Based on the dozen or more police officers and private security guards stationed at his Upper West Side home, New York Blood Center (NYBC) board member Michael Hodin must have been expecting an armed invasion. What he got instead was a group of 20 peaceful demonstrators who merely asked that he reinstate funding for the 66 chimpanzees abandoned by NYBC on islands in Liberia with no food or water.

Hodin, who has not responded to any of the letters or phone calls asking that he and his colleagues at NYBC take responsibility for their chimps, is a Managing Parter at the High Lantern Group and the CEO of the Global Coalition on Aging. During the protest, participants noted the irony of an advocate for the aging leaving elderly and dependent chimps to die.

At least a dozen police officers and private security guards were stationed inside and outside of Michael Hodin’s exclusive Upper West Side apartment building.

Mr. Hodin’s neighbors, several of whom acknowledged knowing him, and other area residents were appalled to learn that he played a role in leaving chimpanzees to die.

Michael Hodin’s neighbors react to the news that he abandoned chimpanzees with no food or water.

After conducting experiments on several hundred chimpanzees for 30 years at a laboratory in Liberia (West Africa), NYBC promised to provide the survivors with lifelong care. In May, 2015, the NY Times reported that NYBC executives decided to walk away from its $25,000 monthly obligation, arguing that the government of Liberia and animal advocacy groups should pay for the long-term care of the chimps. To date, NYBC has earned an estimated $500 million in royalties off of the research conducted on the chimps.

Activists use memes to educate the public about NY Blood Center board members’ moral crimes.

Grassroots activists working on the campaign to pressure NYBC into fulfilling its promise to care for their chimps say they intend to stage protests at the homes and offices of Michael Hodin and former NYBC board member Laurie Glimcher before expanding the campaign to other board members. A third protest at the Oakland office of  NYBC board member Owen Garrick is scheduled in March.

Several protest participants at the entrance to Michael Hodin’s exclusive Upper West Side home

Please join the Facebook page: New York Blood Center: Do the Right Thing to stay apprised of news and to participate in online actions to pressure NYBC executives and board members to fulfill their promise to provide lifelong care to their laboratory chimps.

In a weekend of protests dubbed #StormSkansa, animal rights activists from across the country travelled to New York to stage massive protests at home and office of Richard Cavallaro, the President and CEO of Skanska USA, a multi-billion dollar global construction company. Skanska was hired by the University of Washington to build a $90 million underground animal research facility in Seattle. According to organizers, Cavallaro was targeted because, as the head of Skanska USA, he has the power to shut down the project.

No New Animal Lab activists occupy a crane to halt construction of underground lab at the University of Washington

https://vimeo.com/152941414

The convergence was co-organized by activists with the NYC Animal Defense League and the No New Animal Lab campaign, which was started in Seattle by grass roots activists who, in late 2014, discovered that thousands of animals would be held captive, abused and killed in the university’s proposed hidden laboratory.

The University of Washington experiments on baby monkeys. No New Animal Lab aims to stop the institution from building a lab for more animals.

On Friday night, activists staged a disruptive protest at the Empire State Building, where Skanska’s main office is located. To the delight of activists and pedestrians who recognized him, actor and social justice activist James Cromwell participated in the protest. Following the protest, Mr. Cromwell gave a rousing speech about his advocacy during a Know Your Rights seminar at NYU Law School.

Activists with No New Animal Lab march through Richard Cavallaro’s neighborhood in Huntington, NY (photo: No New Animal Lab)

Skanska USA CEO Richard Cavallaro (photo: No New Animal Lab)

No New Animal Lab Protests at the home of Skanska USA CEO Richard Cavallaro (photo: No New Animal Lab)

Please visit No New Animal Lab to learn more about the group’s campaign and to join and/or support their efforts.

Update (Feb 3): While the animal rights community supports a ban on horse-drawn carriages, activists are divided on how to achieve it, with some supporting and others opposing a compromise bill which is scheduled for a vote on Friday, February 5th. If passed, the law would, among other things, reduce the number horses by almost half and move their staging area into the Park. The changes would provide some relief for the remaining horses and weaken the politically connected and inexplicably powerful industry. The carriage operators vehemently oppose the compromise and insist on having free reign throughout the streets of midtown. The media, big labor and park advocates (who want to minimize the presence of horses in the park) are backing the carriage operators in opposition to the bill. If the Mayor accepts defeat, walks away from the issue altogether and says, “time to move on,” then where does that leave the 200+ horses and the grass roots movement?  

