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 FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES - Press Conference Sunday at noon ** media coverage **
NOTICE: Please follow us on Twitter @BanHDCarriages
PRESS CONFERENCE - CARRIAGE HORSES
Sunday, November 13th at noon - steps of City Hall
Please join Senator Tony Avella's press conference on the carriage horse issue with Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal and Councilmember Daniel Dromm - -and activists.
- When: Sunday, November 13th at 12 noon
- Where: NYC - steps of City Hall
Posters provided.
SUPPORT BILL TO BAN HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES IN ALBANY
Sign petition but also call your representative
Please help us make this petition viral. Sign it if you have not done so already and pass it on to friends and colleagues.Click Here.
The bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in NYC is S5013 in the NYS Senate and A7748 in the NYS Assembly. It is referred to as the bill that PROHIBITS THE OPERATION OF HORSE DRAWN CABS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
- IN ADDITION TO SIGNING THE PETITION - PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES.
- Senate - Click here for the Senate site; find your Senator and call the district/local office.
- Assembly - Click here for the Assembly site, find your Assemblymember and call the district office
- Everyone has one Senator and one Assemblymember representing them.
For all those who live outside NYS, you may call these offices and show your support as tourists:
- Senator Tony Avella - 1-718-357-3094
- Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal - 1-212-873-6368
- Let them know that you are a potential tourist to NYC and that you support their bill to ban horse-drawn carriages.
ASPCA SUSPENDS THEIR EQUINE VET
in response to controversy over Charlie's necropsy
Poor Charlie. He could not die in peace. The ASPCA has suspended Dr. Pam Corey for back tracking on statements she originally made about the necropsy. She wanted it to be weaker than originally stated. This situation is currently a mess of He said/She said. It was first covered in the NY Times, the NY Post and CBS.
Unfortunately, this puts the ASPCA's interpretation of the necropsy into question. It is tainted. Corey's flip flopping is highly suspect also and there is no reason why anyone should believe her. So we do not know where the truth is. The carriage industry and Teamsters are all over this lauding Corey as a hero. The ASPCA has been almost silent.
We have FOILed the Department of Health for a copy of the original necropsy.
HUSBAND OF VET POSTS LETTER ON PUBLIC FACEBOOK PAGE
it clearly shows what side he is on
See my letter to the editor coming up in the New York DailyNews in response to this media bias in favor of the nut case anti-horse activists The news story on friday about a carriage horse that fell down gives TV time to the "animal rights" activists and their radical accusations, but gives no voice to business to defend themselves, or to Cornell University experts to set the record straight.
These activists walk around central park with cameras looking for any mundane event (like a horse refusing to get up) and they spin it into allegations of cruelty.
What has happened to media balance on TV in covering these stories? Why are extremists being given the media spotlight ?
When covering a story about 9/11 does the media interview the wacko "truther" conspiracy activists instead of FDNY?
For the first time in many years a carriage horse in NYC died, and the activists were overjoyed. There is no factual evidence of cruelty but that wont stop the activists from accusing the carriage drivers.
CBS TV news covered the story about the dead horse, and their news anchor says "3 horses have either died or been injured in recent weeks"
The other 2 horses that fell down did not die.
Animals fall down - it happens to cows in a milk barn also!
Translate this into the actual facts: only this single horse died.
The horse was a new member of the NYC carriage horse fleet -
having worked in the city for less than a month - so obviously it's death was likely from a pre-existing medical condition.
Radical animal rights activists are not the 99% ! They are the same people that think eating meat is a crime !
Mayor Bloomberg is right that these horses are well cared for and are lucky to have a job.
Mike Larsson
Livestock Inspector
Long Island, New York
LETTER IN NY DAILY NEWS
By activist, singer, song writer and actress - Nellie McKay
NY Daily News - Abusing our four-footed friends - 11/11/11
Manhattan: Last month, a carriage horse collapsed and died on the streets of New York City. Last week, a spooked horse crashed outside Central Park. Last Friday, another horse went down at 60th St. and Broadway.
Carriage horses hark back to a time when streets were not congested with cars, trucks and buses. Under the conditions of modern city life, their daily routine consists of trudging on asphalt, inhaling exhaust and navigating a maze of stalled or speeding traffic.
Legal protections are not adequately enforced, and accidents involving carriage horses occur too often.
Carriage rides are not the primary reason people come to New York. Paris, London, Toronto and Las Vegas are no less glamorous and thriving cities for having banned them.
Look into the horses' eyes. They don't look happy or healthy. They don't belong in our congested cities. It's perverse and inhumane to suggest that we need to subject them to such misery. Nellie McKay
COVERAGE OF OUR HOTEL TOURIST CRAWL
Village Voice - 11/10/11
Our estimates of the people attending were more than the writer of the article. As with most demos, the numbers dwindled as we continued.
Click here for the Voice piece. - by Michelle Anderson - 11/10/11
COUNCIL WANTS INDEPENDENT VETS FOR HORSES
NY Post - 11/2/11
NY Post - 11/12/11 - David Seifman Independent Vet Push for Horses - The City Council wants independent veterinarians not affiliated with the carriage-horse industry or the ASPCA to certify the health of the animals walking the paths of Central Park.
In a move intended to remove "the financial relationship" some vets have with the industry, the council will introduce legislation next week requiring the Health Department to establish a list of independent vets who would examine the horses twice a year.
"Maybe they'll be affiliated with Cornell or some other well-known institution," said one source of the new team of doctors.
Horse owners now hire their own vets to conduct mandated exams of their animals.
The council's legislation comes after the widely publicized death last month of a carriage horse named Charlie, who collapsed on the streets of Midtown.
The ASPCA determined that Charlie was unhealthy and likely suffering pain from ulcers when he died.
A few days after that preliminary finding was issued, the society's head equine veterinarian issued a "correction" stating that there was no evidence the horse was experiencing any pain and that the ulcers were common in all breeds of working horses.
The doctor, Pamela Corey, claimed she had been "under a lot of pressure during the writing of that press release."
She was suspended without pay.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the legislation would "ensure that all carriage horses . . . are examined by experienced and knowledgeable veterinarians."
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING - SAY SOMETHING
Be our eyes and ears
If you see a carriage horse incident, please notify coalition@banhdc.org.
- Take pictures (crucial) - videos or stills
- Record exact location of accident - ex. - north/west corner of 60th St. and Broadway
- Get 4-digit license plate number from back of carriage
- Provide a narrative - description of what happened
- Note: don't worry if you are not sure if what you saw was illegal. We will figure it out. The most important thing is to get the information to us.
You will help to make a difference for these horses.
HELP OUR ORGANIZATION BY SHOPPING ON LINE
Through a free registration with iGive, when you buy merchandise on line, your purchase will help 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 here to get started.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK & 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 . Horses Without Carriages International also has a Facebook page. Please join!
"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.
