Polish government to investigate after horse collapses pulling tourists in mountain park

Poland’s environment and agriculture ministries have announced inquiries into the welfare of horses used to pull tourist carts in a popular mountain park after a video emerged showing one of the animals collapsing and then being hit by a coachman.

The film, published on Saturday by animal welfare group Viva!, comes from a path that runs through Tatra National Park to Morskie Oko, a famous lake that sits nestled amid stunning views between the mountains. Many visitors travel the path in horse carts.

In the video, a horse – one of two pulling a cart – is seen lying still on its side on the road. Tourists are gathered around the horse while the coachman tries to get the animal to stand up. Finally, he hits the horse in the muzzle, after which it jumps up.

“Another accident on the route to Morskie Oko,” wrote Viva!, appealing for witnesses to the incident – which occurred on 3 May – to come forward. “Only a ban can stop this spiral of suffering!”

In a report published last year, the foundation found that horses pulling carts to Morskie Oko were being forced to bear loads around a tonne heavier than their capacity. Once they can no longer work – which happens on average after three years – 61% of the horses are sent to the slaughterhouse, claims Viva!.

It notes that this time of year is often the hardest for the horses, as an especially large number of visitors come to the mountains around national holidays on 1 and 3 May.

However, the head of the association of coachmen working on the route, Władyslaw Nowobilski, accused Viva! of “making a drama” out of the latest incident, which he said involved no wrongdoing.

“The nature of some horses is that when they fall over, they lie still and don’t get up straight away. So this horse lay like that, was unharnessed and given a slight stimulus, and got up straight away,” he said in a video published on Facebook.

“The park service was on site [and] described the incident as harmless. A vet was also there [and] examined the horse. The horse is fit for work. Nothing happened…One must always be sceptical of what pro-animal organisations say, they want to show it from a different perspective” added Nowobilski.

But amid public anger over the incident, the climate and environment ministry announced on Saturday that it would investigate. It noted that what had happened was “not an isolated case”.

The ministry said that it would discuss the issue with the authorities in the Tatra National Park and “report back to the public with our findings in the near future”.

Meanwhile, the agriculture minister, Czesław Siekierski, also announced that he had instructed the veterinary authorities responsible for overseeing animal welfare to investigate the incident. He added, however, that there is not yet enough information to know “who is to blame”.

The use of horse-drawn carts at Morskie Oko has long aroused criticism from animal rights groups. A number of cases of horses collapsing have been reported, with some documented on film. In 2020, two cart drivers were convicted of animal abuse in the first case of its kind.

In 2021, in a bid to improve animal welfare, Tatra National Park started testing a hybrid horse cart that uses a self-charging electric battery to assist the animals during tough uphill climbs.

However, Viva! raised concern about the plan, noting that the horses would be pulling a vehicle that is half a tonne heavier. “The only way to end the suffering of the horses is to eliminate this [form] of transport,” said the organisation at the time.

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Main image credit: Viva!/X (screenshot)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.