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In an effort to liberate himself from an issue that has plagued him since taking office, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, who promised to ban horse-drawn carriages from Manhattan in early 2014, announced that his administration struck a compromise with the Teamsters, the union that represents the horse-drawn carriage trade in its negotiations with the city. The deal, which must be approved by the City Council, would move the horses into a stable in Central Park and cut their number in half – to 95 – by 2018. The public has not seen a draft bill, so many questions regarding the quality of life of the horses remain unanswered.

An small building on 85th Street in Central Park that was used as a stable in the past is being considered as a location for the new stable.

The compromise would improve the lives of the remaining horses, as they will no longer be forced to compete with aggressive drivers in the congested streets of midtown for most of the day. However, many of the conditions that make the operation of horse-drawn carriages inhumane and unsafe in NYC will not be addressed by moving the horses into the park. Following are several examples:

1. In his statement about the compromise, the Mayor made no mention of setting aside land for a pasture on which the horses can graze, run, roll and interact physically, as herd animals do. They could be surrounded by open spaces but deprived of the opportunity to use them.
2. Moving the horses into the Central Park won’t stop them from spooking and potentially harming themselves and others when they bolt. Over the years, many horses have spooked in the park, and people have been seriously injured.
3. Unless otherwise stated in the bill, the horses will continue to share the road with motor vehicles in Central Park, where cars are permitted on the streets at certain times of the day.
4. The number of horses in the park at any given time will be limited to 75 (the other 20 will be on rotation outside of the City), but the number of carriages will remain the same — 68. If the medallion owners intend to use their carriages two shifts per day, then they would need to have at least 136 horses in the park. In the continued absence of humane law enforcement, will the carriage drivers simply double-shift their horses, as they have been caught doing in the past?
5. Through the use of weapons and fear, the horses will continue to be “broken” when they are being trained to work in NYC.

A taxi crashes into a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park

Members of the public will oppose the bill for reasons unrelated to the humane issues, including the following:

1. In the draft bill, the pedicab drivers would be prohibited from working in the park south of 85th street, thereby giving the carriage drivers exclusive access to tourist customers. If the main reason to keep the carriage trade afloat is to preserve jobs, then how does putting the pedicab drivers out of work accomplish that goal?
2. According to Section 383 of the NYC Charter, “the rights of the City to its park” are “inalienable.” Building a stable for a commercial enterprise on public land could therefore be challenged in court by park advocates. That said, the administration has probably sorted out the legality of leasing a stable to the carriage trade.
3. The City will be using public funds to pay for the construction of a stable for a private, all cash business.
4. The horses will be staged just inside of the park, which will add to congestion in areas that are already crowded with pedestrians, joggers and bicyclists.

For the animal rights activists who have been working for many years to ban horse-drawn carriages from Manhattan, one of the most distressing aspects of this compromise is that the erection of a stable in the park could keep the industry afloat indefinitely. However, many doubt that a stable will be built.

In 2014, activists staged a rally at Gracie Mansion to “remind” Mayor de Blasio to fulfill his promise

The media has reported that the Mayor resorted to a compromise because he didn’t have support in the City Council for a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages. What the media has failed to report is that he never made a serious attempt to garner support from lawmakers. In fact, the Mayor remained virtually silent on the issue for two years while the opposition ran an aggressive (and dishonest) campaign to preserve the industry. The Mayor didn’t even speak out when highly publicized carriage accidents occurred, in spite of the fact that advocates plead with him to do so.

A prominent component of Bill de Blasio’s campaign platform was banning horse-drawn carriages

While mistakes were made over the years by grass roots activists and advocacy groups fighting to end NYC’s anachronistic horse-drawn carriage trade, the blame for this compromise lies with the Mayor, as no amount of advocacy could have led to a ban without his leadership, which he failed to provide in spite of his promises.

In the midst of much ongoing uncertainty, one thing is certain — NYC activists will continue to be a voice for the horses until their shafts are lifted for good. In the meantime, with many stakeholders affected by this bill, including animal rights activists, the carriage trade, the pedicab industry and Central Park conservationists, the horse-drawn carriage controversy will likely continue to take center stage for the indefinite future.

Horses are confined between the shafts of the carriage for over nine hours/day

If you live in NYC, please contact your Council Member to express your point of view on this bill.

It’s not just elephants and tigers in the circus who are broken by “trainers” in order to scare them into entertaining us. The horses who pull carriages in urban areas are broken too.

Norman Martin tells a Daily News reporter that “God has made them [horses] for the service of mankind.” See video.

Ironically, the trainer/author, Norman Martin, was used as a horse expert by the NY Daily News as part of its campaign to convince the public that operating horse-drawn carriages in midtown Manhattan is humane. In fact, while Mr. Martin wrote that he uses “a disciplining device” that “stings a little more than a whip” to train his horses, the Daily News reported that he uses positive reinforcement: “He gradually helps them overcome those fears by gently caressing their heads or slowly getting them used to more populated towns.”

