Resources and information to help end abusive horse-drawn carriage businesses.
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn
Carriages
September 2018
The deBlasio administration recently announced a big win for the NYC carriage horses that will not help the horses.
WHAT CAN YOU DO:
The deBlasio administration recently announced a "big win" for the NYC
carriage horses in proposing the relocation of the hack line on Central Park
South to five locations within Central Park. Some people are unfortunately
buying this alternative reality and I can only conclude that they do not
have or care to have the facts.
Have our standards fallen so low that we laud the proposal to move the hack
lines into Central Park as a great achievement? are we so desperate for
crumbs that we cheer? This is a disingenuous proposal by the Mayor to once
again try to pull the wool over your eyes. Please rely on real statistics
and facts - not hyperbole.
PLEASE NOTE THIS:
ACCIDENTS
Carriage drivers are not required to report accidents. So
unless the public knows about it and gets the NYPD and/or media involved -
it never happened. It is to a carriage driver's benefit not to report an
accident that will hurt the reputation of the trade.
ACCIDENT STATISTICS:
We have recorded 103 accidents since 1982. 19 of those have been at or
near the hackline that is proposed to be relocated. But 14 of them happened
in Central Park. The balance of 70 happened around the city in different
areas. The accidents were typical - horses spooking, collapsing, crashing
into something or being crashed into; dead horses. You may see the list on
our blog. See
NYC CARRIAGE HORSE ACCIDENTS - THE HARSH TRUTH - 103 ACCIDENTS -- 23 HORSE
DEATHS
Statistics do not bear out the claim that it is safer to move the carriages
into the park.
DISINGENUOUS PROPOSAL:
This is another case of Alternative Facts by the de Blasio administration
via the Department of Transportation. The relocation of the hack line to
five different places in Central Park is meant to deceive unquestioning
people into believing that the carriages will be off the streets and mixing
with cars and they will get a respite in the tree-lined park. This is
simply not true. I wonder if the horses look at the green grass in Central
Park and wish they were free so they could graze or roll on the grass or
back up to a tree to scratch their rump. Instead, they will continue between
the shafts of their carriages pulling tourists in extreme weather
conditions, working 9 hours a day, 7 days a week. What we as a society do to
these animals in the name of frivolous entertainment is despicable and casts
a dark shadow on this city. We support a ban or nothing. But we still ask
for honest answers to our questions regarding this new proposal.
LAWS NOT ENFORCED:
Most of the street laws are not enforced including the ones about leaving horses unattended and untethered (very dangerous) and giving them 15 minute breaks every two hours. If the deBlasio administration had the good faith to try to enforce the existing regulations, it would be even more difficult to enforce in five different locations.
WHAT CAN YOU DO:
Return to:
Articles
Return to: Stop Horse Drawn Carriages
Return to: Campaigns
Return to: Animal Rights Activism