Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages

AM-NY  
9/21/07

Protesters demands ban on carriage horses  
By Jefferson Siegel

More than a hundred people turned out Thursday night to protest the treatment of carriage horses on city streets. The vigil was in response to the death of a carriage horse, named Smoothie, who was spooked by the crack of the drum in Central Park and died after running into a tree on Sept. 14. "We will never have human rights until we stop the wholesale exploitation of animals and the environment," Broadway actor Nellie McKay told the gathering. Many in the crowd stood holding candles and sheets of paper with numbers representing the identification codes of horses removed from the carriage business over the past two years, for reasons as diverse as age, injury or infirmity. Lower East Side musician Rebecca Moore stood holding a candle next to the number 3001. "They're not machines," she said as others began lighting candles, "and to expect the horses to be in such a stressful situation all day, with noise, traffic and heat is insane."

Queens Councilman Tony Avella is drafting legislation that would ban carriage horses altogether. "I wouldn't restrict business but here we're talking about torturing animals," he said John Phillips of the League of Humane Voters of NYC echoed a sentiment voiced by many in the crowd. "Horses don't belong on the streets in the 21st Century. Smoothie didn't have to die."