29 April 2007 - Vol. # 26
Volunteering *
T-Shirt Sale *
Pedicabs *
Letters *
Bermuda
accident *
Spooking
VOLUNTEERING
We are taking a break - back on May 12th
The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages will not be tabling this
weekend. Please save a few hours to help us out on Saturday May
12th. See you then!
BAN HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES T-SHIRTS
Promote our message to help the horses
The warm weather is here and it is time to wear your t-shirts -
ours preferably. Wear it to the gym to educate people about the
carriage horses; wear it to table with us - or just wear it
because it looks good and is comfortable. We have a sizable
inventory of t-shirts (shown above) in small, medium and large -
that we want to sell to raise money for our campaign. They run a
little big. The slogan on this style is "Show Compassion"
"Say No to a Carriage Ride." We also have a few left of the
women's cap sleeve t-shirt in size medium, which is to size. It
is shown to the left. The slogan on this shirt is "There's No
Romance in Cruelty".
We are offering these shirts at $15 including postage - a
$5-10 savings from our
Internet store. If you are interested, please e-mail me at
coalitionbanhdc@gmail.com with the size needed. I will
e-mail you back to let you know if it is available. Only checks
are accepted. Although all sizes are available, please wait
until you hear from me confirming it. At that time, checks
should be made out to Coalition for New York City Animals, Inc.,
P.O. Box 20247, New York, NY 10025.
However, if you want to purchase anything through
our store, credit cards are accepted through PayPal. We have
caps, t-shirts, sweat shirts; tote bags and a tee for your dog.
Earth Day Smack Down - Council overrides the Mayor's veto - or
"follow the money"
It was politics as usual as the City Council voted 37 to 6 to
override the Mayor's veto on a bill that would seriously curtail
the pedicab industry. Voting "no" were CM Tony Avella, Charles
Barron, Helen Foster, Alan Gerson, Hiram Monserrate and Albert
Vann.
This bill, which is now law, was originally introduced by Mayor
Bloomberg to regulate the burgeoning Pedicab industry. However,
after listening to arguments as to why this was not a good bill,
he vetoed it and sent it back to the Council to be reworked.
During the Council Hearing - ironically the day after Earth Day
- Council Member James Gennaro, went so far as to argue that
pedicabs cause pollution by creating more congestion. (he was
also seen trying to sell someone a bridge...) We are told that
he spent the morning hobnobbing with the pro-331-A lobbyists.
On Saturday, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion argued that
the cap of 325 pedicabs citywide would amount to a "de facto
ban" on pedicab businesses outside of Manhattan. "What signal
does it send to those who are considering investing in a small
business in our city - especially green businesses that should
receive heightened protection?" Carrion said. "On the day
after Earth Day, of all days, this is not a direction the
Council should be going." As for Speaker Christine Quinn's
undue influence on her fellow Council Members - many concerned
about losing their committee chairmanships and other perks -
this is nothing new and is typical for NYC government al la the
more recent speakers - Vallone and Miller. Quinn claims not to
have been influenced by
Emily Giske, a lobbyist at a firm hired by the Committee for
Taxi Safety to lobby the council on the pedicab bill. (And if
you believe that -- I will try to sell you that bridge..... )
Giske is considered by many to be close to Quinn. Read more
about the issue below. But first -- read New York Magazine's
article
"Hansom Cabbies Turn Ugly" - how this issue began -
12/5/2005. This bill, which would have banned the Pedicab
industry outright was shelved when the Coalition for NYC Animals
persuaded CM. Gale Brewer and CM Leticia James to withdraw their
sponsorship.
AM-NY - on Horse Slaughter - April 26, 2007
NY April 26, 2007-
HORSES MUST BE TREATED HEROICALLY Re:
"Storied Stable to Leave Central Park" Let's hope that good
homes are found for the 45 Claremont horses and that they not go
to auction. Horses are generally not sold directly to slaughter
houses but take the indirect route of being sold at auction to
the highest bidder. This is what happens to some carriage horses
who no longer make the cut. At the auctions, representatives of
slaughter houses or "killer buyers" buy horses by the pound.
