Under pressure from animal protection organizations, the municipality of Paris will ban pony riding from 2025, the French news agency AFP reported on Friday.
Organizations and animal protection activists oppose the popular children's program in the French capital's public parks because
according to them, animals do not feel comfortable at all on such occasions, they are not treated well.
During the campaign for the ban, the animal protection organization Paris Animaux Zoopolis (PAZ) also launched a petition, which was signed by more than 8,400 people. "Ponies are not toys. Children do not learn anything about them, just because they stand on top of them, no emotional connection develops between them. The whole thing just degrades these animals into a means of entertainment," declared Amandine Sansivens, one of the PAZ activists.
The Paris mayor's office adopted the provision for the protection of ponies in 2021, and in July the permits issued for pony riding were revoked. Stéphane Michaud, head of AnimaPoney, a company that organizes several such programs, nevertheless stated that his animals only work 150 days a year.
I have been working with ponies for 35 years; I know their needs, they have everything they need"
he declared. The decision was not an undivided success among parents either: one of them argued to journalists that pony riding is a kind of reward for children who like to interact with animals.
(MTI)
Cover image: Pixabay
