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HORSE SENSE
Periodic updates about issues and actions concerning New York City's Carriage Horses +
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
www.banhdc.org
Horses Without Carriages International
www.horseswithoutcarriages.org
PLEASE FORWARD TO LISTS, FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES ** Dec. 18th demo ** Urgent - Sign petition to City Council ** Horse-Mouse Pads ** iGive ** ASPCA ** 911 responders - contact congress **
CARRIAGE HORSE DEMO ON DEC. 18th + FUTURE DEMOS
speaking out for the carriage horses
Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday to protest the inhumane carriage horse trade that continues to bring shame to New York City. This is the busiest time of the year when ignorant or unsympathetic people come to take a "romantic" ride in magical Central Park. Instead they get to ride in a carriage pulled by an exhausted horse, often foaming at the mouth wearing ill fitting tack - one carriage after the other at a snail's pace, all while protesters are holding posters that say things like "there's no excuse for animal abuse" or "New York City's shame." The air smells like horses who have not been groomed in quite a while. There is horse manure on the street, presumably left for the Department of Sanitation to clean at tax payers' expense. Tourists may or may not be overcharged depending on the greed of the driver.
This is the piece from WABC Channel 7. Activists: carriage horse mistreatment in Midtown NEW YORK (WABC) -- Animal rights advocates were out in force in Midtown Saturday protesting what they said was the mistreatment of carriage horses during the holiday season.
The protesters called it an educational rally intended to inform tourists of the misdeeds of the carriage horse industry and urge them not to use the horses.
They claim the horses aren't being given 15 minute breaks every two hours as required by law. They urged tourists to take a pedicab ride instead of using a carriage horse.
Because of the article in the NY Times (below), the drivers knew we were coming and had their Teamster goons out to "protect" them from us. If you are on Facebook, please see our photos under No Walk in the Park.. The Teamsters simply act as "bully power" for the carriage drivers. It is not a real union shop and they do not provide collective bargaining or benefits. They do, however, collect membership dues for this service.
We are planning two additional demos against the horse-carriage trade:
- WHEN: Friday December 24th - 1 to 3 pm
- Friday December 31st - 1 to 3 pm
- WHERE: north/west corner Central Park West and Fifth Avenue
PITY THE POOR HORSES
Where have they all gone?! - Sign petition
Change.org - Save New York City's Carriage Horses From Slaughter - Stephanie Feldstein - 12/17/10 -- The holidays are New York City's carriage horse industry's most lucrative season. Personally, I don't see the charm in being pulled around a city park or through traffic by a sad, overworked horse. And nothing kills the romance quite like thinking about what happens to those horses when they can no longer work.
In the carriage horse industry, turnover is high - according to the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, New York City's 200 or so carriage horses work for an average of four years, compared to police horses who are typically on the beat for about 14 years. So, where do all those horses go?
Well, that's the question. The existing laws surrounding the carriage horse industry (such as they are) don't do much to address what happens to the horses once they're pulled from the street. Some may end up retired, finally able to get away from city life, see a real pasture and breath without a tailpipe in their faces. But sale and transfer records are only required if the transaction happens within New York City ... and most don't. So, when horses like Bobby end up on the auction block in Pennsylvania, the city has their blinders on.
The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, Equine Advocates and Friends of Animals were able to rescue Bobby before he could be sold to a kill buyer. But how many horses like Bobby have slipped through the cracks?
The ideal outcome for the horses would be to ban the carriage horse industry. Some advocates and council members have talked about replacing horse-drawn carriages with vintage replica electric cars. Keep the nostalgia, ditch the cruelty. It's a great idea, but as long as the carriage horse industry holds the reins in city politics, it's not going to happen.
Advocates haven't stopped fighting for a ban, but in the meantime, the least we can do is ensure that the horses' lives have a better outcome than ending up on the kill floor of a slaughterhouse. Some of the proposed bills have included language for the "humane disposition" of horses. But while the industry vehemently opposes the electric cars and other horse-friendly amendments, the animals are vulnerable to being sold for slaughter.
The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages is now asking the City Council to consider just that section on disposition, with an amendment to the code which would require horse owners to sell or donate their horses to private individuals who will keep them as companions or to an animal sanctuary.
Carriage horse drivers and owners repeatedly insist that their horses are well cared for and loved. Here's their chance to prove it. Anyone who cares about an animal wouldn't be willing to put her through the torturous trip across the border to a brutal slaughterhouse. So, there's no excuse for opposing a bill that ensures these horses get a humane retirement.
City Council and New York City Carriage Horse Owners: This is your chance to show your compassionate side.
The reality of racehorses ending their careers at the slaughterhouse soured a lot of people to that cruel industry. It's time to bring this dark side of the carriage horse industry out of the shadows. Ask New York City Council to save carriage horses from slaughter.
PLEASE SIGN THE CHANGE.ORG PETITION
ask the City Council to sponsor new bill to save horses from slaughter
Even though the numbers are staggering, they mostly go unnoticed. The carriage horses continue to resemble a billboard - same colors, same carriages, same drivers. Time goes by. But the reality is that there is a huge turnover of horses in the horse-drawn carriage business in New York City. There are a little over 200 working horses at any given time and upwards to one-third drop off the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DoH) rolls each year.
A recent analysis of the horse numbers over the last five years from 2005 through 2010 (acquired via the Freedom of Information Law) revealed that a whopping 315 horses were no longer on the rolls. The number is on the low end since the comparison represents a snap shot in time on any given date. There were many horses who came and went between the dates the information was received.
So where did all these horses go? Some of them - the favorites - may have found good retirement homes. But there are simply too many and most of them probably went on to auction where they were likely to be purchased by kill buyers who sent them on their way to the slaughter houses in Canada or Mexico to be shipped to Europe for many countries eat horse meat.
