Will we still see ponies at the Parc de la Tête d’Or?

For the past few days, Nikita, Fripouille, Choupette, Junior, Eclair and their companions have deserted the shaded paths of the Tête d’Or park in Lyon. Accustomed to transporting toddlers on their backs or in a carriage, the ponies now spend their day enjoying the grass of a nearby field, also enjoying an early retirement. Will we see them again one day? For the moment, no certainty.

Their owner Bruno Glas does not despair. At the beginning of the week, the town hall of Lyon informed him that it had not accepted his candidacy. Linked to the city by a concession authorizing him to operate the “pony activity” of the park, the man dreamed of being able to work for a few years. He was the only one who applied. “The educational offer proposed was not satisfactory”, confirms the town hall with 20 minutes.

” I don’t understand. I moved here in 1984, I’ve been working here for almost 39 years, ”laments the person concerned. At 59, he is now unemployed like his seven employees, mostly students who were looking for a small side job.

Pressure from an animal association

To understand, we have to go back to last summer when the animal association Zoopolis (PAZ) attacked its activity harshly, although it was considered an institution in Lyon. An activity that is “not compatible with the animal condition”, she believes. In question: the walks assimilated to “attractions transforming” the 25 ponies into “consumer goods”. “It teaches children that you can buy a pony ride like you buy a carousel ride,” she argues in a letter sent on August 31 to the town hall of Lyon. However, they allow many blond heads to have a first contact with the animal.

The association is also offended by the treatments reserved for small equines: forced walks in hot weather when these same activities had been suspended in the parks of Paris and Marseille, a lack of hay and water made available to them. “However, this measure is the basics. Ponies being herbivorous animals, they need to eat constantly at the risk of developing digestive problems”, she underlines, explicitly asking the mayor of Lyon to “put an end to the pony rides” in order to “advance the animal cause”.

A new specification

If the municipal team does not give in, it takes advantage of the end of the concession – the agreement with the operator expired on December 31, 2022 – to launch a call for projects with new conditions taking into account “the challenges of well-being animal “. It is stipulated that the walks must be accompanied by a little training in the preamble given by monitors. Bruno Glas believes, for his part, that he was already carrying out this task. “We teach children what ponies are called, we explain to them how to stand and behave,” he replies. Not visibly enough.

Another requirement: the animal’s tether must now be held by the parents. “Many of them take advantage of this activity to leave one of their children with us and take care of the others. If they have to guide the ponies, who will watch the buggies? “raises the operator with skepticism.

The city also requires that animals be allowed to roam anywhere in the park. An aberration for Bruno Glas who does not budge. “If we let the ponies roam everywhere, what will happen? They will find themselves in the middle of pedestrians, bicycles. They will meet in the middle of the rose garden or the zoo. Worse, they can go out of the park. Is it contributing to their well-being? he wonders. Arguments, the man does not lack. “Who will pick up the droppings? We won’t even know where the animals went. It will become unmanageable, ”he continues, recalling that the area of ​​the park is more than 115 hectares.

However, the town hall does not intend to give up its ponies, she assures. It is preparing to relaunch a new call for projects in the coming days. “The current operator can obviously apply if he wishes,” she says. On condition of reviewing his copy, which the person intends to do. Will he be able to convince this time of the merits of his project? The man still wants to believe it. Because his job is his “passion”. “I never mistreated my animals,” he recalls hurt by the criticism of the PAZ. More than determined, the latter will organize a happening Saturday to demand once again the end of pony rides, like the action already carried out in Paris last August.

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