Activists Jump on Stage During Gala Honoring NYC Horse-Drawn Carriage Drivers
The News
Angered that the preservation group Landmark West was honoring NYC’s horse-drawn carriage trade, animal rights activists disrupted the organization’s gala at Tavern on The Green, a restaurant in Central Park.
In 2006, activists launched a campaign to ban horse-drawn carriages, arguing that they are inherently inhumane and that their operation is especially cruel and dangerous in the congested streets of midtown Manhattan. In 2013, Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio made a campaign pledge to ban horse-drawn carriages, but he failed to deliver on his promise when he took office.
In addition to protesting the horse-drawn carriage trade itself, activists are targeting Mayor de Blasio, demanding that he expend the political capital necessary to deliver on his promise. On September 15th, just a few days after a carriage horse collapsed in midtown, over 200 activists staged a protest at Gracie Mansion, the Mayor’s home, and confronted him as he exited a downtown gala several hours later.
NYC’s horse-drawn carriage operators own approximately 2oo horses. When the horses are not pulling carriages in midtown, they are kept in small stalls in former warehouses or garages in Hell’s Kitchen, a neighborhood on the far West Side of Manhattan.
Your Turn
Please contact Landmark West to let the organization know how you feel about its decision to honor NYC’s inhumane horse-drawn carriage trade by posting a comment on its Facebook page and/or retweeting this tweet.
Hey Thanks & Keep up the good work. I always yell at those assholes with the carriages in Boston when I see them, usually with my friends near by asking me not to make a scene but we have to speak up. I don’t think we are going to change the drivers minds but maybe the people riding in the carriage will think twice. I also volunteer every Saturday at maplefarmsanctuary.org to do my part. Keep up the fight!
Fellow Veghead in Mass
Ryan
Thank you to Donny and all the amazing activists for using one of the best tools (the film Earthlings) to educate the public about the suffering they are unknowingly contributing to. As humans, we have an uncanny capacity for compartmentalization and denial. Persistent exposure to reality will help people connect the dots. Thank you for planting seeds of compassion and for watering them throughout the year!
A number of years ago I was speaking to a carriage horse driver and he said quite matter of factly, “horses need to be beaten.”
That told me all I needed yo know about this so called “industry”.