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Animal Defenders of Westchester |
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Home Page We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts. Animal Defenders of Westchester |
Letters
Petting Zoo - Horse Wagon MARTINELLI PUBLICATIONS
issues nine weekly newspapers across Westchester, including HOME NEWS AND
TIMES, EASTCHESTER RECORD, HARRISON INDEPENDENT, MT. VERNON INDEPENDENT,
WESTCHESTER CRUSADER and RYE CHRONICLES. This letter, concerning the BID
alert we posted a few days ago, appears in their January 13, 2005 editions:
"I was very distressed to see the photos of the 'winter carnival' held by
the Yonkers Downtown Waterfront Business Improvement District (BID). The
photos showed children putting their hands through the bars of the petting
zoo to touch the animals - and most disturbingly, ONE HORSE pulling a long,
enormous wagon filled with approximately 12 adults and children.
Horses are not slaves; they are living, sentient beings who love their
babies just like we do, though sadly they are frequently mistreated; a horse
like this will be overworked till he is too weak to work anymore, at which
point he will be sent to a slaughterhouse
www.savethehorses.com
, www.savethehorses.org
. And children can fall from these wagons and be injured and
trampled as a result. Petting zoos present several problems to the public, including the
possibility of E Coli contamination, bites, etc., all of which could lead to
costly lawsuits against the city of Yonkers. Animals suffer stress as a
result of these events: they are not watered or fed prior to traveling, and
they are shipped in poor, unheated, windowless conditions. Veterinarians
have reported treating small animals who were trampled by larger animals in
petting zoos, resulting in broken limbs, and sometimes death
www.api4animals.org
. We are calling on Yonkers BID to discontinue any relationship with
traveling animal events; and we implore the public to consider, in addition
to public safety, what such events are like for the animals, what their
lives are like before and afterwards - we ask you to think, really think,
about what you might not otherwise be aware of." Kiley Blackman, spokesperson Letters to the editor: [email protected]
This paper has published several compassion pieces, including
a regular adoption section - and not just items relating to Westchester.
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