From Norman Martin’s book about training horses

Following are excerpts from the book:

“They [NYC carriage horse operators] come out to the farm and ask if I can give their horse an attitude adjustment . . .What these horses need is discipline – an understanding that they have a master, and they are to do his or her will.” (page 120)

“I couldn’t break through that stubbornness or cure Charlie’s bad habit until I used a stronger method and that reprogrammed his mind from doing things his way to doing things the way his masters wanted him to do. That reminds me of some people, sometimes we have bad habits we need to repent from.” (page 127)

“I have a disciplining device that is a little stronger and stings a little more than a whip for the thick-hided horses. But I only use it if I have to break strong ingrained attitudes and habits.“ (page 121)

In his book, A Tough Son of a Gun, Norman Martin explains just how tough  he is on the NYC carriage horses he trains.

“I put what’s called a ‘power line’ on him. I could pull hard and force his head against his neck, so he would choke himself until he passed out and fell down on the road.” (page 40)

“That was the first horse that I had to cure of five bad habits, and I was the seventh guy that had him and the only one who broke him.” (page 42)

“That horse stood straight up on his hind legs and come up over backwards. He hit his head on a sharp rock right between his ears and killed himself instantly. And that was the end of the horse that no one could break. His stubbornness broke him, but this time it was his own brain that broke and he did it all himself on his own terms. Sorry.” (page 43)

Mr. Martin recounted moments when he abused his horses even when he wasn’t “training” them. He describes one incident in which he intentionally spooked a skittish horse by dangling a plastic strip in front of him: “It was a full rolling gallop. I remember laughing like a madman as he surged down the road.” (page 21)

When the Daily News reported that Mr. Martin “gently caresses” the horses as a training method, did the editors know that this self-described “renowned trainer of carriage horses” published a book about using weapons and fear as his preferred method?

Carriage horse escapes and flees down 12th Avenue in Manhattan (Dec, 2014)

NYC Mayor de Blasio ran for office on a promise to ban horse-drawn carriages from Manhattan as soon as he was elected, but he lost the support of the public after the carriage operators, Teamsters and media launched a coordinated campaign to protect the industry. Now, the Mayor is negotiating a highly controversial compromise, which would reduce the number of horses and house them in Central Park.

From left to right: Horse pulls a carriage in Times Square; NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio

To stay apprised of the effort to ban horse-drawn carriages in NYC, please visit NYCLASS and The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages

To see why activists have been fighting for years to take horse-drawn carriages out of NYC and other congested urban areas, please watch the award-winning documentary film BLINDERS:

When Laurie Glimcher returned to her Upper East Side apartment building after walking her dog, she found 15 activists protesting and informing her neighbors that she left 66 chimps to die in Liberia —  “Depriving Chimps of Food and Water, Laurie Glimcher – Primate Slaughter.”

Glimcher, who served on the board of the New York Blood Center (NYBC) when the organization decided to abandon its surviving former lab chimps, has been targeted by activists with seven protests at her home and at Cornell Medical College, where she is the Dean.

Laurie Glimcher attempts to ignore protesters at her building as she returns from walking her dog, who she presumably does provide with food and water.

In late October, one month after the protests began, Glimcher resigned from the NYBC board in an apparent attempt to extricate herself from the scandal. Activists, however, continue to target her because her resignation did nothing to help the chimps abandoned on her watch.

After a two hour protest, the remaining activists pose for a photo at Laurie Glimcher’s building.

In March, 2015, NYBC cut all funding for the chimps, leaving them to die of starvation and thirst. The organization has attempted to justify its decision on the grounds that the chimps are owned by the government of Liberia. What NYBC has not acknowledged is that it was their researchers who created the group of captive chimps by kidnapping them from the jungle and breeding them at its laboratory in Liberia.

Chimps abandoned by New York Blood Center Board Members, including Laurie Glimcher, Dean of Cornell Medical College

NYBC is now attempting to shift the responsibility for the care of these chimps to animal advocacy groups, which have neither the resources nor the obligation to use their limited funds to pay for long-term care of the chimps. NYBC earned several hundred million dollars in royalties off of the research conducted on these chimps and publicly promised to provide them with lifelong care when the studies concluded.

NYBC states on its website that the charity cannot divert funds from its lifesaving work to “other efforts,” but it can pay its executives hundreds of thousands of dollars?

When news broke that NYBC had abandoned the chimps, the Humane Society of the United States created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to pay for their care as a stopgap measure.

Please join the Facebook page: New York Blood Center: Do the Right Thing to stay apprised of news and to participate in online actions to pressure NYBC executives and board members to fulfill their promise to provide lifelong care to their laboratory chimps.