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| Yes | 39% | 235 votes | Total: 596 votes | |
| No | 61% | 361 votes |
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Add to FavoritesCarriage-drawn horses should absolutely be banned. Not just in US cirties, but everywhere. The amount of suffering and abuse that these once majestic creatures endure daily is tremendous animal abuse, which sadly, the public mostly is unaware of.
Go to www.equineadvocates. com to read about and see photos about what horses face daily schlepping tourists (mostly) around. The MYTH is that this is supposed to be so "romantic" for the person sitting in the carriage. But at what cost to the poor horse that has to stand in the hot sun daily (or freezing NYC winters) waiting for "a ride."
The horse sometimes has to pull up to as many as nine-people (leaving huge welts and scars from the harness on the horse's bodies); the horse has to breathe exhaust fumes from cars spewing toxic fumes right in its face; it suffers the whip from the stupid insensitive driver who is too lazy to find another living that doesn't abuse a living creature; the horse is honked at and spooked by cars whizzing past it (horses have even been hit by cars and buses). If the horse steps on an electrified NYC manhole cover, it gets electric shocks as well.
If the horse survives the trip, tired and exhausted, and some are just skin and bones - they get no water, no shade and on a "good day" for the driver, get more rides, more of the same abuse., long hours, days on end.
And so it goes, day in and out until the poor beautiful animal collapses or is about to - or is taken to a slaughterhouse to be mercilessly tortured again, slaughtered to feed either people or dogs and it's hoofs used as glue.
I used to live in NYC and it always disturbed me to see how terribly sad these horses looked. Horses suffer the worse abuse of any group of domestic animals and we humans are to blame for not being mad as hell about it. This horrendous treatment of horses needs to stop.
Many countries that care more about LIFE than about MONEY have already banned horse-drawn carriages. These cities are: London, Paris, Toronto and even (surprisingly) Beijing. But not this country, where the dollar bill rules. This is a sickening fact about our materialistic values.
Please support wild horses - they are part of the heritage and beauty of North America. By supporting wild horses, you will not allow them to be taken out of their natural habitat to be mercilessly tortured by humans. Please support and THANK Congressman Nick Rahall (VW) HR 297 and S576 (Robert Byrd) - the most sensitive Congress people in office, regarding horse's rights.
Protest the inhumane treatment of carriage horses to: Henry Reid (Senate Minority Leader); John Ensign - both of these men pushed for the terrible Burns Amendment that is very inhumane against horses. Call Conrad Burns (202) 224-2614 whose Amendment will hurt all wild herds.
Protest also to Kathleen Clarke, Dir. of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) by emailing her - Kathleen_Clarke@blm. gov to tell that you strongly support the reinstatement protection for wild horses and burros. Tell her that that horses deserve HUMANE treatment.
President@ WhiteHouse.gov; Tom Delay, House Majority Leader; Nancy Pelosi; and Bill Frist. Contact your state Congress people and email them this website: www.equineadvocates. com
Want to give people a thrilling ride? Have cities purchase electric cars and let that be "the new ride."
Please have a conscience and BOYCOTT ALL HORSE-DRAWN carriage rides. Thank you.
Learn more about this author, Gloria Allen.
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No
When people talk about a blanket, all-inclusive ban on anything, it often is the result of their not having considered every aspect or occasion of whatever it is they want to ban. Horse-drawn carriages, in Central Park, for instance, represent only one instance of conveyance by that method.
Living in a small village in Upstate NY, I am accustomed to seeing the Amish horse-drawn carriages on country roads and sometimes waiting in the parking lots at grocery stores or other places of business within city limits.
The Amish have been in this area for about five decades, and although I don't know many of them personally there are some generalizations that I think it's fair to make about them as a subculture in agrarian areas. One of these is that they treat the land with respect and know more than most folks about how to raise food on it, in harmony with environmental concerns. As for the horses that draw their carriages, they give every appearance of being well-cared-for, healthy, sleek, and well-fed. Like most things in Amish life, those horses have a purpose and are valued for the work they do. As such, they have the respect of their owners. I have never seen an Amish person behave abusively toward the animals. And although the animals probably are not treated as pets, they certainly get affection as well as signs of approval and appreciation.
This is just one instance of horse-drawn carriages being reasonable partnerships between humans and these beautiful, intelligent and all-round admirable animals. To ban horse-drawn carriages from all US cities would be to impose an unreasonable prohibition on a way of life that an entire culture of people has found beneficial, and that the rest of us have no right to condemn.
I wholeheartedly concur with everyone who says that horses, like all other animals, should be treated with kindness, compassion, and respect. THESE are the kinds of laws that should be made, and strictly enforced. Anyone guilty of cruelty to animals should be punished in a way that has to be taken very seriously. If the horses that pull carriages in Central Park are ill-treated (which I do not doubt, considering the numbers who have spoken out on their behalf) it is shocking and disgusting.
There can be nothing romantic about anything involving acts of cruelty to animals. If the business of taking people about in these carriages cannot be made profitable without depriving the horses of healthy lives, chances to run free, and other loving attention, then it is simply not a viable business. The fact that something is a tradition does not justify any heinous action that it may depend upon in order to continue.
On the other hand, I must reiterate that before a ban is written into law we must consider the ramifications and consequences it may have. The issue should be studied so that the law, when it is written, serves to deal with what is really at issue. For instance, the fact that there have been tragic shootings in American schools, cannot be dealt with by banning schools. Banning certain weapons might be useful if done after careful consideration, and then strictly enforced. More effective, however, would be a society that pays more careful attention to the signs that a youngster feels he has been pushed beyond endurance in one way or another, whether or not that perception seems reasonable to others who know him.
In other words, when passing laws that restrict our freedoms we must first carefully consider whether the law is targeted to treat the source of the problem, or is just a reactionary impulse to impose blanket restrictions without a thoughtful examination of what is actually wrong.
Learn more about this author, Angelica Weathersby.
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