On Sunday morning, a carriage horse escaped from his handler and fled down 11th Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Police officers chased the spooked horse in vehicles with flashing lights, which could have made him even more frantic. If the incident had taken place at a busier time, the horse could have easily crashed into a moving car, which has happened many times in the past when horses break free in midtown.

The fleeing horse is symbolic of an industry out of control since the ASPCA relinquished its humane law enforcement duties in January. On Friday, The Daily News published a letter about the chaos written by Elizabeth Forel, president of the Coalition to Ban Horse-drawn Carriages:

Because horses are flight animals, many have spooked and fled frantically down NYC streets. In  The blinders that curb their vision can only block some of the stimuli. In 2007, a horse named Smoothie who fled after being spooked by drums crashed and died on 59th St.

Smoothie spooked and died on 59th St.

Because horses spook unexpectedly, little footage exists. A wedding photographer in St. Louis, however, did capture a horse who fled with a carriage when revelers set off sparklers (1:07)

While waiting for NYC Mayor de Blasio to fulfill his campaign promise to take the horses off the streets, activists continue to advocate on their behalf. On Wednesday, NYCLASS is hosting a lobby day at City Hall “to urge Council Members to support the Mayor’s efforts to end the unsafe and inhumane carriage horse industry.”

On Thursday, the organization is staging a protest in front of lawmakers’ offices in memory of Charlie, a carriage horse who fell to the ground and died on the street.

RIP Charlie

On Sunday, the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages is staging a protest on 59th Street, where the carriage drivers line up to wait for customers.

If you live in NYC, please join NY-CLASS in its efforts to rally support at City Hall for the Mayor’s plan to ban horse-drawn carriages. If you live elsewhere, please sign their petition to ban horse-drawn carriages from the streets of midtown Manhattan.

To learn more about the issue and keep apprised of news related to the movement to ban the industry, please subscribe to the weekly newsletter of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages by sending an email to coalition@banhdc.org.

Watch the award-winning documentary film BLINDERS: The Truth Behind the Tradition.

Persistence pays. After years of exposing the barbarism of live pigeon shoots in social media and in TV commercials, the U.S.-based animal protection group SHARK (Showing Animals Kindness & Respect) has scored a major victory.

In a statement released on Thursday, SHARK announced that “Pennsylvania’s Senate voted overwhelmingly to ban live pigeon shoots in the state. SHARK president Steve Hindi said, “We are pleased that the will of the people has finally prevailed over the cruelty of the National Rifle Association (NRA).”

https://youtu.be/dKZWfpjqeKA

Here’s the catch: the NRA and the PA Flyers Association (the local hunting lobby) have donated thousands of dollars to members of the state House of Representatives, which has yet to vote on the bill. In addition, the Flyers Association is asking supporters to urge their state legislators “to protect Pennsylvania’s rich hunting traditions by opposing any attempts by radical and deceptive groups to outlaw hunting.”

On September 5th, U.S. Senator James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, hosted a pigeon shooting party to raise funds for his re-election campaign. In spite of the Senator’s efforts to keep out animal rights activists, an undercover investigator from SHARK infiltrated the event and took damning close-up footage of the hunt. Now, SHARK is publicly exposing the sponsors of the event, which will assuredly deter other companies and individuals from supporting future hunting events.

More than any other organization in the United States, SHARK has exposed the utter brutality of canned hunts, rodeos and other animal abusing contests disguised as sporting events.

Rodeo (photo: SHARK)

If you live in PA, please contact your state representative and urge him or her to vote in support of the bill to ban the pigeon shoot.

Please share these videos and take a moment to learn about and support the critically important work done only by SHARK to protect animals who are tormented and killed in the name of sport.

Tis the season to sacrifice animals for God, and activists around the world are rallying on behalf of the victims. Their protests are peaceful, and their message is simple: “Scripture doesn’t mandate sacrifice. Please use an alternative to animals.”

