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PETA to Nutter & Council: ban horse-drawn carriages

Philadelphia City Hall and political coverage from the Philadelphia Inquirer City Hall bureau.

60 comments

PETA to Nutter & Council: ban horse-drawn carriages

POSTED: Wednesday, September 2, 2009, 11:37 AM

Patrick Kerkstra

PETA is calling on Mayor Nutter and City Council to ban the city's horse-drawn carriages, which are popular tourist attractions in Old City. The release follows below.

Incident Highlights the Risk to the Safety of Animals and the Public

Philadelphia — PETA has sent an urgent letter to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and the City Council calling on them to implement a ban on horse-drawn carriages. PETA's letter comes on the heels of an August 29 incident in which a horse who was pulling a carriage suffered a leg injury after becoming spooked and crashing the carriage into a pole at the intersection of Third and Walnut streets.

PETA points out that similar incidents have occurred in nearly every city in which horse-drawn carriages are still permitted to operate. These accidents often cause serious injuries and fatalities to horses, motorists, onlookers, carriage operators, and riders. A growing number of municipalities have realized that these dangerous operations have no place in today's busy cities. Bans have been implemented in Biloxi, Miss.; Reno, Nev.; Palm Beach, Panama City, Key West, Deerfield Beach, and Pompano Beach, Fla.; Santa Fe, N.M.; and Camden, N.J., as well as London, Paris, Beijing, and Toronto.

"Forcing horses to pull heavy loads through busy city streets is cruel, and it's an accident waiting to happen," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "This incident should be a wake-up call to the people of Philadelphia. The only way to ensure the safety of passengers, motorists, and horses is to ban horse-drawn carriages, so we urge the mayor and the City Council to act to prevent future tragedies."

PETA's letter to Mayor Michael Nutter is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

60 comments

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Comments (60)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:23 PM, 09/02/2009

IM NOT SURE WHO I HATE MORE MICHAEL VICK OR PETA.

— Apollo Creed

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:25 PM, 09/02/2009

I Agree the way these horses are taken care of when there not "working" is pathetic.I HOPE THIS BAN COMES THRU!

— beez1228

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:26 PM, 09/02/2009

How bout we just shut down all zoos also, allow all animals to be free, why they capture that gator in Trenton, just let it be, really people ridiculous about these animals.

— northphillyboy

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:28 PM, 09/02/2009

Just get a homeless person to pull the carriage.

— TheDude

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:28 PM, 09/02/2009

Horses been slaves for humans for centuries, they was the main mode of transportation at one point, thats the advantage we got by being at the top of the food chain, its nature people chill out

— northphillyboy

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:30 PM, 09/02/2009

These carriage rides a poor ridiculous joke, mainly employing real dirtbags who spout off nonsense and try to pass it off as history text. This says nothing for the awful treatment of the horses themselves. A few years ago I worked in that area and came on a crash at 5th and chestnut, the carriage driver had overloaded and when taking a turn the thing flipped. People were fine but the horse was still hitched and getting pretty excited at not being able to free itself. I rushed up and told him to unhitch it, I was wearing a unifrom myself at the time. His response, "No way officer, I aint getting near that thing." Luckily I have been around horses most of my life, calmed it, and managed to unhitch it. I reported him for a, working that animal in over 90 degree temps, and b, overloading the cart. Wish I couldve added c and d, being a stupid junky wouldve rounded it out fairly.

— HBJ

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:40 PM, 09/02/2009

Free the Dogs, Free the Dogs! Next PETA will demand that all humans release their pets (dogs, cats, canaries) into the wild because it is cruel to keep them......What a bunch of knuckleheads in that group.

— unbelieveable!

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:43 PM, 09/02/2009

why do you report on these clowns? Prepare for blood-stained naked protesters in olde city this fall...

— dpcoz

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:45 PM, 09/02/2009

If PITA has their way, pretty soon I'll have to raise my own animals in a barn with no windows just to have something to eat.

— tndmrtr

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:47 PM, 09/02/2009

Offshore--I think we should keep the cobblestone streets and ban vapid blondes in ight heels. Do any of you idiots that are backing this horse drawn carriage really believe that these horses would be better off somewhere else? Do yo realise that thousands of wild mustangs are captured each year and sold at auctions to meat packers to prevent the entire wild herd from starving to death on the plains..... Think people before you post.

— unbelieveable!

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:55 PM, 09/02/2009

Anyone that supports PETA needs to get a life!!! What is next, are you going to complain about the disabled using dogs to help them walk down the streets to guide them? Horses can be at danger wherever they are,just like humans, but who cares about humans? (sarcasam) I am against animal cruelty, but come on, you guys act like as if an animal is used for the slightest thing it is being tortured. Do you also have a problem with the police using drug sniffing dogs? We all know what PETA is really about, anyone that saw South Park knows what I am saying they would rather mate with animals then humans. You guys are messed up in the head! Do something with your life besides complaining about everything. Get a life morons!

— cote32