July 12, 2007 -- Carriage horses are wilting in the intense summer heat
because of regulations that refuse to take humidity into consideration,
animal-rights activists brayed at a City Hall protest yesterday.
The latest protest against the horse-drawn-carriage industry comes on the
hooves of a Midtown traffic accident in which a spooked horse collided with a
cab on the Fourth of July.
"There's no consideration for humidity or wind chill, and you know how hot
and muggy it gets in New York City in the summertime," said Elizabeth Forel, of
the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.
Horses are ordered indoors when the temperature hits 90, but activists say
Midtown stables are hot and cramped.
Mayor Bloomberg has defended the industry as an important tourist attraction.
But many of the 10,000 signatures in a petition against the industry came
from tourists, said the coalition's Jill Weitz.
Return to Media
