They have always been part of the Mijas' history, first as animals used in agricultural and quarry work and, since the 1960s, thanks to the Núñez Andréu brothers, they became a tourist attraction for the town, becoming the taxi donkeys and, later, an internationally recognised symbol.

The Mijas Town Hall, conscious of the need to continue transforming this service, is working in collaboration with animal welfare groups, animal protection organisations, and the donkey drivers themselves to draw up new regulations to establish measures to improve animal care and to guarantee their wellbeing. In fact, the Transport and Mobility area has already implemented measures to this end. "Work is being carried out to intensify veterinary checks, limit the weight to 80 kilos, create a rotation system to reduce the workload, restrict services during peak hours in the summer months, and adapt the stop and rest area", said the Transport and Mobility Councillor, Nicolás Cruz (PSOE), before presenting the motion in the plenary last Friday 23rd.

Now they want to go a step further: for Mijas to have a definitive ordinance to regulate the sector and adequate facilities to ensure these animals' welfare, which is why  a motion has been presented as a matter of urgency which "is the result of dialogue and consensus, giving a voice to the whole of Mijas society, which is becoming more sensitive, civic and responsible", explained Cruz.

 

The motion proposes to continue and speed up the procedures for the approval of the new ordinance regulating the service of donkey taxis, donkey carriages and horse-drawn carriages in the municipality of Mijas, to request the competent municipal areas to locate and specify a plot of land that meets all the necessary requirements to house new stables and facilities for the stabling, care, and accommodation of these animals and to publish the results of the veterinary examinations carried out on all the donkeys that make up the service through municipal telematic media, and information boards.
 

Valuations

The choice of the plot of land has been the issue that has generated debate at this point. The Popular Party proposes a municipal plot in the area of Vial Sur, and not the one that was initially proposed for this purpose in the Cantera del Puerto. "Don't take three more months or three more years to say that there are no plots available in Mijas Pueblo, when after analysing Mijas Pueblo, which is not so big and which does not take so long, this plot of municipal property, very close, less than 600 metres from where the donkeys work, so to speak, is the least bad, I know it is not perfect, but it is the best", said the Popular Councillor Mario Bravo. Regarding this assessment, the Councillor for Town Planning, Andrés Ruiz (Cs), explained that "this alternative to the general system here, with this landscape protection, at least from our point of view of Town Planning and Heritage, we see it as complicated, very complicated, regardless of the execution of the work, which already has its difficulties due to the abrupt orography of the terrain".

Meanwhile, the spokesman for Ciudadanos and first deputy mayor of the city, José Carlos Martín, recalled that there is already a very advanced project for the development of a plot in the area of the Cantera del Puerto, "although it will have to be clarified whether it will be dedicated to service or to the initial idea which was a cultural interpretation centre in which education or tourists can not only see the donkeys that have gone to the reserve because they are no longer working but that it will serve, as the motion proposes, to interact between people and animals," explained Martín.

For her part, the non-attached Councillor, Esperanza Jiménez, asked that participation in this type of matter be broader: "We would like when meetings with motions that are institutional take place local groups such as ecologists, in this case, animal lovers or donkey drivers, should also be invited. And I am not referring to the ordinance. I am referring to the motion". The non-attached Councillor Carlos Rivero insisted on the location of the future facilities: "to tell the competent person, in this case, the Urbanism Councillor, to please, as quickly as possible, carry out the relevant work to determine which plot would be the most suitable for these donkeys to be on". "It is a step forward in the donkey's condition, an animal that has contributed in a decisive and important way to the municipality development", so that "from Mijas this icon that represents the donkey has to be valued", said Juan Carlos Maldonado, who is also a non-attached Councillor.

The motion finally went ahead with the general consensus of all the members of the municipal corporation.

Regular veterinary donkeys check-ups MIJAS COMUNICACIÓN

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