If horses could talk, the Amish farm animals would probably speak of pulling carriages in New York or Chicago the way people in New England talk about retiring to Florida. Compared to that, he told her, pulling these carriages was easy living. The driver explained, very patiently, that these horses came from Amish farms in Pennsylvania where, in their former lives, they had pulled plows, manure spreaders and other farm equipment through hot fields all summer long. I encouraged Simone to speak to one of the drivers and ask him. She felt sorry for the poor horses that had to pull these heavy vehicles all day long and wanted to know where the animals came from. I remember a summer day over 20 years ago when our family was walking along Central Park South in New York City and our daughter, then about 12, made the same argument. I think they’re wearing rose-colored glasses. I know these people mean well, that they think this will improve the animals’ lives, and that it is the right thing to do. Now, I’m a real animal lover and sensitive to any cruelty to the four-legged creatures with whom we share the planet but this sounds like a misguided crusade to me. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chicago Alderman Edward Burke have both vowed to ban the carriage business. The Coalition to Ban Carriage Horses is leading the charge. have declared the business a disgrace and want to replace the carriages with quaint electric cars.
The folks at People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Humane Society, and the A.S.P.C.A. Mara Gay’s Wall Street Journal article, “ Cities Move to Rein in Horse Drawn Carriages ” and Liz Robbin’s piece in the New York Times, “ Who Speaks for the Horses?” summarize the positions on both sides. Why? Because the horses have to work and city streets are noisy and filled with vehicles belching enriched hydrocarbons. To the armies of aggressive animal lovers, however, they are the height of animal cruelty and blight on civilization. To most folks, this seems like a fairly benign business: the carriages aren’t that heavy for a draft horse, the number of passengers is limited, and the horses never go beyond a sedate walk as they proceed on their daily rounds. They provide a quaint venue for romantic scenes as they wend their way slowly through Central Park, clopping along the Magnificent Mile, or walking down Fifth Avenue. We have all seen these vehicles, particularly in movies like Barefoot in the Park.
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