pspan style=”font-size:14px;”strongThe Dark Horse in the New York Mayoral Race/strong/span/ppspan style=”font-size:14px;”img alt=”” src=”/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/horse_carriage_1_0.jpg” style=”width: 300px; height: 200px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: right;” /Counterpunch.org. published an in depth article featuring Friends of Animals efforts of a ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City and support for placing the horses in appropriate sanctuaries. nbsp;Highlighted in the article is the fact that horse-drawn carriages have become an important issue in the upcoming New York City Mayoral Racemdash;some candidates are outspoken in favor of a ban, while others are defiant supporters of the carriage horse industry./span/ppspan style=”font-size:14px;”Manhattanrsquo;s carriage horses, immortalized bynbsp;em style=”font-size: 14px;”Sex in the City/emnbsp;episodes, may charm tourists but they do not lead charmed lives. Thenbsp;2011 death of carriage horse, Charlie, as he pulled a carriage, is only one disturbing event say opponents. In 2006, a carriage horse named ldquo;Smoothierdquo; was euthanized after an accident says Edita Birnkrant, New York director of Friends Of Animals. Many incidents of animals collapsing and dying go unrecorded, especially if they occur out of public sight in the stables, she says./span/pp style=”margin-left: 40px;”span style=”font-size:14px;”AUGUST 28, 2013/span/pp style=”margin-left: 40px;”span style=”font-size:16px;”strongcounterpunch/strong/span/ph4 style=”margin-left: 40px;”span style=”font-size:14px;”span style=”color:#4b0082;”The Carriage Horse Debate/span/span/h4h4 style=”margin-left: 40px;”span style=”font-size:14px;”span style=”color:#4b0082;”The Dark Horse in the New York Mayoral Race/span/span/h4div style=”margin-left: 80px;”span style=”font-size:12px;”by ROBERT WILBUR AND MARTHA ROSENBERG/span/divdiv style=”margin-left: 40px;”nbsp;/divdiv style=”margin-left: 40px;”span style=”font-size:14px;”Reports of Democratic mayoral candidate Anthony Weinerrsquo;s sexting recidivism have vaulted Democrat Christine C. Quinn into the front-runner position. Quinn, currently speaker of the New York City Council, is running against Weiner, New York City Publichorses./span/divdiv style=”margin-left: 40px;”nbsp;/divdiv style=”margin-left: 40px;”span style=”font-size:14px;”nbsp;Advocate Bill de Blasio, former New York City comptroller William C Thompson Jr. and others in the September 10 Democratic primary. But even though Quinn is an out lesbian and has significant feminist and LGBT support, especially as the only woman Democratic candidate in a sea of male sex scandals, there could be a dark horse in the primary known as New York Cityrsquo;s carriage horses. nbsp;a href=”http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/08/28/the-dark-horse-in-the-new-york-mayoral-race/”Read more…/a/span/divdivnbsp;/divdivspan style=”font-size:14px;”strongWhat You Can Do:/strong/span/divdivnbsp;/divdivspan style=”font-size:14px;”Friends of Animals helped draft and strongly supports the NY State legislation currently pending, introduced by Senator Tony Avella and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal that would ban horse-drawn carriage in New York City and let the horses live the rest of their lives in peace in sanctuaries./span/divdivnbsp;/divdivspan style=”font-size:14px;”If you are a New York State resident, ask your Senator and Assemblymember to support the ban on horse-drawn carriages by signing on to either S667 (Senate bill) or A997 (Assembly bill). nbsp; nbsp;If you live in another area that has horse-drawn carriages, be sure to contact your city and state officials and voice your support for an end to the antiquated, unsafe and inhumane carriage horse industry. nbsp;/span/divdivnbsp;/divdivspan style=”font-size:14px;”For more information about Friends of Animalsrsquo; carriage horse campaign, contact New York Director Edita Birnkrant at 212.247.8120 or a href=”mailto:edita@friendsofanimals.org ?subject=horse%20carriages%20–%20counterpunch”email/a./span/divdivnbsp;/div