Wall Street Journal - AP - 6/8/12 - Activists call for end to NYC carriage horse rides NEW YORK - A renewed push is under way in New York City to ban horse-drawn carriages after a horse was recently injured in an accident with an SUV. Carriage rides through Central Park are a staple of city tourism, but for years now, state Sen. Tony Avella has been pushing for legislation to ban the industry. He and other activists rallied outside the park Saturday. They say city streets aren't safe for the sensitive animals. Carriage owner Ian McKeever disagrees. He says the horses that clip-clop through the park are "the best kept in the country." Canadian tourist Fran Hill says she thinks the carriages are part of New York's charm and should be allowed to continue operating. Supporters of a ban say they have gathered more than 121,000 signatures of support.

The State legislature will end this session at the end of June when all legislators return to their district offices. They will not be back in Albany for regular session until January 2013.

Please support this bill by meeting with your Senator and Assemblymember this summer. If you are not able to do that, write them a snail mail letter - not e-mail. It is too easy to delete e-mail. Please make the extra effort to prepare a letter to both representatives and mail it.

• For your State Senator Click Here.
• For your Assemblymember Click Here.
• If you live outside NY State: Write a letter to Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie - chair of the Cities Committee in the Assembly . Click Here
• and Senator Andrew J. Lanza - chair of the Cities Committee in the Senate - Click here.
• You are potential tourists. Please let Assemblyman Heastie and Senator Lanza know that this is an issue of interest to many around the country.

Help us get more signatures and we will continue to let our state representatives know!

NY Post - Crash gashes hansom horse By TARA PALMERI & KIRSTAN CONLEY - 6/8/12 A horse pulling a hansom cab was in "stable" condition yesterday after being struck by an SUV in Columbus Circle. All the humans involved walked away from the 5 p.m. accident unharmed, but the horse had a nasty- looking gash to its head. "He's fine, he's fine," the coachman insisted after his 12-year-old mare, Doreen, limped off to a trailer. Doreen's head cracked the windshield of the SUV after she was sideswiped by the vehicle. A man on a Ducati motorcycle was also hit by the SUV, but was uninjured.

NY Daily News - Carriage horse banged up in crash with car and motorcycle at Columbus Circle Horse bleeding, but walked away from the scene; motorists not hurt in rush-hour smashup - By New York Daily News Staff Thursday, June 7, 2012, 10:51 PM - A CARRIAGE horse got scraped up in an accident with a car and a motorcycle at Columbus Circle on Thursday, witnesses said. The collision occurred at the traffic-packed intersection of W. 60th St. and Broadway in Manhattan shortly after 5 p.m., officials said. The bleeding horse was walked away from the scene. None of the people involved was injured. Khalea Underwood

If you are on Facebook, please join these two pages.

• No Walk in the Park - -the official page of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
• Horses Without Carriages International - our international page.

On I-Give - the name of our organization is "The Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc." We also have three stores on Cafe Press with great t-shirts, bags, hats, mugs, mouse pads, etc. Purchasing this merchandise helps our organization. Click here.