Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages

An Offer for Stable’s Horses, but Not the Stable     
NY Times - 5/21/10     
By BAO ONG     

As a family-operated carriage-horse stable in Hell’s Kitchen scrambled to fend off eviction from the city, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and another nonprofit stepped forward to offer to find homes for the horses — outside of the horse-carriage industry.    

No thanks, said Colm McKeever, one of the brothers who owns the stable, Shamrock Stables, at 522 West 45th Street. “First of all, our intention is to stay in business,” he said.    

The A.S.P.C.A. and New Yorkers for Clean, Livable & Safe Streets said Friday that they would work with Shamrock and the city to “find homes for these horses, taking them off the streets and placing them in environments that have their interests at heart.”    

“This option puts the welfare of the horses first and prevents them from being auctioned off to work farms or where the possibility for exploitation and inhumane treatment is high,” the groups wrote in a joint statement. The A.S.P.C.A. and other animal rights groups have for years claimed that the horses should be prohibited from dwelling in the city.

 A spokeswoman for the stable, Carolyn Daly, said: “This is like someone losing their job, and the first thing they offer as a solution is taking your children. The children aren’t for sale and neither are the horses.”

Shamrock, one of five carriage-horse stables in New York, faces eviction in mid-June as the city moves forward with plans to demolish the  building to make room for a luxury and moderately priced housing development that includes a new school, stores and open space.

To honor
Bobby II Freedom
previously known as Billy
ID# 2873 rescued by the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages and Equine Advocates on June 25, 2010 from the New Holland auctions.

In memory of
Lilly Rose O'Reilly
previously known
as Dada ID# 2711
R.I.P.August, 2007