Category: ANIMAL EXPLOITERS - The Greanville Post

By Rowan Wolf, Cyrano’s Journal Today

Mark Hawthorne’s book “Bleating Hearts: The Hidden World of Animal Suffering” is scheduled to be released by the end of November. It is a book that has multiple uses. First is that it reveals the conditions under which animals live (and die) in world today. It clearly shows the ideology that places animals in a different and exempt category from humans. As such, this book challenges this ethic of cruelty.

Second, this book serves as an encyclopedic reference work for anyone who is researching the treatment of animals across different “industries” and multiple cultures.

Third, after explicit and exhaustive examination of the existing ethic which assumes a lack of sentience on the part of non-human beings, Hawthorne explores pathways to “moral parity.” In this chapter, Hawthorne poses some questions to a number of ethicists, activists, and philosophers starting with “Why do some people care so deeply about the suffering of animals, while other people ignore this suffering or even cause it?”. The discussions are enlightening, and perhaps point to a more humane world. To not give away the ending, part of that discussion points to correlations with civil rights movements.

[pullquote] “Most of us, in other words, are trapped in cultural and social and economic frameworks that nurture unthinking behavior.”[/pullquote]

The relationship between humans and animals is complex, in that humans can be moved to great emotion and even sacrifice for animals in the singular (their pets, whales trapped in the ice, a deer with a jar stuck on its head), yet be immune (and seemingly blind) to the condition of animals in the collective (factory farming, genocidal hunts, shark finning, etc.). I think that part of the answer lies in a quote from James McWilliams in the final chapter of the book: “Most of us, in other words, are trapped in cultural and social and economic frameworks that nurture unthinking behavior.” (481)

This is not a book for the faint of heart. It can leave one in tears of pain and frustration. However, it could also move people to confront the blindness and cruelty and take action towards the “moral parity” that Hawthorne struggles with in the final chapter.

Mark Hawthorne is the author of Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism (Changemakers Books), and is a frequent contributor to VegNews magazine. He and his wife Lauren live in California.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Rowan Wolf is editor in chief of Cyrano’s Journal Today.

Oregon resident, and animal lover, Rowan is a sociologist by training and passion, and has a doctorate in sociology. She teaches sociology at Portland Community College. Her primary interests are social justice, environment, and corporatization, and a lot of her writing focuses where these issues overlap.

ANIMAL DEFENSE, CARE2.COM
by Susan Bird, November 25, 2013

The Sad Truth Behind Every Presidentially Pardoned Turkey

Did the headline give it away? Are you peeking from between your fingers because you really didn’t want to know this? Spoiler alert: no bird in this story gets out alive.

Usually, a presidential pardon means something. Usually, it’s the gold standard that lets someone off the hook and sends him or her off to live a long, happy, carefree life. That’s also the mental image we’re encouraged to have each year when the president takes time from his busy schedule during Thanksgiving week to “pardon” a turkey.

It’s a little boost to the spirit, knowing that a single lucky turkey managed what 46 million could not. It feels like one small drop of cosmic justice in an otherwise soul-crushing universe. That lottery winning bird gets to live.

That’s true, for a while. Then it’s not true anymore.

As U.S. News and World Report revealed recently, all the turkeys President Obama has pardoned so far are dead now.

2012 – Gobbler (died February 2013) and Cobbler (died August 2013)
2011 – Liberty (euthanized 2013, but the longest living pardoned turkey at 2-years-old) and Peace(euthanized just before Thanksgiving 2012)
2010 – Apple and Cider (both dead by 2011)
2009 – Courage and Carolina died within months of their pardons, precise 2010 date unknown

This dire news isn’t a partisan knock against President Obama. This phenomenon happened during theBush years, too. Rather, it represents the sad reality behind the health and fortitude of today’s domestically raised turkeys.

The History Behind Turkey Pardons

Turkeys have been presented to presidents since the 19th century. By 1947, during the Truman administration, the National Turkey Federation assumed the role of official supplier of presidential turkeys. Typically, the first family ate them, though not always.

Perhaps it will not surprise you to learn that the first presidents known to have spared turkeys’ lives in the early days were Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. Lincoln acquiesced to the request of his little boy, Tad, that the turkey they’d received be permitted to live. In 1963, Kennedy sent the turkey he’d been given back to the farm it came from, saying “We’ll just let this one grow.”

By the Nixon administration, the live birds went off to petting farms but it wasn’t until 1989 that President George H.W. Bush started the current practice of formally “pardoning” a turkey.

Why Has No Pardoned Turkey in Recent Memory Lived to Meet its Successor?

Every year, two turkeys travel to Washington. One becomes the star attraction, the other is the understudy. Did you ever stop to wonder why it’s a necessary precaution to have two birds available for the pardoning ceremony, and why they all seem to die within a year of their pardon?

Some believe it’s because the modern day domestic turkey is so woefully unhealthy. The poultry industry has spent the last 40 years or so selectively hand-breeding turkeys to develop only the ones possessing very large breasts. Yes, big breasts rule, even here. These turkeys are, in fact, known as Broad Breasted Whites.

Our turkeys have become so unwieldy that they cannot walk properly. They’ve been bred to rocket to their full buxomness in a mere 16-19 weeks, giving their spindly little baby legs no time to catch up, developmentally. Domestic turkeys are now so big they can’t even mate without human assistance. Every female must be artificially inseminated to reproduce.

Worst of all, turkeys are not particularly hardy anymore. Their bodies weren’t meant to get so big so quickly, and it almost inevitably causes physical problems. Despite a fleeting lifespan before slaughter of only 6 months or so, they routinely suffer from heart attacks, organ failure, and heart, lung and liver problems. An estimated 10 percent of factory farmed turkeys don’t survive long enough to make it to the slaughterhouse.

Hence the need for a presidential turkey understudy. There’s legitimate concern that one of them might die. For the photo op, the White House needs a second turkey that’s ready to go on, if necessary.

Maybe it’s time to stop “pardoning” turkeys and start taking a closer look at what current poultry production standards are doing to them. It’s the same story with chickens. We’ve turned poultry farming into a mad rush to produce mass quantities of turkeys and chickens to meet public demand for more and more inexpensive meat.

The result is a race of genetically inferior birds who aren’t meant to live normal, healthy lives. They’re bred to live fast, grow big, die hard and be eaten.

Knowing all this, it’s easy to understand why the last several years’ worth of pardoned turkey pairs aren’t still frolicking happily somewhere. They didn’t really have a chance.

MOVIE REVIEW
A Camera Aimed at the Conscience

‘The Ghosts in Our Machine’ Focuses on Animal Rights

An animal raised in a farm in a scene from the film./ Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

By DAVID DeWITT, NYTimes
Published: November 7, 2013

There’s a logic at work in the motivated, morality-jarring animal-rights documentary “The Ghosts in Our Machine”: If animals have emotions, and if we see that human actions cause them sadness, anger and fear, then we will become moved to help.

More About This Movie

The Ghosts in Our Machine

I can’t imagine anyone not feeling moved during “Ghosts”: shots of foxes at a fur farm, cowering in cages, covering one another for comfort; monkeys, holding each other, eyes tilted upward in terror; cattle trudging on misshapen hooves through their inevitable chutes to slaughter.

These animals — when they die, and they do — have lived horrible lives that are recorded by the photographer Jo-Anne McArthur in stirring pictures, so stirring that, her agency tells her in a scene perfectly timed to introduce her and her cause, they can’t be sold to commercial magazines in a PG-13 world.

Ms. McArthur is our human window to these animals, whose early deaths are the ghosts in the global economic machine, and we see her on travels to document abuse to pigs, dolphins, dogs and more. She’s invested. She’s a vegan. She’s calm and sensible, but, to some, she’ll be extreme. All this is skillfully established during early-morning spying on animal warehouses or in moments of comfort with friends and at an upstate New York sanctuary, where sheep gambol, pigs slop, and roosters high-step on kitchen counters.

“The Ghosts in Our Machine” is a compelling movie, but its argument expands without deepening. It has great empathy for its subjects, the “incredible individuals,” the “nonhuman animals,” that it records. Human animals use other species: talk about an inconvenient, rather obvious but overwhelming truth.

by Ira Fischer
Encyclopedia Britannica

Ira Fischer is an attorney, now retired, who devotes his retirement to the cause of animal welfare through advocacy. His Web site is irafischer.com

• This article is annotated and commented (see Appendix)

The Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act (S. 1381) was introduced into the U.S. Senate this past month by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The Bill is aimed at prohibiting private ownership and breeding of exotic cats such as lions, tigers and other dangerous wildcats.

The Bill is in large measure a response to repeated tragedies between humans and captive big cats, such as the episode in Zanesville, Ohio two years ago when the owner of a menagerie of exotic animals released his “pets” from their cages, leaving first responders with little choice but to shoot and kill 49 lions, tigers, bears and other exotics to protect public safety.

Fortunately, no people were killed or injured in this incident. However, since 1990, numerous dangerous incidents involving big cats have occurred in the U.S., including 21 human deaths, 246 maulings and 143 wildcat deaths. These tragedies underscore that these apex predators are simply not suitable as pets.

These tragic events are not limited to the harboring big cats as pets by individuals. Traveling zoos, petting farms and other commercial entities that keep wildcats captive also demonstrate that tragedies inevitably occur when unqualified people possess these animals. Last year, the Humane Society of the United States released the results of an investigation into GW Exotic Animal Park, where multiple dangerous incidents, resulting from allowing patrons to interact with wild predators, were recorded.

Apart from the threat to public safety, the Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act is also a response to the welfare issue of the wildcats that are held captive – the victim of their exotic beauty. It has been estimated that upwards of 10,000 big cats like lions, tigers and cougars are held captive in private hands in the U.S. These animals oftentimes suffer from severe physiological and psychological health defects due to their captivity.

These magnificent creatures are trapped in a cycle of misery that begins with captive breeding by dealers, who strip the infant cubs from their mothers. The all too common scenario is that the owners discard these wildcats when they become too big, aggressive, or expensive to keep, or when the novelty wears-off. The cycle often ends with these animals living in pseudo-sanctuaries, such as unaccredited petting farms, since overburdened accredited sanctuaries (Accredited sanctuaries, such as Big Cat Rescue, do not permit commercial trade, propagation or direct contact between the public and the wildlife) seldom have the financial means to provide lifetime care. Many are shipped off to hunting ranches to be shot for trophies, while others are killed for their remains (primarily fur, food or Asian medicine). Such is the fate of many privately owned exotic cats that in some ancient cultures were revered as though they were gods.

Currently, there is a myriad of state and local laws that govern the harboring of exotic cats, which makes it difficult to enforce public safety and to protect the welfare of these animals. Reason suggests that a comprehensive federal ban is needed to address this nationwide problem, which too often spells disaster for humans and almost always results in a lifetime of misery for the innocent victims of the bizarre American subculture that callously disregards the laws of nature for their own self-aggrandizement.

According to Senator Blumenthal, “The Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act is a common-sense solution to a situation that has spiraled out of control. Thousands of dangerous big cats are kept in deplorable conditions as backyard pets and in roadside zoos across the nation. This bill would alleviate the threat these animals pose to the general public.”

The Bill would ensure that these endangered creatures do not threaten public safety or end up living in small cages, or chained, in someone’s backyard, basement or garage. Passage of this legislation would also help to prevent the undermining of wildlife conservation, resulting from private ownership of big cats, which contributes to illegal international wildlife trade.

The Bill, if penned into law, would close the sad chapter on the dual threats to public safety and the welfare of captive big cats that are victimized by being held captive as pets or commodities. The time is long past due to ensure public safety and to put an end to the suffering and abuse endured by these majestic animals and to respect their birthright to be wild and free.

Appendix

Counterpoint
by Ruth Eisenbud—
________________________________________

Dear Mr Fischer:

I just read your article on the Greanville Post, and was dismayed by lack of awareness when you stated:

https://www.greanvillepost.com/2013/11/21/make-it-a-law-big-cats-are-not-pets/#more-63887

“The Bill is in large measure a response to repeated tragedies between humans and captive big cats, such as the episode in Zanesville, Ohio two years ago when the owner of a menagerie of exotic animals released his “pets” from their cages, leaving first responders with little choice but to shoot and kill 49 lions, tigers, bears and other exotics to protect public safety.”

Of course they had a choice, but given the view of animals in a judeo.christian nation, the first, easiest and often only option is always to kill the animals…. This is not the case in India, where a more humane view has influenced the public consciousness.

Please refer to the following article for to better understand the harm done by the judeo.christian concept of dominion, as laid down in genesis:

https://www.greanvillepost.com/2013/03/07/animals-indian-and-western-attitudes-quien-es-mas-civilized/

You may be aware that there has been a media brouhaha over the killing of a lion. While this is a hot topic the media generally sides with the forces of dominion. Until we stop pretending that Judaism, Christianity or Islam have the potential to inspire compassion, we will pass laws here and there which in general uphold the tenets of dominion and do little to help animals. The following was my response to the frenzied response to the killing of a lion by Melissa Bachman… It attempts to detail the role of religion as a major contributing factor to animal abuse.

Ruth Eisenbud

Genesis 27:3

https://www.facebook.com/JimShockeyFanPage

Melissa Bachman

On learning to kill:
“I’m a small town girl from Paynesville, Minnesota, who has been hunting and fishing for nearly 18 years. Yes I’m only 25, but I started at an early age thanks to my parents who brought my brother and I out to the duck blind and whitetail woods. I’m sure it would have been easier to leave us home, but it’s their dedication that sparked my love for the outdoors” Melissa Bachman

‘Ahimsa
I will never hurt anyone,
Not with my words,
not with a gun
Not with my actions,
not for fun,
I believe in Ahimsa,
I will never hurt anyone.’ Children’s song, Jain Religion

Jain sutra

A summary of latest news and rationales about this issue—

DAILY NEWS IS PULLING OUT ALL STOPS TO HURT THE ANTI-CARRIAGE HORSES CAMPAIGN

They hate deBlasio; and love the “idyllic” carriage rides
Roundup of topic items by Ruth Eisenbud

This past week, the NY Daily News went quite ballistic, trying to throw a monkey wrench into the ban horse-drawn carriage campaign. They ran negative articles, a crazy editorial and an interview with Mayor Bloomberg – using fear mongering and scare tactics. They wanted YOU to believe that if there is a ban of the carriage trade, all the horses will go to slaughter. News flash – if they do, it will be the drivers who lead them there because there are plenty of homes available if the drivers would just stop having temper tantrums. By the end of the week, a very well thought out and well researched article by Vickery Eckoff was published in Forbes, countering the lies. In addition, Kathy Stevens, founder of Catskill Animal Sanctuary weighed in with her blog on Huffington Post. At first the Daily News was only printing pro carriage horse trade letters but finally relented and printed a few anti carriage trade letters. Russell Simmons also blogged on Huffington Post, countering the charge made by the NY Times that simply because we care about animals and support a ban of the horse-drawn carriages, we are zealots.
These are some of the links:

NY Daily News – Mara Gay – 10/29/13 – EXCLUSIVE: Both major mayoral candidates want to ban horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park, but the effort to “rescue” the horses could lead to their slaughter instead
NY Daily News – Mara Gay – 10/29/13 Mayor Bloomberg: If carriage horse business ends, horses will die
NY Daily News editorial – 10/30/13 – Greeting a Dead Horse

Daily News has endorsed deBlasio. NOTE: this cartoon was published in the Daily News – their idea of fun.

THE TIDE TURNS

Finally some intelligent articles

Forbes – Vickery Eckoff – 10/31/13 – NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg Doesn’t Know Manure About Carriage Horses
Huffington Post – Kathy Stevens – 11/1/13 – Sloppy, Slanted ‘Journalism’: New York Daily News’ Coverage of Carriage Horses (see Appendix, below)
Huffington Post – Russell Simmons – 11-1/13 – Whoa New York Times, You Need to Hold Your Horses!

Vickery Eckoff from Forbes says in a blog comment: The horses that go to slaughter in the carriage industry are horses that no longer make money. Bloomberg and the carriage drivers have never objected to this-and 70 horses or so disappear into kill pens every year. But if the industry shuts down, the horses in question will all be sound money makers. These horses, as the article states, have economic value to their owners and sanctuaries have stepped forward to adopt those that may need homes. So the industry shutting down will not send horses to slaughter-but keeping it going surely will.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR IN THE DAILY NEWS

These are a sampling of anti carriage letters.

They adopt horses, don’t they? Manhattan: Fear-mongering and emotional blackmail are despicable tactics that serve no good purpose (“‘Saved’ horses face death,” Oct. 29). Reporter Mara Gay presented a contrived scenario where carriage horses would go to slaughter if a ban is enacted. In fact, 71 horses a year turn over in the carriage trade – their whereabouts unknown. Were they slaughtered? Possibly. If the horses end up at the slaughter auctions, it will be the drivers who take them. This unsafe and inhumane business needs to be relegated to the dust bin of history. There are many sanctuaries and homes that will take the horses. But Steve Malone of the Horse and Carriage Association of New York is quoted as saying, “I wouldn’t sell my horses to them. . . . (Bill de Blasio) wants to seize our horses from us and take them to a sanctuary. Not gonna happen.” Let’s hope people see through the hysteria. Elizabeth Forel, Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
Disposable animals? Bronx: The real news is that carriage drivers are threatening to send their horses to slaughter rather than allow them to be adopted by sanctuaries or individuals. It reveals their true view of these animals as disposable. All the more reason to ban this cruel trade and require that the horses receive humane retirements. Jill Weitz
Hack line sadness Little Falls, N.J.: As someone who has been observing the horses on the hack line since the 1970s, it is no secret that many are depressed, ill or both. The high rate of turnover (529 horses in seven-and-a-half years) attests to the fact that many are not well. In the 1980s, horses fell and died in the streets of heat prostration, a particularly horrendous way to die. Even now, the horses are allowed out in 90-degree weather with no adjustment for humidity. It is simply not true that these horses would be killed if they were retired. These horses are “stars” – with many offers for homes from people all over the city and even outside of the country. The only way one could go to slaughter would be if the horse’s owner – driver or otherwise – sold it to an auction or other facility where kill buyers could get their hands on it. Christine MacMurray
Homes for horses Flushing: I am writing to express my sincere outrage that the Daily News did not include the fact that there are caring adopters from horse farms and horse-rescue organizations that are fully ready to take in the carriage horses. Ever since a ban was spoken of, the welfare of the horses has always been an immediate concern. Laura Fleischer

Matt Bershadker President and CEO, ASPCA

NOTE: photo of drenched horse by Mary Culpepper

_________________________________
APPENDIX I

Kathy Stevens

Founder and director, Catskill Animal Sanctuary

Sloppy, Slanted ‘Journalism’: New York Daily News‘ Coverage of Carriage Horses

“Both major mayoral candidates want to ban horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park, but effort to ‘rescue’ the horses could lead to slaughter instead,” published October 29. My concerns follow each one.

1. New York City Carriage Horses Live a Life of Luxury

These hard-working animals “clip clop,” as a Daily News editorial depicts their labor, in traffic and fumes and in temperatures up to 90 degrees, regardless of humidity. Their tiny stalls are too small for them to stretch out in after a long day’s work, and “guaranteed retirement at age 26” means horses work, in human years, until they are 78 years old. The job they are “lucky to have” — pulling carriages that weight up to 2000 pounds when loaded with tourists — is a job that has resulted in at least 20 carriage accidents in New York in less than three years, one of them killing a horse. Charlie, the horse who passed away on October 23, 2011, had a nagging ulcer and cracked tooth, both found during his autopsy. “We are very concerned that Charlie was forced to work in spite of painful maladies,” said Dr. Pamela Corey of the ASPCA.

2. If the industry dies, so will the carriage horses.

Buddy, a 28-year-old blind Appaloosa, was surrendered to Catskill Animal Sanctuary seven years ago because his family could no longer care for him. Casey, approaching forty, hobbles around on arthritic knees but is still his wise, unflappable self. These and other special-needs horses will, indeed, live out their days at our 110-acre haven two hours north of Manhattan. But New York City carriage horses aren’t special-needs animals, first of all, and secondly, few horses are more adoptable than these sound, beloved, iconic animals. They’ve got fans and sanctuaries around the country, CAS included, who would happily step up to ensure that each animal gets the home s/he deserved. Having recently purchased thirty additional acres in order to help greater numbers of animals, for instance, Catskill Animal Sanctuary will accept a number of carriage horses, should they become available, then use our nationwide network of animal advocates and “horse people” to place them, thereby making room for additional animals.

What’s more, when sanctuaries combine their efforts, we can do a pretty good job at accomplishing “the impossible” — like the recent saving of 3,000 chickens destined to be gassed by an egg-laying facility. If sanctuaries can place 3,000 “spent hens” in a matter of a couple weeks, I daresay placing beloved carriage horses will be a walk in the park, no pun intended. For the Daily News to report that “they would all die” is sloppy, slanted “journalism” at best; fear-mongering, or something more malevolent, at worst.

3. Well, then, okay… if the carriage horses don’t die because sanctuaries and private individuals take them in, then that means 200 other horses will die.

To the uninformed reader, this argument might seem credible. But each successful sanctuary has its own “formula” for accomplishing the greatest good. For instance, while Catskill Animal Sanctuary is currently maxed out in terms of permanent residents, we are often able to accept animals we believe will be adopted. By both providing sanctuary for a number of desperate “unadoptables” (horses who are old, blind, or unsound) and remaining open to accepting those we know from experience can generally be placed, we believe we do the greatest good for the greatest number. When we accepted ten miniature horses from a hoarding case, for instance, all were adopted within a few months.

High-profile rescues bring other residual benefits. Media attention to a large horse rescue brings thousands of eyeballs to our website, more visitors to our sanctuary, more funds to support our lifesaving work. It also raises the visibility of all our animals, not just those getting the news coverage. My strong suspicion is that the attention that would come from placing 200 beloved, iconic, deserving animals at reputable sanctuaries could result ingreater numbers of horses being helped, not fewer. I feel certain that I’m not the only sanctuary director who’d have appreciated the opportunity to address this issue and others.

Most of us don’t question the use of animals by humans for our own purposes. I do, and at Catskill Animal Sanctuary we work every day to usher in a kinder, more compassionate world for all beings. Still, if they are accurate and logical, I read opposing viewpoints with interest and an open mind. But The Daily News’ coverage of the carriage-horse industry is neither accurate nor logical, and it certainly is not unbiased. From its depiction of the horses’ lives as idyllic to their choice of “experts” to interview (Mayor Bloomberg, an expert on placing horses?) — and more notably, those not to interview — I’m not sure what you would call its reporting. Just don’t call it journalism.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kathy Stevens is the founder and director of Catskill Animal Sanctuary, one of the nation’s leading sanctuaries for horses and farmed animals, located in New York’s Hudson Valley. A passionate but patient advocate of the vegan lifestyle, she presents her message of “kindness to all” through her writing, as well as at speaking gigs at “kindergartens, colleges, and conferences and everything in between.” She has authored two books on the work of CAS and the animals who call it home. The first,Where the Blind Horse Sings: Love and Healing at an Animal Sanctuary, received critical and popular acclaim and was released in paperback on 2009. Her second book, Animal Camp: Lessons in Love and Hope from Rescued Farm Animals, has just been released. Kathy lives on the grounds of Catskill Animal Sanctuary with her dog Hannah and her cats Fat Boy and Mouse.__________________________APPENDIX II
COALITION TO BAN HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES
Why a Ban is Necessary

(updated)

THE TOP 15 REASONS

——————————————————————————————————–

HUMANE CONDITIONS – The average working life of a carriage horse on NYC streets is under four years compared to a police horse whose working life is about 14 years. This information was derived from extensive research going back to the 1980s by the Carriage Horse Action Committee, which ceased operations in 1994. On the streets of NY, these horses are constantly nose-to-tailpipe and often show corresponding respiratory impairment. Because they are not given adequate farrier care, lameness is often a problem, especially walking on pavement. Horses must work in hot humid temperatures and in the brutal cold – nine hours a day, seven days a week and go back to stuffy stable where they have no opportunity for turnout. Many of the stables are firetraps with inadequate sprinkler systems and fire protective devices and only one means of egress. Most house the horses on upper floors, which makes it even more difficult to evacuate them if there were a fire. It is not unusual to see urine and feces stains on the horses. Because of their previous uses on the racetrack or on Amish farms, many of the horses come into this industry with preexisting injuries or arthritis and are forced to pull carriages containing heavy tourists – upwards of 7-800 pounds. When these horses are no longer fit to work the demanding streets of NYC, they are “retired” – many go to auction where their fate is unknown. “Killer Buyers” often buy these horses by the pound for the slaughterhouse.Horsemeat is a delicacy in some European countries.

laws governing carriage horses are lengthy and complicated. Although the primary enforcement responsibility falls to the ASPCA, the NYC Police Department, the Department of Health and the Department of Consumer Affairs are also responsible. It is impossible to adequately enforce them. Section 17-331 of the NYC Administrative Code – The Rental Horse Licensing and Protection Law – calls for an Advisory Board that would make recommendations to the DoH commissioner about regulations necessary to promote the health, safety and well-being of the horses. It currently does not exist.

IMMORAL INDUSTRY – Many people feel that the NYC carriage horse is from another century, is exploited for profit and forced to live and work a very grueling existence in modern day NYC – all for profit and for a relatively few number of tourists. At the end of their “career”, most are sold to auction and eventually end up in the slaughterhouse. [See: Horse Slaughter/Animal Cruelty] This form of “entertainment” is exploitative and is comparable to animal circuses and roadside zoos. In the United States, over the years other immoral institutions have ended regardless of the economic impact to the industries involved. These include the use of child labor and sweat shops.

ENVIRONMENT – Besides the humane issue that compel many people to object to the carriage horse trade, there is also the pervasive smell of horse feces and urine that permeates Central Park South. Even when the horses are not on the hack line at CPS, the unpleasant smell is always there. In addition, the Sanitation Department has to clean the feces from the street. People who live on Central Park South have complained about this smell for years. Those who object cannot open their windows in nice weather. In one community close to the stable on 45th St., public school children complained of health problems.

FALSE ISSUES

http://www.nycvisit.com/home/index.cfm

Review: Mark Hawthorne’s “Bleating Hearts.”

The Sad Truth Behind Every Presidentially Pardoned Turkey

NYTimes reviews The Ghosts in Our Machine

MAKE IT A LAW: Big Cats Are Not Pets

Why a ban of horse-drawn carriages is necessary in NYC and elsewhere