More than 100,000 horses were slaughtered in the US last year.
Although recent court decisions have effectively shut down the
three foreign owned slaughterhouses in the US, horses are still
being trucked to slaughter in Mexico and Canada. The American
Horse Slaughter and Prevention Act will settle the matter
permanently since it also prohibits the export of live horses to
other countries for slaughter. Please call your representatives
in Congress to ask that they support this legislation.
-Elizabeth Forel, Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
BERMUDA -
CARRIAGE HORSES SPOOK
Run wild - plough into crowd - 19 injured
Bermuda April 25th - At least 19 people - including a young boy
- were injured after two carriage horses spooked and ran amok -
dragging a carriage along Front Street during the first Harbour
Night of the year. The out-of-control animals ploughed into the
back of a dense crowd of unsuspecting tourists and locals
watching a performance at about 7.30 p.m., trapping people
beneath the wheels of the vehicle. The crowd couldn't hear the
horses' hooves or warning shouts because of the loud music so
they failed to move out of the way.
A principal of a middle school said "People were
screaming; it was surreal, It was bloody. I saw at least eight
people lying on the ground, maybe even 12." One of the
organizers of the event stated "Nobody could have stopped
them. Fortunately down here all the children got out of the way
although there was one little boy injured. I saw bone. People
just fell. A lot of people got knocked over here."
Another witness: "I saw two horses running very rapidly at
a full gallop pulling a carriage. The Gombeys were dancing and
the crowd was here. Some people were shouting to get the crowd
to move but the horses ran right into the crowd and fell. The
horses actually ran over the crowd." "A lot of those under the
carriage didn't move. I saw at least a dozen casualties. It
seemed that most of the injured were visitors but we had a few
local injuries also."
A WORD ABOUT SPOOKING
horses can be a deadly force
Although horses are large animals, they are easily spooked - and
often by loud noises from traffic or strange objects. No amount
of domestication will remove the flight mentality when they feel
threatened. And because they can weigh anywhere from 1,000 to
over 2,000 pounds, they are a force to be reckoned with. A
witness to the tragic accident in Arizona in February that took
the life of a little girl who was trampled by runaway horses
said "A person is not strong enough to stop a twelve- hundred
pound animal." According to
PETA "A survey of national carriage horse accidents
revealed that 85 percent of all accidents were the result of an
animal spooking. Seventy percent of the time there was a human
injury, and 22 percent of the time there was a human death.(8)
The survey also found that in New York City, which has the
highest carriage horse accident rate in the country, 98 percent
of the horses who "spooked" became injured."
And in a letter to Mayor Bloomberg, dated January 16, 2007,
Holly Cheever, DVM stated "Spooking can happen to even the
best trained and well-mannered horse. Their evolution as
herbivores (i.e. prey animals) has conditioned them to bolt
first and consider the situation later, dictating the need for
the driver to be constantly in contact with the horse's head,
whether by holding the reins securely from the carriage box or
by standing at the horse's head with the reins in hand. The
driver must also learn to anticipate potentially threatening
stimuli in order to control the horse before it attempts to flee
in panic, which is unlikely when the drivers are novices. I have
heard New York carriage owners/drivers claim repeatedly that
their horses are "spook-proof"-there is no such thing. As you
can well imagine and have witnessed recently, the potential for
injury is enormous and represents an extreme liability risk for
the City as the licensing agent."
Knowing this should be reason enough to ban the horse
carriage trade especially in crowded cities like New York.
Horses and heavy traffic have been shown to be a deadly mix.
Most horses are simply not comfortable working among cars, buses
and taxis. What is it going to take for New York City officials
to see the light - another serious accident? a human death? Time
will tell.
"Cowardice asks the question, Is it safe? Expediency asks the
question, Is it politic? Vanity asks the question, Is it popular? But
conscience asks the question, Is it right? And there comes a time when
one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular,
but he must take it because his conscience tells him that it is right."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
| Thank you for caring about the horses, Elizabeth
Forel - Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc. for the
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages |
