Oxen forced to pull 25-meter wooden obelisk for 5 hours at village festival OIPA issues warning to mayor of Mirabella Eclano.
The International Organization for Animal Protection (OIPA) has sent a formal warning to the mayor of Mirabella Eclano (Avellino), Giancarlo Ruggiero, to prevent the La grande Tirata from taking place next Saturday, September 17.
The great Tirata del Carro di Mirabella Eclano, a popular religious event that takes place every year on the third Saturday of September, uses 12 oxen to pull a wooden obelisk, covered in straw, about 25 meters high. The animals must march for over five hours, despite the high temperatures that characterize this dry summer, along the crowded streets of the Municipality. In these conditions, the animals are subjected to great stress due not only to the effort, heat and thirst, but also to the presence of the crowd that accompanies the event.
OIPA, with the formal notice also sent for information to the Ministry of Culture, asks, also in light of the sensitivity of public opinion on the subject of animal protection recently included in the Constitution, an immediate intervention to prohibit the use of oxen in this event. Such a decision would also have a significant and positive response in public opinion, which has already sent signals of dissent to the association.
"Ancient cultural and religious traditions can be preserved without, however, putting the protection of animals and their rights in the background", observes the president of OIPA, Massimo Comparotto. "Several cutting-edge cities and towns have abandoned animal traction while at the same time safeguarding the economic advantage resulting from the public turnout at events of local interest, but in an ecological and animal-friendly way. In the case in question, an obelisk of about 25 meters and weighing several tons could well be towed by an electric vehicle, without unjustifiably exploiting animal power".
Volunteers will be present during the event to verify the well-being conditions of the animals if it is decided, despite the warning, to allow the Pull and, in the event that states of discomfort are manifested in the animals, OIPA will report any violations of the legislation on animal protection.
