29 July 2007 - Vol. # 42
Volunteer **
Letters to the Editor **
Accident **
What You Can Do
VOLUNTEER TO HELP THE HORSES
next Saturday - August 4th
The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages needs volunteers to help
get signatures on petitions to the Mayor and City Council -- and to
hold posters. We are also asking passersby to participate in our
post
card campaign to Mayor Bloomberg. This is not a demonstration
but an educational event. It is an excellent opportunity to help the
horses and 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, August 4, 2007 WHERE: midtown - information will be
given to volunteers. TIME: 1-5 PM. This picture was taken on
a blistering hot day. Is he thirsty - after all, he does not have
ready access to water -- or is his bit uncomfortable?
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR -
METRO NY
"Horse Abuse Not Romantic"
The following two letters were published in Metro on July 23rd in
response to a recent article " Peta Wants Horses Off City Streets."
Metro highlighted an excerpt from the second letter increasing the
font so it was as large as a letter itself. "This is a classic
case of an industry that needs government intervention - Rebecca
Hellerstein on the horse-drawn carriage industry."
July 23, 2007 - The move to ban horse drawn carriages has been
around for years, drawing fuel from yearly, horrifying accidents
that occur. As far back as the early 1980's it was announced by the
City Council that they received more correspondence in favor of a
ban than correspondence having to do with any other issue. Yet, year
after year, accident after accident the ban is dismissed, ignored
and even mocked by the powers that be in NYC. The justification of
abuse because it's a tourist attraction is ignorance at it's best,
Tourists have expressed shock and horror at what these horses have
to endure on our streets and in the stables. The justification of it
because it's romantic?!? I don't know what kind of desperado finds
romance in hideous living conditions for horses. - Susan Davis
July 23, 2007 - The City Council clearly needs to think seriously
about whether to ban the carriage industry in New York. Many major
cities in OECD have done so (Paris, Toronto, London) While horses
have historically been an important mode of transportation, they do
not belong in New York City in 2007, both for our health and theirs.
For our health, their presence is traffic is dangerous: a number of
accidents have occurred over the past year in which people were
injured. As for their health, the average working life of a New York
City carriage horse is only four years. They lead very hard lives.
This is a classic case of an industry that needs government
intervention, because horses are unable to advocate for themselves
(unlike pedicab drivers for example.) For this and other reasons,
the only realistic option is to ban the industry. - Rebecca
Hellerstein
LETTERS TO THE
EDITOR - NY DAILY NEWS
"Pity the Horses"
The Chief -Leader is a weekly paper that deals with issues affecting
employees of NYC governmental agencies. A recent article discussed
how kitchen staff in schools work in very hot kitchens with no air
conditioning and no temperature standards. The article compared the
fact that there are regulations for carriage horses -- as if they
had it so good.
July 27, 2007 - Regarding your recent article "School Kitchen Staff
Frying" - by Meridith Kolodner -- I have great sympathy for the
workers who toil in the kitchens serving lunches to children. It
must be unbearable to work under such extreme temperature conditions
and something should be done about it. However, your snide comments
about temperature regulations for the NYC carriage horses - that by
law they do not have to work when it is 90 or above - diminishes us
as a hopefully evolved people. It suggests that the carriage horses
are being treated like kings when the truth is very different.
Have you ever been to their stables? They live in warehouses -
their stalls accessed by steep ramps - and they are not air
conditioned either. Besides what you do not realize is that horses
do not do well in the heat - they can easily suffer heat stroke -
they are much more susceptible than people. Horses are stuck between
the shafts of their carriages for nine hours a day, seven days a
week while they work pulling around cart loads of tourists. They are
herd animals - yet they do not get to socialize with other horses.
And they have no choice in this exploitation. Shall I compare that
to city workers who have it better? Many horses end up slaughtered
for the foreign dinner plate after a devoted career. Surely - city
workers have it better here too.
The ethical and moral progress of this great city depends on how
well we treat all living, sentient beings - animal and human. It
does not help when we try to stir things up by making unfair and
misguided comparisons. Elizabeth Forel - Coalition to Ban
Horse-Drawn Carriages
ANOTHER
CHILD DIES IN CARRIAGE HORSE ACCIDENT
this time Russia - one day, maybe New York City
On Tuesday, July 24th, the St. Petersburg Times (Russia) reported
that the five-year old daughter of the mayor of Sochi died after a
horrific road accident involving one of the city's horse-drawn
carriages. Sochi will be the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics. On a
heavily trafficked road, a car crashed into the back of the carriage
and the little girl fell to the street. She was seriously injured
and later died in the hospital.
This is the second reported accident this year involving
horse-drawn carriages in which a little girl was killed. In February
another five year old girl was thrown from her horse in a rodeo
parade in Tucson, Arizona and trampled by a team of spooked carriage
horses. She later died in the hospital.
KEEP THIS ISSUE IN THE
PUBLIC EYE
what you can do
More pressure and more exposure is needed. Please continue to write
a Letter to the Editor to the following media. Remember to always
include your contact information - name, address, telephone and to
keep the letter between 100 to 150 words. NYPost - letters@nypost.com;
NYDaily News -voicers@edit.nydailynews.com; Metro -
letters@metro.us. AM-NY - letters@am-ny.com (please note
that although an AM-NY reporter was at the protest, nothing was
published in the paper.) NY Times - letters@nytimes.com, NY
Newsday letters@nynewsday.com. And don't forget to
contact Mayor Bloomberg and your City Council member - even if
you already have.
Also - check out these three blogs - two on the carriage horse issue
-
NY Times -and
Carriage Horses
NYC, and one on the
ASPCA and humane law enforcement.
If you have not signed our
online petition - please do so now and forward it to everyone
you know. The petition is directed to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg
and the NYC Council and asks them to support a ban of the
horse-drawn carriage industry.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for
good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
| Thank you for caring about the horses, Elizabeth
Forel - Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc. for the
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages |
