Friends of Animals Valentine’s Day Horse Rally Rouses New York
By Edita Birnkrant
The posters could be seen from afar, heart shaped, bright-red and bold, urging passersby:
Have a Heart; Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
Don’t Break Cupid’s Heart; Say NO to Carriage Rides
Our calls rose above the traffic and horns of midtown Manhattan: Ban carriage horses, there’s no excuse for horse abuse!
This Valentine’s day, tourists, families, New Yorkers on their lunch breaks, and couples heading for a stroll in Central Park were greeted by Friends of Animals supporters and horse advocates who lined a Manhattan block at Central Park South, the pick-up spot for horse-drawn carriage customers.
People cheered, gladly taking our pink flyers which asked New Yorkers to support Tony Avella’s pending bill to ban horse-drawn carriages, and which urged readers to boycott the exploitative industry.
Helping us gain even more attention from the public was the horse-drawn carriage industry’s counter-protest of our rally. This handful of people came ill-prepared with hastily scrawled signs opposing a different animal-advocacy group - whoops! They shouted obscenities, threats, and became physically aggressive. Parents with small children had to endure the stream of obscenities that a counter-protester relentlessly spewed. When these parents objected to the language, the industry rep became even more hostile, and called them “retards.”
In contrast, Friends of Animals and our advocates were energetic yet dignified and respectful, and the public took note. The parents vocalized their support for the ban, and thanked us for being there. We received a stream of smiles, and the counter-protest was moved away by the police.
Nancy Rice, Outreach Coordinator for FoA, recalled a particularly memorable moment at the rally.
“Two men stopped on the corner, each one taking a flyer from me. A carriage went past us and one man said to me ‘the horses look different to me now’ and went on to say that he’s lived in New York City his entire life and didn’t think much about them, other than they’ve always been there. He thanked me.”
It was an inspiring day as our gathering of supporters called for justice for the horses, in the face of a blunt backlash from the industry that exploits them. It’s easy to stand strong and proud when your cause is one of respect and dignity for animals who have no other way to demand it. We watched as the occasional carriage pulled by a horse clomped by with passengers, and we envisioned the day that these horses would be in sanctuaries instead of between the shackles of their carriages, forced into a brutal existence that only ends with death. Watching the faces of the passengers in the carriages who rode by us, taking in our posters, our chants, our passion, I thought: It’s a Valentine’s Day they’ll remember forever.
New York Times coverage of our rally.
We are at a crucial point in our campaign to ban horse-drawn carriages. Support is building for Council Member Tony Avella’s historic bill to ban the carriage horse industry. Other international cities such as Paris, London, Toronto and Bejing, along with many US cities, have banned horse-drawn carriages.
Please help us to add New York City to the list by writing or calling your Council Member and urging them to co-sponsor Tony Avella’s legislation: Intro 658. To find your council member, all 311, or go to www.council.nyc.gov. Non-New Yorkers can call 311 and leave a message for Mayor Bloomberg.
Post your comment
Comment Guidelines: We welcome your expressions of opinion on this subject. Please avoid false commentary about individuals or groups. Facts must be verified by the person posting. Off-topic comments, and comments inappropriate for a readership of all ages, may be deleted. E-mail addresses will never be published. Only comments with valid e-mail address will be published.
9 Comments
On February 18, 2008, Rich B wrote:
While I’m sympathetic with your concerns about abuses in the horse carriage industry, shutting them down completely isn’t a step in the right direction. If your goal is to insure that these magnificent animals have a decent and humane life than focus on that while still keeping the carriages going. I think you underestimate the importance of their presence to the public and basically are looking for a quick fix which in this situation isn’t the best solution.
Fair treatment of the horses,the publics awareness of that is in my opinion better for your cause and is a win win situation for everyone involved including the horses.
[Blog editors’ note: Getting back to fair would mean leaving horses wild and free on public lands — not privatizing them. Once they’re in the system of ownership the best we can do is to take them out of commerce — off the streets of NYC and onto sanctuary lands. That’s the laudable goal. ]
On February 21, 2008, lisa wrote:
There are laws to make sure they are not abused and I don’t see it as that bad though it would be better for them to loving homes it is not as bad as the dog meat market in China or puppy mills or seal hunting the horses just have to pull caridges.
On February 22, 2008, Edita Birnkrant wrote:
Lisa,
The NYC Comptroller’s office performed an audit of the horse-drawn carriage industry, and one of the many things revealed was that there is a major failure in the oversight of the horses by the agencies assigned to oversee them, resulting in lack of veterinary care and infrequent inspections. The ASPCA, the organization responsible for enforcing so-called humane laws for the horses , finally claims it fully supports the ban, and has stated that there is no way for this industry to operate humanely in NYC.
It’s not “just that the horses have to pull carriages,” but that they are exposed to a litany of conditions and environments that are hostile, dangerous, and unnatural for them, resulting in a life of misery.
It’s unfair to pit one form of animal exploitation or harm against another and deem it inferior.
Puppy mills, dog markets, seal hunting, and horse-drawn carriages all need to end. For each individual animal stuck in a cycle of suffering and death, there is no measure of better or worse.
We can do our part by rejecting all forms of animal exploitation — by allowing other animals the same respect we give ourselves.
On February 25, 2008, Anita Gerami wrote:
As the owner of the largest fleet of horse drawn carriages and a stable owner, I feel that there are many well meaning horse lovers fogged by the myths of these horses being mistreated. There is no possible way to reasonably think these horses are anywhere in the condition that these extremists say they are. The health dept does many street inspections and stable inspections as well as the nyc mounted police and aspca, there is no way they would even allow these horses to work if they were actually in the condition these activists claim. If anybody wanted to see our monthy feed bills for hay, grain, supplements, salt bricks, bedding, shavings this would prove the amount spent to properly care for our horses. Oh yes almost forgot the equine dental vist and vet bills too.
FoA comments:
Even giving them the best treatment, does not justify the enslavement of another being — not for your financial profit nor for your entertainment and recreation.
Whether these horses are getting the best treatment is certainly open to question — despite your denials, but ending the exploitation of these horses is why horse carriage rides must be banned.
On February 26, 2008, Anita Gerami wrote:
That very statment ”that even if the horses had the best treatment”you still wouldn’t be satisified with having horses working,so to really debate this issue falls on deaf ears to foa.Its funny that as Pink states she isn’t afer the police horses yet,they will be targeted i suppose since they too in your eyes”are enslaved” as well.Horses have built this city as many others and enhances every city they arein,Philadelphia is no different,Boston is no different,we have rules and regulations,and guidelines to follow.Speaking for my stable and my 20+plus horses and staff,I go way beyond what is asked by law to ensure my horses health and wealfare.Even though i don’t have to justify my policies to this website or anybody else,my reputation stands for itself,which i am very proud of.We are Blessed enough to live in a Country where we can agree to disagree,it is wrong to be accused of ”abuse” or mistreatment,cause some people are against working animals,and i [as many other carriage companies across the usa] choose to have a business that includes horses.Even though its not as ”media grabbing”,its more moral to say ”you don’t like working horses”,if thats your opinion,as unless you want to get a hoof # and actually accuse somebody,you should make the claim of your opinion rather than accuse.
On February 26, 2008, Lee Hall of Friends of Animals wrote:
I’m not really too familiar with Pink or what Pink has said; this person is not involved in the Friends of Animals campaign and doesn’t speak for it. I believe this person arrived on the scene once the carriage trade became a public issue. In any case, from what you say here, Pink sounds inconsistent. Although the issue before us is the carriage industry (a particularly frivolous custom in 21st century New York City, surely you’d agree?), horses do not belong in situations where they are made to carry out human wars or crowd control either.
On March 1, 2008, Future Equine Vet wrote:
For everyone that is against the horse-carraige industry, I would just like to know this… how many of you are true horse lovers? Have ever ridden a horse? Or been around them more than just watching them walk by you? I’m guessing not very many, because if you had you would know that horses often enjoy their jobs, and in your ingnorance you may say there is no way that is possible, but you wouldn’t know unless you’ve been a part of the horse industry. Horses and humans hold a unique bond in which the human must be the dominant being. This is what horses are used to… even in a herd of wild horses there is a herd hierarchy and the stallion and boss mare push all the others around and tell them what to do. There isn’t even equality within the species and you’re trying to say that horses and people should be equal? Also, do you know the history of the horse? If you do, you know that there would be no America as we know it today without them. They were used in agriculture, transportation, firehouses, police forces, wars, manufacturing industries of all kinds, and the list can go on and on. The horse has been domesticated since 4000 B.C. and you’re saying that we should just stop using them after everything they went through with human beings? That my friends is ignorance. And what do you propose we do with every horse that is in the carraige business? And if you’re against the carraige business, then you’re probably against racing and showing and the police force, movie industry, and well, if you want humans and horses to be equal and horses to be free then yes, you would even be against pleasure trail riding and ranch horses. So we would have to stop using all of these horses, which by the way is a total of about 7 or 8 million just in America, and is a total of over 54 million in the world. So should we start tearing down homes and building pastureland so we can turn these millions of horses out in “sanctuaries” where it would be impossible to maintain an adequate living conditon for them? Or maybe you’d actually say we should turn them out in the wild after thousands of years of domestication and breeding for favored traits, like desensitiviy of stimulus, and loss of adequate instincts to survive. Not to mention that since our world is so populated that horses in the wild would become known as pests and people would start shooting them like in Australia or hunting them like before domestication, and I’m guessing you’d be against that too. Oh yes, that would be so much less cruel. I’d just like to say that I’m a horse admirer and have been around and worked with and observed the horse all my life and it is really brave of you all to try to eradicate the horse’s involvement in modern civilization when it was the horse himself and his unique and strong bond with human beings that created the modern civilization. I think you may need to go learn a bit more about what you all are fighting against and come up with a reasonable plan before you start having a movement for it.
FoA comments:
I happen to know horses. But I have always known them as friends and not exploited them for commercial or recreational use. I have seen them in the fields with their own family and friends living a life that is denied carriage horses. You know horses? Horses enjoy running free and playing with each other — something carriage horses cannot do.
And please don’t blame horses for creating modern civilization. That was done by humans at the expense of horses and other free-living animals.
On March 18, 2008, Carrie Sprague wrote:
It is a known fact that horses need to exercize or they become moody and their muscels cramp and they get really hungry. So is it ok with you if I show horses or ride one in a rodeo? These are companions but they are being used for enterainment and sport value. Will you target those areas to?
[Blog editors’note: What don’t you understand
about leaving horses alone on public lands? Once they’re rounded-up and privatized, they’re left at our disposal. Then we hear a host of excuses about why horses should be kept under human control. It’s all nonsense.]
On March 28, 2009, kirsten martin wrote:
hey i’m kirsten and 11 who loves horses so freaking much id die for one. it’s a true story too.my mom and i adore horses and fully support what youve been protesting about and i for one fully agree!