|
A rainy, raw day in the city. There is thus time to catch up to articles, FB posts and even this blog.
.
Of all the animal issues, the one that continues to grasp media attention and spark controversy in New York City is that of the carriage horses. (This despite thousands of cats and dogs killed in city shelters every year, as well as geese slaughtered from city parks and properties.)
.
.
Sometimes, I ask myself this question: Were we living in an ideal world where every domestic horse in America was guaranteed a safe, lifelong and responsible home with "bucolic fields" to romp in, would I still support the horse carriages of NYC?"
.
That is actually a tough question to answer. Maybe or maybe not. While horses standing or romping around a field present a beautiful, bucolic picture, it is not clear to me that horses (anymore than people) enjoy having nothing to do.
.
Certainly in nature, wild horses have plenty to do all the time. They have to constantly forage for enough to eat, they have to guard against predation and seek shelter from extremely hot or frigid weather. If stallions, they fight for leadership, breeding privileges and responsibility to manage the herd. If mares, they have to protect and raise their young. It can be a harsh life, but one that wild horses have adapted to and managed to survive for thousands of years. But, certainly it is not a life where the horses stand around and smell the roses all the time without a care in the world.
.
Some argue that the carriage horses of Central Park "have a miserable life." I don't quite see that -- especially as compared to the challenges to wild horses. Domestic carriage horses have a comparatively easy life that doesn't involve having to forage for food, avoid predators, dealing with extreme weather or fighting for a place in the herd. They do "work" and one imagines there are times (as in human jobs) where a carriage horse may be tired, bored or even mildly stressed. But, the payoffs for the horses are many in terms of proper food, sheltering, relative safety, security and positive interactions with humans.
.
I suppose if having to answer the above question, I might still elect to keep carriage horses in Central Park, but I would want to improve their conditions and care even more than what is apparent now. (Shorter working hours, turnout and pasture time, longer vacations, for examples.)
.
But, all of this is a moot point as the fact is, we do not live in an "ideal world" where all domestic horses in America are guaranteed lifelong, responsible homes. Quite the contrary in fact.
.
As previously noted,155,000 American horses are sent to Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses every year.
.
A grim fact that many anti-carriage folks seem to want to ignore of dismiss.
.
Rather, the anti-carriage people claim there is a "list of waiting homes" for the horses currently clip clopping through Central Park.
.
But, were that so, why are these homes not available for the horses dying now? Or, why do they not exist for the 40,000 horses up for adoption in overburdened horse rescues?
.
I have asked these questions several times on FB pages and newspaper article sites and have yet to get a respectful or illuminating reply from those crusading to add another 220 horses to the huge pool of those already needing and desperate for homes.
.
One has to presume one of two prominent possibilities: Either there is no "list of waiting homes" for the 220 horses or the homes only want the high profile (e.g.."celebrity") horses from our country's most famous park (and the focus of much media attention).
.
There is of course, one more possibility and probably the most likely one: That is, that wealthy organizations like the ASPCA or PETA would pay off horse rescues to take the 220 horses (assuming owners would even sell or hand over the horses to them -- a highly unlikely scenario considering the non-stop, scurrilous attacks against them). But, this outcome would absolutely condemn 220 other horses to slaughter because the rescues would then be unable to save those horses for taking the carriage horses instead!
.
(Picture for example, a game a musical chairs. 220 chairs and 500 horses competing for them. Only in this case, the 280 horses not grabbing the chairs die. What is particularly disturbing is that 220 horses competing for the chairs did not have to play the game in the first place. -- They already had safe placement.)
.
None of the above possibilities is a positive one and thus this is the main reason I support keeping the carriage horses in NYC.
.
These horses are safe, they are beloved and there is even retirement sanctuary set up for those too old or frail to work in other capacity or to be responsibly adopted. https://www.facebook.com/equiculture
.
That we only had such guarantees for all the other horses in America.
.
Instead, there is this:
It is a rainy day in New York City, too. And like the woman posting the above photos, I too lament all the horses without celebrities to champion their cause or zealots to pressure politicians and most of all, without a safe place to go.
.
If I could rescue just one of the horses in the photographs and send to Central Park to work as a carriage horse, I would do so in a heartbeat.
.
Beating and fulfilled hearts is what its all about in the end. -- PCA
.
.
.
********
**********
No comments:
Post a Comment