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Breaking news in NYC today is that Mayor deBlasio is pushing to introduce a bill in the City Council next week that would effectively ban carriage horses by 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/nyregion/mayor-de-blasio-unveiling-bill-to-ban-horse-drawn-carriages.html?_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/nyregion/mayor-de-blasio-unveiling-bill-to-ban-horse-drawn-carriages.html?_r=0
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It is hard to imagine any thinking, caring City Councilperson supporting such destructive and ill-thought legislation.
Legislation that would literally put hundreds of people out of work from carriage drivers, to stable hands, to groomers, to grain and hay suppliers, to farriers to even the Mexican lady selling bunches of carrots to carriage drivers each day. Legislation that would rob 220 beautiful, loved and highly proficient carriage horses of their homes and jobs and place them in the "horses needing rescue" pool -- a pool that is already overburdened and unable to find placement for the 140,000 horses sent to slaughter each year.
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It is more than obvious that this so-called, "Animal Rights" measure is not about horses or animal protection at all, but rather land grab of the lucrative real estate the horse stables currently sit on. Land that in just a few years can be transformed into multi-million dollar condos for rich celebrities and oil moguls from the Middle East.
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Why else would a mayor who cares nothing of animals and would not even allow pets in the house he is currently renting out, become so invested (literally) in so-called, "Animal Welfare" legislation? Could it be the millions of dollars spent to defeat Quinn last year and donated to deBlasio's campaign, most of which was from rich real estate interests?
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One has got to be hopelessly naive to believe for a moment that this proposed legislation is about any kind of "horse welfare" as it will ultimately be the horses who suffer most as their fate is literally cast to the wind and left to chance. (At least humans can apply for Unemployment benefits and food stamps.-- Horses can't.) Reality is that the city cannot legally "seize" animals unless there is concrete evidence of abuse and neglect --which is non-existent in the case of the carriage horses who, on the contrary, are extremely well cared for.
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Even more significantly, thousands of horses will ultimately be trucked to Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses for not having easy Central Park jobs to come to in the future. Though some like to believe that horses without jobs have limitless "bucolic fields" to romp and roam, the realities are quite different. Where are those "bucolic fields" for the 3,000 horses currently going to slaughter every week in this country? Horses are expensive animals to care for and maintain properly.
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In essence, the proposed legislation is extremely destructive to horses, humans, the city (in terms of 19 million tourist dollars a year) and perhaps most of all to Animal Rights as a legitimate and credible cause.
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Certainly, Animal Rights has lost a great deal of credibility to this New Yorker who for more than 30 years was one of the cause's most avid supporters.
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It's indeed tragic and unpardonable that as a species, we would show so little gratitude and appreciation to the very animals who helped to build this city as to crusade for their banishment and ultimate destruction.
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Cancel my subscription to "Animal Rights" as this was the issue so many chose to hang their hat on.
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I do not wish to banish any animals from my city, my park or my life. -- PCA
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