This is the Month for the Carriage Horse Ban in NYC
The following letter is from today's NY Daily News (here).
BY ELIZABETH FOREL
Monday, January 12th 2009, 4:00 AM
It seems like a lifetime ago that I first became aware of the carriage horses in Central Park. I recall being struck by how dispirited and bedraggled they looked – so unlike the horses I had known as a child on my uncle's farm. Those horses could run and buck, play with each other and still have time to nuzzle and become a young girl's best friend.
Not these, and no wonder.
Years later, the beautiful but downtrodden animals are still there. We have the power to free them. So why don't we?
Think objectively for a moment about the concept of a 19th-century mode of transportation, the horse and carriage, operating in the heart of a very modern, congested 21st-century city. It's a time warp. It makes no sense. These unhurried carriages impede the flow of traffic and present a real danger to pedestrians, cars, buses and emergency vehicles. At 1,500 pounds or more, the horses are unwitting weapons; they can spook at the slightest provocation and can cause havoc.
And that's to say nothing of the harm done to the horses themselves by the arcane practice.
In 1990, when a driver forced his horse between buses and cars, it created a situation in which there was no escape. The horse, named Tony, was trapped, hit by a bus and killed. The image of a beautiful horse lying on the ground helpless is one that you don't forget.
Romance? Tradition? Maybe for some. But the horse carriage trade only began officially for tourists in the late 1940s, when 68 medallions were issued by the city of New York. Although the number fluctuates, there are now about 200 horses in the business – owned either by individuals or small companies.
Are these hardworking people? Sure. But the industry does more to offend people than to charm them. Read some of the comments on the online petition started by the group I founded, the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.
From Wisconsin: "It's time to put an end to this outdated tradition." From Australia: "Please show respect and compassion for the horses and ban this inhumane and unnecessary industry." From Italy: "New York and Rome share the same cruelty against horses. Italians are asking the mayor of Rome to stop this cruelty. It is time to stop it forever in Europe and in the USA."
Our petition drive has amassed almost 12,000 signatures online and 35,000 signatures overall.
So why, in the face of this growing opposition, does the city allow this business to continue? Some suggest that the carriage horses are the reason people come to New York. But that's ridiculous. This city has so much to offer in its museums, theaters, restaurants and shopping. Tourists take carriage rides because the tour buses dump them at the hack line.
Aren't we a better, more compassionate people than to continue to allow these horses to be exploited for profit? Horses are shy, prey animals – meaning, they are programmed to flee from a frightening noise or situation. It is abhorrent for them to work in noisy traffic, breathing in car exhaust. In these conditions, they have no opportunity to graze in pasture or even to scratch an itch, instead they are being worked between the shafts of their carriage for nine hours straight.
The repetitive pounding of the hard pavement day in, day out often causes concussive injuries. After a day's work, they go back to a stable on the far West Side of Manhattan, whose stalls are reached by a steep ramp. Many do not have the room to lie down and stretch out – something they must do on occasion to get REM sleep.
It's a wonder some do not go mad, as captive elephants sometimes do in reaction to abuse.
Later this month, the City Council's Consumer Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing on Councilman Tony Avella's bill to ban the industry. More than animal rights advocates should support the ban. This is a cause worthy of any and all ethical New Yorkers.
Elizabeth Forel is president of the Coalition for New York City Animals. The Coalition to Ban-Horse Drawn Carriages is a project of that organization.
January 30 is the hearing (at 10AM in Council Chambers, on the 2nd floor of City Hall). You can write to the Daily News if you wish. Please keep the letter to 50-60 words, as those are the ones that get published. The e-mail address is: voicers@edit.nydailynews.com.
