The initiative, promoted by a local animal welfare group, had gathered 3,115 signatures requesting the replacement of the stone-dragging tests with donkeys with other activities in the San Bartolomé festival program that do not involve animal use. Additionally, they called for an end to public subsidies for such exhibitions.
According to municipal sources, 683 of the signatures belong to non-residents of the locality, a mandatory condition for them to be counted in the participatory process. Furthermore, over 115 signatures were duplicated, with some instances of being repeated up to three times. With these corrections, the initiative fails to meet the 10% of the electoral census required by local regulations, which stands at 2,754 endorsements.
Another significant issue was the lack of notarized authentication or electronic signature for the submitted documents. The group argues that this requirement makes citizen participation “practically inaccessible,” forcing thousands of residents to visit a notary and rendering the economic cost of the process unfeasible for an association without public resources.
“"Traditions also evolve."
Despite the initial rejection, the case is not yet closed. The City Council has opened a period for rectification until May 19, allowing the platform to correct the identified deficiencies. The group insists that the social debate remains open, asserting that a significant portion of the public rejects the use of animals in festivals and demands greater institutional sensitivity to this reality.
