SHAWN INGLIMA
Horse-drawn carriages may be a thing of the past when the new mayor takes control but the horses that power the industry may be sent to slaughter, a Daily News investigation found.
Whoa!
After protests by animal rights activists, the days of carriage horse rides through Central Park appear to be numbered, but the push to "rescue" the horses could lead to their slaughter instead, experts say.
The top mayoral candidates, Democrat Bill de Blasio and Republican Joe Lhota, support a bill before the City Council to ban the horse-drawn rides, a move that would throw hundreds of drivers, and more than 200 horses, out of work.
Some experts, however, warn that retiring the horses would add to a "homeless horse" crisis in the U.S., which already sends 90,000 to 100,000 unwanted horses to slaughter in Canada and Mexico each year.
"We do not have enough rescue space in this country for the horses we have now," Karen Waite, an equine extension specialist at Michigan State University, told the Daily News.
"To add another 200 to an already overburdened situation is not a good thing. It's distressing, actually."
DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Activist groups leading the charge against horse carriages say the animals will be fine, but experts have a different opinion.
Referring to the activists clamoring to end the carriage rides, Waite added, "Unless these individuals are planning to start a rescue organization for these horses, I think it's a bit naive to say they will have a place to go."
Christina Hansen, a carriage driver, agreed. "Horses that have jobs are the last horses that get neglected," she said. "It's the horses that don't have jobs that we're seeing shipped to slaughter."
The economics of rescuing so many horses would be daunting.
It costs at least $200 a month to care for one retired horse, experts say, so the tab for sending 200 horses to live out their days in leafy luxury would start at $480,000 a year.
Based on the average age of the horses clip clopping through Central Park, and their life expectancy, the total cost could climb past $8 million over their lifetimes.
JERI CLAUSING/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Since 2008, there have been a growing number of neglected, abused and starving horses — leading ranchers, like Charles Graham of New Mexico (pictured), around the country to support human horse slaughter.
And those costs would be on top of the initial expense of buying the horses from their current owners, a tab that could easily reach $200,000, experts say.
The lead group opposing the carriage horse industry, NYCLASS, New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, vows that it will find good homes for the four-hooved New Yorkers.
"We'll raise whatever's needed to take care of every single horse," NYCLASS spokeswoman Allie Feldman said.
However, the group would not say how much it has raised so far, leaving even other animal rights organizations concerned.
“I hope they can raise that money. Maybe they have a good resource somewhere," said Sandra DeFeo, a spokeswoman for the Humane Society of New York.
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Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio may have conquered Christine Quinn in the primary because of his support to end horse carriages.
“Two hundred horses is a large number. ... If we were them, we would have a plan. We would be able to tell you, 'This is how much money we're raising and this is what we'll do with it.'"
The Coalition to Ban Horse Drawn Carriages, the other major organization against the carriage industry, hasn't collected any money for rescues, according to its president, Elizabeth Forel.
“I'm not worried about these horses because over the years we have gotten so many requests from people, from good horse owners, to take them," she said.
Feldman agreed, saying the Central Park horses have become "celebrities, in a way."
"It's very hard to find a home for a pit bull but when something like a golden retriever is up for adoption everybody grabs for it. Well, unfortunately, there are folks who don't necessarily want to take any old horse but they do want to adopt a New York City carriage horse,” she said.
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Mayoral candidate Joe Lhota agrees the carriage industry stinks.
But it is possible that the rescue of the more than 200 Central Park horses simply would doom 200 other horses that might otherwise be saved.
“That is a legitimate concern. Other horses on the waiting list might suddenly find themselves headed for the auction," said Dr. Camie Heleski, coordinator of Ag Tech Horse Management Program at Michigan State University.
"The whole idea of them living happily ever after in green pastures takes a huge amount of money, time and land — and yes, you're going to displace 200 other horses that could have gone to those homes," said Beverly Strauss, of Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue, a sanctuary in Maryland
The drivers, in the fight of their professional lives, argue that the horses are well cared for, and say the city's carriage industry is one of the most strictly regulated in the country.
Under city law, the horses are not allowed to work more than nine hours at a time. They must be covered with blankets in the winter and must be taken off the streets if the temperature hits 90 in the summer. And they get something many of their two-legged counterparts only dream about: five weeks of vacation every year.
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There has been a proposal to replace horse carraiges with motorized electric carriages — keeping the drivers employed — but the future of the animals remains uncertain.
De Blasio's strong position on abolishing the carriage horse industry has made him a darling of animal rights activists. Those activists helped to finance a million-dollar ad blitz earlier this year that attacked City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who supports the carriage horse industry. Those ads helped to sink Quinn's candidacy in the Democratic primary for mayor, which benefitted de Blasio .
De Blasio and Lhota have proposed replacing the horse-drawn carriages with motorized rides, a switch that would give the current drivers an opportunity to find new positions. They have not offered a detailed plan on what to do with the horses.
The legislation pending in the Council calls for the horses to be sent to sanctuaries.
But it is not clear whether the city's carriage horse owners would sell their animals to any sanctuaries tied to the organizations responsible for destroying their livelihoods.
"I wouldn't sell my horses to them," said Stephen Malone, a second-generation carriage owner and a spokesman for the Horse and Carriage Association of New York.
"He wants to seize our horses from us and take them to a sanctuary. Not gonna happen," Malone said of de Blasio.
"Animal sanctuaries across the country are closing because of a lack of funds," he added. "We make sure they have good homes when they retire."
That's a view shared by horse experts, who say the weak economy has put intense pressure on rescue groups because of the high cost of caring for the animals.
"From 2008 on, it's been very difficult to be a horse," said Waite, of Michigan State University. "Humans have struggled to find the money to take care of them."
