joints. Carriages may in essence not be cruel, but in traffic, on tar, and in 40-C heat they are unavoidably so.

Please help me to ensure that no more horses suffer. Our entertainment should not come at cost to another, especially on an island that already has so many historical attractions.