During the Gadhimai festival in Nepal, which takes place once every five years, Hindus slaughter about 500,000 animals, including buffalo, pigs, goats, chickens and pigeons. The sacrifice is made in honor of Gadhimai, the goddess of power, who “brings prosperity” to those who participate.

Gadhimai Festival (photo: Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Animal Welfare Network Nepal, which staged a 50 person protest in Kathmandu on Sunday in advance of the mass animal slaughter, said, “We want to show that religious activities can be carried out without causing harm to animals.” According to the group, activists protested the festival in 24 countries. In the following video, one practitioner says, “I am praying to Gadhimai that my name becomes big in the engineering field.”

During Bakra Eid (Festival of the Sacrifice) on October 4th and 5th, Muslims slaughtered cows, camels, goats, sheep and rams  to honor Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son to God.

In India, a Muslim woman from PETA, who promoted vegetarianism near the site of the slaughter, was mobbed by angry worshippers and arrested for “outraging religious feelings.” Dozens of media outlets reported on the incident, which brought her message of peace into millions of homes around the world.

Peaceful protester attacked for promoting vegetarianism

Before Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, some sects of ultra-orthodox Jews transfer their sins to chickens by swinging them around their heads and slaughtering them. Protests in Brooklyn, where over 70,000 of hungry, dehydrated and weak chickens are killed each year, received international media attention.

In all three religions, practitioners invoke the name of God while killing her creatures. Attempting to counter “God said we should do this” with messages about compassion feels like a losing battle, but raising awareness, lobbying decision makers and shining an international spotlight on the abuse will slowly chip away at these barbaric religious rituals.

Please sign the following Change.org petitions:

1. Petition to stop animal sacrifice at the Gadhimai festival in Nepal

2. Petition to urge enforcement of laws being broken by Kaporos (chicken swinging) practitioners in New York

Though severely injured, a three year old boy who fell into the jaguar pit at an Arkansas zoo on Friday managed to escape. The jaguars, however, weren’t as lucky.

Arkansas Zoo

Following is video animation of the incident, starting with the boy’s grandfather placing him on the railing from which he fell:

https://youtu.be/wfwu7jGQfzw

Just 18 days earlier, a man in India fell into the tiger exhibit at the New Delhi Zoo and died after being dragged away and attacked by the tiger shown in the photo below.

Both of these tragic accidents could have be avoided if the big cats weren’t being held captive in the first place.

Jaguars live primarily in the jungles and wetlands of Central and South South America. One jaguar is thought to remain in the Southwestern United States. In the wild, they carve out and mark their territories; they hunt; and they raise their young.

Zoos enclosures, such as “the pit” in Arkansas, cannot possibly meet jaguars’ instinctual needs.

Zoos are cruel, exploitive and unnecessary. They teach children that kidnapping and holding others captive are acceptable behaviors. Learn more about why holding animals captive in zoos is cruel. And take action.

It takes place once a year in Spain, and it’s one of the most sadistic traditions on earth. It’s not the running of the bulls, where thrill seekers chase terrified bulls down the street. And it’s not a bullfight, where matadors torment bulls before stabbing them to death in front of a cheering  crowd. This event, which takes place in the town of Medinaceli during the second week of November, is called Toro Del Fuego — Bull of Fire.

During the Toro Del Fuego, also known as Toro Jubilo (jubilant bull), participants drag a bull through the streets, insert balls of turpentine and sulfur into his horns and set the balls on fire. The frantic bull is released in the town square where he smashes his horns against the walls in an attempt to douse the bonfire on his head. Bulls who don’t die during during ritual are slaughtered for meat when it’s over.

The “festival” dates back 400 years, but it was banned for 15 years in the 60’s and 70s’ on the grounds of animal cruelty. Participants defend the festival, saying that the animals don’t suffer.

Listening to the bulls wail in agony is every bit as difficult as watching their desperate attempts to douse the fire that engulfs them. Please sign on to the letter to the Pope asking him to speak out and to the petition to the officials in the region of Spain where the festival is held.