'Liam Neeson Inserts Hoof In Mouth': Actor disses activists trying to stop cruel abuse of carriage horses in NYC
http://animalrighter.blogspot.com/2009/01/liam-neeson-puts-hoof-in-mouth.html
(I do not like this actor any more – I consider him to be a 'bad actor')
I believe in animal rights, but where do you call the line. Stop to think about the hundreds of horses sold each year (especially around this time of year)in actions to be made into dog food. We are talking about pure bred horses with nothing wrong with them and in excellent conditions. The only reason they are sold at this kind of action is because of a financial shortage on the farm they where bred on, because they where not fast enough, too spirited, etc. These are the hundreds of horses that need rescuing! Just where do you think the 200-400 horses that are working in central park are going to go if you shut the business down? If there is animal abuse, then why is not the animal control officer doing something about it? Thousands of horses are rescued (by court order proving abuse and/or neglect of these animals) each year by animal control officers of each state. These rescued animals are placed on rescue farms to be adopted by others. More of these rescue farms are needed, and usually these farms do not have enough room having to turn some away. I volunteered time at a rescue farm. Have you ever seen a true neglected horse? Scabies, the damage done by neglecting to have a horses hooves trimmed till the horse can no longer stand, extreme malnurishment till the horse is barely alive, horses abandoned after a farm/house was forclosed upon just left in pasture or stall to care for itself, the list goes on & on. Where are the animal rights activists working in these cases? Having a horse is a huge responsibility. Horse sports, last I knew, where in the top 3 most dangerous sports. So yes, precautions are absolutely necessary. In some states that have horse drawn carriages, they are considered to be legal vehicles and required certain things (like orange triangles on the back of the carriage cautioning drivers that they are a slow moving vehicle, lights at night for visibility, turn signals)to be on the road. Most accidents in modern vehicle & horse-drawn carriage is usually caused by neglect of the modern vehicular driver neglecting to be alert while driving. Usually this driver does not consider the horse-drawn carriage a legal vehicle (like that of a bicycle, same case scenario) and expects the horse-drawn carriage driver to give the right of way to the modern vehicular driver. Bicyclists & horse-drawn carriage drivers have to be even more cautious because of this. Are we then going to ban bicycles? Oh, it was the horse supposed mistreatment that is behind this. So where is the proof that these horses are being abused/neglected, where is the animal control officer going to court to stop this supposed neglect/abuse of these horses in central park? We have animal rights laws, so if it is true these horses are being abused/neglected..then the law by court order will remove custody of these horses in central park. If there is no neglect or abuse of the horses in central park, then all this movement is ..is to remove horses from slowing traffic down. We have movements in other states at times with high volume horse-drawn carriage drivers to stop this 'antique' method of driving, usually by modern vehicular drivers who are in a hurry to get somewhere and have to slow down due to these horse-drawn carriages. Bicycles too have fallen at times to these same movements for the same reasons. Basically keep slow moving legal vehicles off the road is the basis for all of those kinds of movements to ban bicycles and horse-drawn carriages. That is the heart of the issue, because if there was true abuse and/or neglect of the horses in central park the animal control officer of NY would have went to court and removed these horses from the custody of their owners. If you think there is abuse/neglect according to the law (look it up), report it and let the animal control officer of NY do his/her job in investigating/taking it to court. Proof is what it comes down to, proving it in court according to the law. Otherwise, there is no abuse/neglect happening and it is all about clogging up traffic..
Horse Enthusiast,
I'm not sure what you mean when you say you believe in animal rights. Though there is some disagreement about how to go about achieving animal rights, I don't believe there has ever been even one animal rights group that finds horse-drawn carriages acceptable.
I'm afraid you appear to be profoundly misinformed about practically every aspect of the industry you wrote about. From the horses being pure breeds with nothing wrong with them to the fact that the horses aren't abused to the central issue being one of traffic.
There are plenty of animal cruelty laws on the books. That's meaningless if they're not enforced, and they're not. Here is a list of experts on horses who testified on Friday at City Hall in NYC in favor of banning the carriages. http://www.banhdc.org/archives/news-testimony20090130.shtml Please spend some time at the various links on that page and educate yourself about this issue.
If you are truly a horse enthusiast/activist, there is clearly only one side of this issue you will be on.