A Chilean Victory for Carriage Horses. Welfare Issues in Viñamarinean Victorias and Proposed Solutions

Abstract

The Viñamarinean Victoria Carriages have been a focus of tension and controversy in the
city of Viña del Mar, as a result of the repeated violations to the minimum conditions of
animal welfare and dignity established by the national and municipal legislator, and the
apparent lack of capacity of the competent authority in the inspection and control of the
standards ruling this activity. There have been a large number of citizen initiatives that have pursued the ban and/or substitution of these carriages, which at the same time are considered by many as an archetype of local identity with touristic value. However, despite the apparent adherence of individual members of the communal government, these initiatives have not been successful, and the carriages are still around the streets of Viña del Mar. This work contains a description and critique of the current legal framework that regulates the activity, as well as a series of sources proving the systematic violation of said welfarist standards by the drivers, owners, and competent authorities. After that, this work proceeds to offer a range of solutions for those problems that are natural to this decadent and anachronistic cultural institution, popularized by the Chilean aristocracy of the early 1900s, that lived dazzled with the European aristocracy of the mid-1800s.