15 April 2007 - Vol. # 24
WE'RE BACK!!! -
Volunteering -
Accidents -
local and Other Cities -
Charleston
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Tabling on Saturday, April 21st - Christine Quinn's district
The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages will be tabling on
Saturday, April 21st in Speaker Christine Quinn's district. We need
volunteers to help us get signatures on petitions to the Mayor and
City Council -- and to hold posters. This is not a demonstration but
an educational event. It is an excellent opportunity to help the
horses and get to see how supportive both tourists and New Yorkers
are. You can volunteer for one hour or four. We need to know when
you will be there so we are sure to have coverage. Please contact
Teresa at verush@aol.com if you can volunteer.
WHEN: Saturday, April 21, 2007 WHERE: midtown -
information will be given to volunteers. TIME: 1-5 PM
THE CASE OF THE
HORSELESS CARRIAGE
Accident on Central Park South - not reported by media
Sometime during the afternoon of Friday the 13th, there was an
accident involving a horse and carriage near the hack line on
Central Park South. This was reported to us by a friend who observed
a horseless carriage parked on CPS. Thinking that this was odd, she
investigated and learned that a taxi had crashed into the carriage
at Grand Army Plaza leaving some visible damage on the front. The
horse would have been connected to the front of the carriage and
quite possibly was injured.
She was told that the horse had to be walked back to the stable -
West Side Livery on 38th St. just off 12th Avenue - two miles away.
Our friend notified the ASPCA and they arrived on the scene about 20
minutes later. The carriage license plate is #1235.
No officials - not the ASPCA, the NYC Mounted Police, Parks
Department - or anyone from any of the agencies that are supposed to
oversee this industry were on site. We have heard from many people
that there are numerous accidents that never get reported. It is not
in the interest of the industry to report them so if they can get
away with avoiding this, they will. And - drivers are not required
by law to report an accident. We want to know what happened to the
horse!
CARRIAGE ACCIDENT IN
INDIANAPOLIS
Driver injured - horse OK
Associated Press - April 10, 2007 A runaway horse pulled a carriage
with two out-of-town tourists on a wild ride through downtown
streets, until a teenager rode to the rescue in a pursuing taxi,
leaped out and grabbed the horse's reins. The driver of the Yellow
Rose Carriage was thrown from her seat when a van crashed into the
buggy Sunday afternoon. 'The carriage driver lady just flew off the
carriage,' said William Basler, 19. Basler ran after the carriage to
try to stop it. A taxi driver saw what was happening, slowed and
told Basler to jump in. The cab chased and passed the carriage, and
Basler jumped out, grabbed the reins and stopped the horse. 'It was
just instinct,' Basler said. 'I was just worried about the people
inside of it. 'He needed instinct, since he said his only experience
with horses was riding one once when he was 15.
Police said carriage driver Kathleen Moriarty, 53, was briefly
knocked unconscious but was not seriously hurt. The passengers
complained of some pain and were examined at a hospital, said police
Sgt. Matthew Mount. The horse was not injured. Police said the van
driver, Timothy D. Carlson, 46, of Indianapolis, faces several
preliminary charges including felony possession of a controlled
substance, misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence, public
intoxication and operating a vehicle without a license.
PETA CALLS FOR A
BAN ON CARRIAGE RIDES
response to Indianapolis accident
Indystar.com - An animal rights group today urged a ban on
horse-drawn carriages Downtown after an allegedly drunk driver
earlier this month hit a carriage, throwing the driver to the
ground. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says similar
crashes - most involving sober drivers - have taken place in many
cities where the rides are offered. "Horns, whistles, sirens,
engines, and the constant buzz of city traffic can cause any horse
to become frightened and bolt," said a PETA press release. "A
growing number of cities have realized that these antiquated
contraptions have no place in city traffic." "Horse-drawn carriages
are not only dangerous but also cruel," the press release added. "
Horses are forced to work long hours in extreme weather, pulling
heavy loads while walking on hard pavement and inhaling exhaust
fumes at nose level."
Peta says Biloxi, Miss.; Las Vegas and Reno, Nev.; Palm Beach,
Panama City, Key West, Deerfield Beach, and Pompano Beach, Fla.;
Santa Fe, N.M.; Camden, N.J.; and London, Paris, and Toronto have
all implemented bans. PETA has sent a letter to Indianapolis Mayor
Bart Peterson urging him to push for a ban. Peterson or a spokesman
was not immediately available for comment. During the accident, the
carriage driver was knocked unconscious. The horse bolted pulling
the carriage with two riders several blocks before a bystander was
able to chase down the carriage and bring it under control.
