7- 87/46 December 8, 2013
 
 

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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 FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES **

ANIMALS MATTER: OUR BLUE PRINT FOR CHANGE
on December 7, 2013
Our event on the steps of City Hall was a great success yesterday. Joining activists from the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, Friends of Animals, In Defense of Animals, Save our Shelter Animals, League of Humane Voters, + many other groups and activists - was Senator Tony Avella and singer/activist Nellie McKay. Click here to listen to Senator Avella talk at the event. Animal issues have been largely ignored during the last 20 years in this great city and well before that. Animals are suffering as a result of our failure to enact policies and legislation that would protect them and, in so doing, add enrichment to our own lives. Mayor-Elect de Blasio's mayoral election platform called for a humane city for New York's animals - recognizing that we need to do more to ensure that animals receive humane treatment.

Please click here to read the speeches made yesterday - scroll down. Thanks so much to everyone who came out yesterday - much appreciated considering how cold it was. It was a very enthusiastic crowd. We have pictures on our Facebook page Animals Matter - and on Meetup.

The topics covered are all issues that can be helped with positive, progressive legislation. They included a complete and unconditional ban on horse-drawn carriages; reform and restructuring of Animal Care & Control; stopping the killing of shelter animals; banning the sale of pet shop animals; expanding pets in housing laws; banning animals in circuses; stopping the killing of Canada geese; enforcing animal cruelty laws.

WHAT COMES NEXT?
stay tuned
We are not going away. We are a group of diverse, seasoned activists who know these issues well. We have studied them extensively and believe we have the right answers. We offer Mayor-Elect deBlasio our well honed expertise in making positive changes for animals. Many of us have been involved with animal issues for at least 25 years and some of the organizations involved with this coalition go back to the 1950s.

Please continue to periodically check out our web site Animals Matter NYC and follow us on Facebook - Animals Matter NYC. The new administration begins on January 1st and we need to give Mayor-Elect deBlasio a chance.

These are two excerpts describing a consistent philosophy with which we agree. First is In Defense of Animals and second is Friends of Animals. Both organizations participated yesterday - IDA taking on the circus issue and FoA taking on geese slaughter.

  1. Animal Rights and In Defense of Animals Humans and other animals share many similarities, despite our differences in appearance, forms of communication and ways of living. As feeling beings, we are united by our desires to seek pleasure and enjoyment, and to avoid pain and suffering. When we speak of animal rights, we are not referring to political rights or rights that we presume to bestow as the dominant species on Earth. The rights of animals are birthrights, similar to those we claim for ourselves-the right to live our lives free of subjugation and institutionalized violence, where the random and special joys of being alive can be experienced. The Golden Rule is not a 'do-gooders' slogan. We need to treat others as we want to be treated not only for their sake, but also because our own good is interwoven with the good of others, including other species. Animal Rights and Human Rights are linked at their core, because how we treat those most affected by our actions is the best reflection of who we are as a species. We must strive to do right when our actions, needs and interests intersect with those of other species. IDA is unwavering in our promotion of actions that support doing right for animals and their interests, and our opposition to doing what is wrong, harmful or malicious.
  2. Friends of Animals talking about how animal rights is different from animal welfare: How is this different from animal welfare? Traditionally, charities have worked on reducing the suffering of other animals that occurs when they are thought of as lesser beings who can and should be controlled. There will always be suffering as long as any group is defined as available to be dominated and controlled. The nonhuman rights advocate does not dismiss people's concerns about suffering. Those concerns are valid. But the concept of animal rights involved working at the root cause of the problem. Regulating the methods of exploitation is unlikely to significantly improve the status of nonhuman animals. Indeed, by passing laws to regulate the way in which individuals are exploited, we harden into law the concept that humans have the right to use other conscious individuals as tools for research, as entertainment, as food, as so on. So the rights advocate asks that we relinquish the idea that other animals can be bought, sold, and treated as things. This is not the same thing as asking for better treatment; the rights advocate demands something infinitely more valuable - freedom.