In June, the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages found a carriage horse at one of the slaughter auctions in Pennsylvania. He had been thrown away like so much garbage. Working with Equine Advocates, we managed to rescue him and Bobby is now living the good life at Equine Advocates sanctuary. But how many other horses were not so lucky?
The problem is that the existing law allows the horses to fall through the cracks when they leave the system, with no accountability. Sale and transfer records are only required to be submitted to the DoH when the transaction is made within NYC, but no records are required if the sale is made outside of the city as most are.
We are proposing to the City Council that Section 17-329 Disposition of Licensed Horse of the Administrative code be amended and require that the owner sell or donate the horse to either private individuals or a duly incorporated animal sanctuary, with a signed assurance that the horse will not be sold and shall be kept solely as a companion animal and not employed in another horse-drawn carriage business or as a work horse and that the horse would not be sold to auctions or slaughter.
This is basically the same language as that from Intro 658 and Intro 86A, the bill that would phase out the carriage industry and replace it with vintage replica electric cars, which seems to have come to a stand still. So while we are waiting for the Council to act on this bill, which would end the industry, the least they could do is to save the horses and take action now.
PLEASE SIGN PETITION: Please click here to sign the petition and ask your friends to do the same. The horses have only you on whom to depend. We must be their voices.
NY TIMES - ON THE CARRIAGE HORSES
NY Times - 12/17/10 - Andy Newman - Group Calls Attention to Treatment of Carriage Horses: What could be more romantic than a holiday ride around Central Park in a horse-drawn carriage?
A lot, if you're the horse, according to carriage-horse advocates who say that during this season - the busiest of the year for the carriage industry - horses are being overworked and denied the 15-minute breaks they are required to be given every two hours.
Friends of Animals said in a news release that in recent weeks, "Numerous horse advocates have witnessed and documented the law being broken, and horses being relentlessly worked with no breaks, often soaked in sweat, exhausted and desperately trying to drink from the empty water trough near the hack line."
Friends of Animals said that calls to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, whose officers enforce the city's horse-carriage regulations on a volunteer basis for the understaffed city health department, as well as to the health department itself, had not stopped the abuse.
Howard Lawrence, senior director of operations for humane law enforcement for the society, said that the society's officers are "out in force this season" and added, "We have had additional manpower deployed" in both marked and unmarked cars "to keep things unpredictable." He said that agents had issued summonses for violating the two-hour work rule, but said he did not have figures on how many.
Stephen Malone, executive director of the Horse and Carriage Association of New York, said that "the law is absolutely being followed by our members."
Mr. Malone, a driver for 23 years, added: "I was out today, and I did six rides in six hours - rides are 20 minutes, so it's 40 minutes off an hour. The truth of the matter is that the horses do nothing at all for a minimum of 15 hours a day, and in the 6 or 7 hours they work, they do 2 or 3 hours worth of work."
Friends of Animals and other groups plan to protest work conditions for the horses on Saturday along Central Park South beginning at 1 p.m.
NOTE: The ASPCA officers were not at the hack line yesterday while the horses were being overworked. They claim to have given out summonses. Using the trip card to check on whether or not a horse gets a 15 minute break every two hours is not accurate. These cards are hand written and not audited.
BUY THROUGH iGIVE AND HELP OUR CAMPAIGN
very easy and no charge
iGive is a special free service that will help the charity of your choice when you buy merchandise on line. In this case, we hope you choose us. There are over 700 stores that include such popular ones as Amazon.com, Staples, Best Buy and Barnes & Nobles. Even Cafe Press is available if you purchase some of our merchandise.
Click on this link for an explanation for how it works. See the video by "Betty." You will have to register.
We are listed under Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.
Thanks to your generosity, we have ads out this month in City Guide, which targets the NYC tourist trade. We hope to place ads directed to New Yorkers in other publications this year. It is so important to keep getting the word out in any way we can.
HORSE-MOUSE PADS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
plus other neat stuff to ban horse-drawn carriages
If you are looking for an unusual gift or just want one for yourself - we have three beautiful custom designed mouse pads featuring Bobby, Monty and Teddy - three former carriage horses now living the good life at Equine Advocates and Central New England Equine Rescue respectively.
And we have other stuff too to get the message out. Dan Piraro - Bizzaro t-shirts; mugs, bumper stickers - even doggie tees. If you have a car, we have bumper stickers. Please note that we have three separate stores because of Cafe Press restrictions about offering the same product with different designs in one store.
To reach any of the three stores - either click on the names above - i.e. "Bobby" - or click below.
HEALTH CARE FOR 911 RESPONDERS
contact your Senator
I was there on 9/11 -- two blocks from Ground Zero and I came back to work two weeks later. We all listened to the government lie about the air and water being safe. It was not. I remember the smell in the air - a combination of chemicals and death. Sickening. I know several people who have gotten sick since then - two have died. Coincidence? I do not know. But our country was attacked on 911 and this is not a NY issue -- it is a national issue. It is a disgrace that here it is almost 10 years later and the first responders still have to worry about their medical bills.
Please go to this site Feal Good Foundation and send a letter to your Senator asking them to support H.R. 847.
JOIN US ON FACE BOOK & SIGN ONLINE PETITION
See our Facebook page called No Walk in the Park. And while you are there, please join another anti carriage horse page by a colleague called 212HorsePower
"Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can change the
world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever
has." Margaret Mead.
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Thank you for caring about the horses,
Elizabeth Forel - Coalition to Ban
Horse-Drawn Carriages - a standing committee
of The Coalition for New York City Animals,
Inc.
Please DONATE
to our campaign to ban
the inhumane and unsafe carriage horse industry.
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