5 July 2007 - Vol. # 38 - SPECIAL EDITION
4th OF JULY - NO HOLIDAY FOR THE HORSES
ANOTHER NYC CARRIAGE HORSE ACCIDENT!!!
SPOOKED HORSE CRASHES INTO TAXI ON CPS!
HORSE & TAXI IN TALE OF WHOA - NYPOST - - By Erin Calabrese and
Dan Kadison July 5, 2007 -- A frightened carriage horse bolted from
its driver early yesterday and collided with a taxi on Central Park
South - slashing its leg and sending a cabby to the hospital. "I saw
[the horse] coming right at us and he just ran right into the cab,"
said motorcyclist Tony Zappetti. "I don't know what spooked him. I
just threw my bike down and tried to get out of the way." "I'm going
to have nightmares about horses tonight," Zappetti quipped before
driving off on his trampled bike.
The cabby, whose car sustained significant front-end damage, was
treated for injuries at New York Hospital. The horse, a 12-year-old
gelding named Bud, suffered several gashes on his right hind leg,
but was able to walk back to the stables on West 52nd Street by
himself, said Joseph Pentangelo, ASPCA assistant director.
HORSES DO NOT BELONG IN TRAFFIC
What Will it Take ....... A Human Death?
Tony
Zappetti, the cyclist named in the article, told us that as he was
heading north and turned the corner near Columbus Circle when he saw
the horse come barreling down the street and hit the taxi head on.
He said the horse appeared to be quite injured - his legs were
bloody and he left puddles of blood on the ground. The carriage
broke free, went sideways and hit his bike as he tried to get out of
the way. Zappetti was injured although not enough to go to the
hospital. The carriage was demolished.
This is the second accident in one month involving a spooked
horse. The horse, a 12 year old gelding named Bud, was not a new
comer to the industry. He has been on the roles for a few years so
the argument cannot be made that he was unfamiliar with traffic.
This proves that horses are unpredictable.
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 with which to be reckoned.
In a letter to Mayor Bloomberg, dated January 16, 2007, Holly
Cheever, DVM and equine expert, 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."
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP THE
HORSES
To
contact your Council Member go to this
web site.
Faxes or phone calls are preferred. Ask them to support a ban of the
Horse-Carriage industry. If you have contacted them before, please
contact them again.
Contact Mayor Michael Bloomberg and ask that he support a ban of
this industry.
To let Ed Sayres/ASPCA President know know how you feel about
this issue and the fact that they are not supporting a ban, you may
contact him at: esayres@aspca.org Ask him to act in the
spirit of their founder, Henry Bergh.
If you have witnessed any accidents or incidents concerning the
carriage horses -- or -- have evidence of an HLE officer not doing
his/her job concerning the carriage horses or showing bias to the
drivers, please contact us at coalitionbanhdc@gmail.com.
We cannot do this without your help. Please speak out for the
horses. Remember what they say about the squeaky wheel.
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who
do evil, but because of those who look and do nothing"
-Albert Einstein
| Thank you for caring about the horses, Elizabeth
Forel - Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc. for the
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages |
