1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Russia's war in UkraineIsrael-Hamas warIndia elections

Carriage horses - too hot to work

July 5, 2016

The City of Vienna approved legislation making it illegal for its world-famous carriage horses to work in temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius and above.

https://p.dw.com/p/1JJJS
Tourismusboom in Wien Schloss Stephansdom
Image: AP

The new law, set to enter into force in mid-July, will also reduce the animals' monthly work load from 20 to 18 days and shorten their daily roster by one hour. In addition, the capital's 375 horses will have to undergo regular health check-ups.

The Austrian capital's carriages, known as "fiakers", are a massive tourist magnet, taking people around the main sights and old-cobble stoned streets all year long.

As a result the horses at times spend hours wandering around the city in blazing heat, prompting warnings from animal groups.
Last summer, the mercury soared above 35 C (95 degrees Fahrenheit) no less than 18 times in Vienna.

The word fiaker originates from the French Rue de Saint Fiacre in Paris, where this kind of "short-term rental carriage" was first introduced.