Current Issue - Past Issues

19 August 2007 - Vol. # 45

Post Card Campaign ** LONDON - URGENT ALERT ** Accident - PA ** Essay on Peace ** What you can do

WE'RE TAKING A BREAK FROM TABLING ON 8/25
back on September 1st
The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages will be tabling again on September 1st at which time we will need volunteers to help get signatures on petitions. In the meantime, if you have not yet participated in our post card campaign to Mayor Bloomberg, please do so now. Read about it in a previous e-newsletter.

If you would like to participate in this campaign please contact us at coalitionbanhdc@gmail.com. There is no cost to you. Tell us how many post cards you want and provide your mailing address. The card is addressed to Mayor Bloomberg and asks him to ban the horse-drawn carriage industry. It has been updated to include the two recent accidents - the latest on July 4th. We ask that you have your friends, family and coworkers sign the card and mail it in. To date, thousands of post cards have been sent to Mayor Bloomberg from New Yorkers and tourists alike.

NOTICE: we are looking for a place nearby (Central Park South) to store our materials from week to week. We have a portfolio with posters and a pull suitcase. If anyone can offer a space, please contact us at coalitionbanhdc@gmail.com. We would pick up the material on Saturday about 1:00 and bring it back between 4:00 and 5:30.

URGENT ALERT - LONDON S.O.S. - PLEASE WRITE
London Considering Bringing Back Carriage Horses
We recently learned through an Internet search that London is considering bringing back the carriage horse trade. This is very bad news. We've been in touch with PETA UK in London and Animal Aid in Manchester and they are both on the case - making calls and trying to get meetings with the authorities. BTW - Animal Aid has an excellent section on their web site about the carriage horse issue. And PETA UK has an announcement on their web site about London.

As potential tourists, Americans need to contact officials in London and tell them that reintroducing carriage horses to London would not be a wise thing to do. There are any number of arguments to use - humane issues, traffic congestion, enforcement problems, additional cost to taxpayers, etc. London is one of the great international cities of the world that had banned carriage horses from operating since the late 1930s - presumably because of traffic congestion. In many ways, the English are more progressive than Americans when it comes to compassion and animal issues so it is particularly frustrating and disappointing to learn of this development.

Westminster Councillor Danny Chalkley, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Transport, said: "It's a possibility that horse-drawn carriages tours could add to the tourism draw of the West End as long as they are properly regulated and controlled. They work in other cities and actually look rather nice." Please write respectful letters to Councillor Chalkley asking him and the council to reconsider this scheme. Please tell him that as a potential tourist, you will not visit London if they reintroduce carriage horses - that this will hurt rather than help the tourism industry. Please contact coalitionbanhdc@gmail for e-mail addresses to contact.

WEST BURLINGTON, PA -CARRIAGE HORSE SPOOKS
9 People Injured in Nursing Home Accident
THE DAILY & SUNDAY REVIEW - August 17, 2007 - 9 hurt at county nursing home event: Horse-and-wagon accident occurs during picnic By C.J. Marshall , Staff Writer - WEST BURLINGTON - Nine people were taken to hospitals on Thursday following an accident involving a horse and wagon at the Bradford County Manor. None of the victims' identities have been released to the public at this time. According Connie Taylor, Assistant Director of Nursing at Bradford County Manor, a picnic was being held for residents and staff members at the facility on Thursday. Part of the festivities, she said, included a horse-drawn wagon that people could take rides on. Taylor said that a "slight accident" occurred involving the wagon, injuring nine people in the process. Three of the people are manor residents, Taylor explained, three are county employees, and three are volunteers. Taylor declined to give the names of those involved in the accident, explaining that additional information would have to be obtained before they could be released.

Troy Fire Chief Roy Vargson reported that the Guthrie One helicopter transported one of the accident victims from the scene. The rest, he said, were transported via various ambulances. In addition to Troy Fire Department, other emergency responders at the scene included Western Alliance, East Smithfield, and the ambulance from Memorial Hospital, Vargson said. Mary McKerrow, administrator at the Bradford County Manor, said later that no further information can be provided to the public at this time because of HIPPA privacy regulations. She said the manor may be able to release additional information in the near future.

ESSAY ON PEACE - INNER AND GLOBAL
Kathy Freston - The Huffington Post
Horse meat for dinner. The thought of it is vile to most readers of this newsletter. Many of us are involved with the campaign to end the slaughter of horses in the US. Butchered here and shipped to countries like Japan, Belgium, France and Italy to be eaten for dinner. Gruesome. Barbaric. Pitifully sad. But what about the other animals? The cows, pigs, chickens, goats, rabbits, sheep -- and the list goes on. Why do we care so much for horses - and dogs and cats - but not so much for cows and chickens. Although I like to focus on one issue in this newsletter - Carriage Horses and horse issues that are related to it -- when I recently read this essay by Kathy Freston in The Huffington Post, I wanted to share it with others.

Ms. Freston approaches the topic of vegetarianism and kindness toward animals as it relates to inner and global peace. She states "How can we work toward a less violent and more merciful world if our daily diet requires violence toward animals and denying these others of our global inhabitants some basic mercy?" She quotes Leo Tolstoy, on whose teachings both Gandhi's and Dr. Martin Luther King's campaigns were based. "Vegetarianism is the taproot of humanitarianism," Tolstoy said, arguing that if we were not leading lives that are as kind as possible at the micro-level, how can our cries for peace at the macro-level be taken seriously? How can a society that feeds on the bodies of the oppressed do anything other than make war, he wondered. So please take a moment and read the essay. As Ms. Freston says - vegetarianism is a step - a quantum leap even - toward being a more peaceful people. It's worth a read!

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. You can discuss the issue in general; the heat; lack of water; how other cities have banned the industry. NYPost - letters@nypost.com; NYDaily News -voicers@edit.nydailynews.com; Metro - letters@metro.us. AM-NY - letters@am-ny.com 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.

The New York Times blog on Humane Law Enforcement is no longer available for posting but may still be viewed. The NYTimes blog on carriage horses is still available for posting. You are also welcome to post on our carriage horse blog . 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.

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
 

Thank you for caring about the horses, Elizabeth Forel - Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc. for the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages