"On January 2, 2006, a horse pulling a hansom cab in
Manhattan got spooked and bolted down 9th Avenue, galloping for several
blocks before smashing into a station wagon at 50th Street. The horse was
badly injured, wrapped around the car, with his rear legs on top of it and
his head on the ground. He was later euthanized. He was five years old and
had only been working in the city for a few months. His name was Spotty. The
driver was critically injured and was taken to the hospital along with the
two passengers of the station wagon."
The carriage horse industry in NYC is an
abomination. These horses, many of whom have already provided a prior
lifetime of service to man, are forced to carry heavy loads in
all extreme weather conditions (with very minimal restrictions) in the
midst of heavy and merciless NYC traffic. These animals are horribly
neglected, abused, and overworked at the hands of inexperienced (and,
more often than not, unsympathetic) handlers. After a second lifetime
of work for man, if they do not drop dead of disease or exhaustion, they
are rewarded by retirement to the slaughterhouse, where they are
brutally killed.
In the 1980's I worked with the Carriage
Horse Action Committee, headed by Peggy Parker, to attempt to improve
conditions for the horses and ban them outside of Central Park. Mayor
Koch sabotaged our efforts at the time. Now, many accidents (and much
human and animal suffering) later, we have a repeat performance by Mayor
Bloomberg. Last week, after hearing pleas from activists to ban the
industry (following the most recent accident in which the driver ended
up in a coma and the horse had to be removed from the scene to be killed
after breaking a leg and ending up on the roof of a car), he commented
that the carriage horses are here to stay and that they are usually
treated "well". He stated "...yeah, they work for a living just like
you and me." One little detail the mayor omitted is that we CHOOSE our
jobs and if we have an abusive boss we can QUIT. The horses have no
choice.
The mayor is afraid that if we
abolish this industry, the city will lose revenue. London, Paris, and
Toronto have done so and they are still thriving.
The mayor is turning a deaf ear to New
Yorkers. We need outsiders, tourists, to prove that the
presence of carriage horses in NYC is a DETERRENT, not
an attraction to the city. Please sign the petition (below) to ban the
carriage horse industry in NYC. And please, write to our
unreasonable mayor and demand that these horses be taken off the
streets and adopted to loving homes where they can have a dignified and
peaceful retirement.
Sign Petition: Carriage Horse Petition
Contact Mayor: Mike Bloomberg
Thank you in advance for your action!
