After cases of ill treatment of horses in the Tartra mountains, animal welfare groups want every animal identified with an electronic chip.

A proposition from an animal welfare organisation in southern Poland foresees horses taking tourists up to the lake of Morskie Oko, near the mountain resort of Zakopane, being identity chipped.

The Association of Animal Welfare believes that veterinary documents of horses routinely controlled in the Tatra tourist mountain region do not actually belong to them.

The proposal comes after a series of incidents in the summer which saw horses die of fatigue and people injured from horses running amok.

Now horses may be issued with a license and the chip will be a sure way to make sure that all horses working in the highland tourist industry will be healthy to do so.

Dorota Dabrowska from the Krakow branch of the Association of Animal Welfare has said that the chip will not cost more than 20 zloty (around 5 euro).

Animal rights activists have also appealed to the authorities of the Tatra National Park that horses should not be allowed to draw carriages with more than ten people, not fourteen as is now permitted. (jb)