WE ARE RUNNING NYC BUS ADS
Please DONATE to our campaign
This month, we are running ads on the backs of 80 public transit buses in Manhattan, spending just about all of our funds. The ads began on December 1st. This past year, because of your generosity, we were able to run ads for several months in local papers. Many people contacted us because of these ads -- it was very apparent in the increase in "likes" on our Facebook page - No Walk in the Park. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU SEE THE AD AND SNAP A PICTURE FOR US - [email protected]

Please consider donating to our ban horse-drawn carriage campaign to help us continue to do things like this. We are all volunteer and do not pay any salaries. Every donation received goes into the organization for our newsletter, posters, flyers and advertising. We also like to be able to donate to horse rescues who are supportive of a ban on NYC's horse-drawn carriages and special equine need cases. Click here to donate.

CBS DOES PUFF PIECE ABOUT CARRIAGE DRIVERS
very biased one-sided story
CBS recently did a very biased piece about the carriage trade. They wanted to show the carriage drivers as sympathetic, blue collar workers who support their families. They did not mention that the drivers have turned down two job alternatives and also did not mention how abusive and inhumane this cash only business is. Although they interviewed me for a while, they only used a few sentences. Click here for the video. My comment begins at 01:22:02 minutes in.

It is curious that the media has taken the side of the drivers producing very one-sided untruthful pieces that are not fact checked. They manipulate the story with the conclusion already decided -- the poor, working class driver who loves his horse and just wants to support his family. They never touch on the real abuses and violations that are prevalent in this trade; the many accidents that have happened; or the very high turnover each year - about 70 horses. There has been a turnover of 529 horses in 7 � years, which is backed up by Department of Health documentation.

ABOUT JOBS
The job issue deserves some realistic and serious discussion. Many people have lost their jobs in NYC - ranging from city workers, corporate workers, and those who lost their jobs due to redevelopment and gentrification of neighborhoods. Consider the small business owner who ran a coffee shop and because his landlord decided to sell to a developer, he is put out of business and needs to find something else. The man who lost his store is not promised a new location or another business. He had to figure it out for himself. It is the same with people who lose their jobs working for a company. They need to find another one because no one is there to baby them along. It is not pleasant but it is a fact of life. None of these people had a new industry created for them.

Yet the carriage drivers, who have enjoyed an entitled existence and favoritism from past administrations , (very low insurance rates; subsidized stable rents) have turned down two proposals - the electric cars and retrofitted carriages. They refuse to understand or accept that their obsolete business has come to an end and it is time to move on.

The City must stop being held hostage to this small group of people. It is not fair to all those who have lost jobs and never received entitlements. It is not fair to the small coffee shop owner mentioned above who was not offered a new location or a new business on a "silver platter."

LOOKING FOR INTERESTING GIFTS?
shop at our four Cafe Press stores
charlie's city Please take a look at our Merchandise page from our web site. Three of our stores are listed plus beautiful art work from Teresa Vecere.

In addition, we have a fourth store on Cafe Press. We are now offering great looking t-shirts based on our successful ad campaign - Carriage Horses Suffer - thanks to Roberto, the Nomadic Cat -for the Ts and Jane Denny - for the original art work. Click here.

NEXT CARRIAGE HORSE TRADE DEMOS
Saturday December 14th
Please join the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages and activists as we protest against and educate tourists about the inhumane and unsafe carriage trade.
  • WHEN: Saturday December 14th - 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
  • WHERE: north/west corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South at the hack line.

Please - let's continue our presence This is the busiest time of year when tourists line up to take rides and the horses are worked to exhaustion. No water for them! Remember - these are not "working" horses in the traditional sense of the word. They are "entertainment" horses - enslaved to make money for their owners while pulling uneducated tourists around the park. There is nothing noble about what they do. It is a frivolous and unnecessary practice and we can't wait until it is shut down.

The drivers are supposed to give their horses a 15 minute break every two hours - this according to law - but they do not. If there is a choice of taking another ride or giving their horses a rest, the drivers will take the money. And to make it worse, neither the NYPD, nor the ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement officers were at the hack line. It was a free for all. As of January 1st, the ASPCA is giving up humane law enforcement, turning over the responsibility to the NYPD.

PLEASE JOIN US ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google Blog & Flickr

HELP OUR ORGANIZATION BY SHOPPING ON LINE
Also check out Cafe Press to purchase CBHDC merchandise
igive 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 & Noble. Even Cafe Press is available if you purchase some of our merchandise. Click here to get started.

On iGive - 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.

"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.

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.