CHARLESTON, SC - PROPOSES RULES FOR HORSE DRAWN CARRIAGES
allowed to operate at 98 degrees
Charleston proposal to rein in carriages rolls toward council -
Ordinance seeks stricter rules for animals' safety BY DAVID SLADE
The Post and Courier - April 7 -- After nearly three years of study,
an ordinance to regulate the horse- and mule-drawn carriages that
are a fixture of the Charleston tourism industry will go before City
Council on Tuesday. Members of the city's tourism subcommittee who
crafted the eight pages of rules say the animal welfare standards in
the ordinance largely reflect current practices in Charleston, but
they would have the force of law if approved. "I think it's a huge
improvement over what we have, which is basic animal cruelty laws,"
said Cathy Forrester, who headed the subcommittee. "What we are
sending to City Council is very detailed." "Certainly there are
people who are not happy with it," she said. "There are elements
that some carriage owners feel are nit-picking, and some members of
the public are unhappy with the temperatures and carriage loads."
The ordinance would expand on existing regulations requiring horses
to be diapered and dictating when and where carriages may travel.
The proposed ordinance would specify temperatures when carriage
tours would have to cease, the conditions under which animals'
temperatures must be taken, how many days an animal could work
without a day off, stable conditions and more. "We pretty much do
all that's in there," said Tom Doyle, owner of Palmetto Carriage
Works and a member of the subcommittee. "Nowhere do I see the need
for this (ordinance), except that there's nothing on the books now,"
he said. "I thought the system we had was great."
Under the proposed regulations, animal-drawn carriages would be
allowed to operate in temperatures up to 98 degrees, which is the
current standard. The animals' temperatures would have to be taken
whenever the outdoor temperature reaches 90 degrees or more, and
overheated animals would have to be given a break or taken out of
service. The ordinance also would require that carriages cease
operations if the heat index - a formula that reflects heat and
humidity - exceeds 125. The proposed heat index standard is more
strict than the existing guideline, which uses a different formula.
Currently, carriage operations cease if the ambient temperature plus
humidity add up to 185 or more, such as when it's 95 degrees with 90
percent humidity. The heat index used by the National Weather
Service doesn't add the two numbers, but uses them to calculate an
index number. If it were 95 degrees with 90 percent humidity, the
heat index would be 127, for example. In some cases, the new heat
index would take carriages off the streets when the old
temperature-plus-humidity test would not, such as if it were 94
degrees with 80 percent humidity, creating a heat index of 129.
The most-vocal advocates of tougher limits on carriage
operations, Pat Jones and Ellen Harley, could not be reached Friday
for comment. Harley wrote in an October editorial that the city
should require carriage operations to cease when the temperature
hits 85 degrees and suggested limiting carriage loads to seven
passengers. The proposed ordinance would allow animals to pull up to
three times their weight, or a number of passengers permitted by a
"certificate of appropriateness." Carriage animals would have to be
fit, at least 3.5 years old and at least 950 pounds. Mary Margaret
Baker, tourism coordinator for Charleston, said the ordinance would
require significant record-keeping by carriage operators and would
require that those records be available to city inspectors. Carriage
animals would be checked by company veterinarians twice yearly, and
once each year by a city-hired veterinarian. City Council will
consider the ordinance at a meeting that will begin at 5 p.m.
Tuesday at the Greenberg Municipal Building, 180B Lockwood Drive.
CHARLESTON UPDATE
ordinance passes and only one person speaks out for the horses
Warwick Jone of the
Charleston Watch - noted that the ordinance
required horses be taken off the street when the "heat index"
reached 125 or above. The "heat index" was devised by National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), and reflects a number of
factors - in particular temperature and humidity. Mr. Jones said
this threshold was too high. He submitted a chart prepared by NOAA
that indicated that a heat index of 125 above was in the "danger" or
"extreme danger" zones for humans and animals.
photo #1 - tabling in Speaker Quinn's district; photo #2 - carriage
accident on CPS;
photo #3 - horse involved in accident; photo #4 -
Charleston carriage
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he
who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting
against it is really cooperating with it."
-Martin Luther King
| Thank you for caring about the horses, Elizabeth
Forel - Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc. for the
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages |
