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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)

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:02 PM, 09/02/2009

No more horse-drawn carriage rides in Camden? Oh no! Now my vacation plans are shot to hell.

— mikegdj

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:06 PM, 09/02/2009

I sprained my ankle walking the other day. Ban sidewalks. Seriously though, I'd take this more seriously if they've been campaigning for years (which they may, I don't know) but to go nuts from one injury, I need more than that. I smell an opportunity for bike-drawn rickshaws. Would be perfect in Olde City. Very popular and useful in Boston (at least that I know of)...

— toph314

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:07 PM, 09/02/2009

Don't let PETA tell us what to do. They try to impose their agenda everywhere--look at the list of cities. They are against anyone owning an animal, in any way--including your pet dog or cat. The money donated to them pays for their radical agenda--it does not go to help homeless animals, contrary to their misleading literature. It's like donating money to a law firm or a lobbyist.

— nephillygirl

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:22 PM, 09/02/2009

PETA grabs another headline....and that is all they are about....

— nuggett

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:24 PM, 09/02/2009

You can't be serious....

— SDNP

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:31 PM, 09/02/2009

@paula513 is totally right- it's so sad to see these poor things outside in the blazing heat. I work on the Mall, and seeing them daily depresses the hell out of me.

— CrazyIvan

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:13 PM, 09/02/2009

toph - Dunno about Philly, but there is a large campaign in NYC that has been going on for years.

— Politburo

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:21 PM, 09/02/2009

I t5hink PETA should just keep quiet they are ridiculous

— cecelia

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:28 PM, 09/02/2009

It's about time...horses should not be pulling carriages around over-crowded, little streets in any city!! Way too many cars in Philthy, the poor horses are kept where they can never be turned out...horses are herd animals and should be able to mingle together and graze. Hope they all find good homes for them. I would adopt one. For all you neigh-sayers that don't know the facts about horses getting killed on city streets, get your facts straight. It's not about PETA, it's about the welfare of the horses working under extreme, unpleasant conditions. NYC is also trying to ban the use of horse-drawn carriage rides as a lot of the horses are killed by cars and overworked without proper care.

— horsegirl

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:51 PM, 09/02/2009

I have a better idea. Let's ban cars from the inner city. That would take care of the accidents, pollution and would force people to ride the public transportation.

— ArizonaMike

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:49 PM, 09/02/2009

mmmmm! hot philly horse burger! who got the bbq sauce? it will go great with some of that broiled sea kitten grabage that those peta idiots were trying to peddle last year. they are such a joke. HEY! anybody got any glue?

— Evil Overlord

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:11 PM, 09/02/2009

Fire Man...grow up and act like a man, you are a jack@$$...low life piece of scat

— horsegirl

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:24 PM, 09/02/2009

Let's release all these horses back into the wild so MacDonalds can hunt them.

— mythaeus

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:25 PM, 09/02/2009

Ban banning things.

— rightwingsheeple

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:37 PM, 09/02/2009

This is a joke. Has PETA seen how these horses are babied? First of all, if these tired old horses weren't pulling carriages they'd be glue. There's your alternative PETA. Second of all these horses are treated better than half the human population of Philadelphia. The "busy streets" of Society Hill? And "Heavy loads"? It's a HORSE people! We use the horse as a system of measurement - HORSE POWER - for hauling just that! Entertaining this with even proposed legislation would be a criminal waste of time.

— Philatonian

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:42 PM, 09/02/2009

My kids & I like to watch the horses pee in the street. Spectacular show.

— Big5fan

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:43 PM, 09/02/2009

Hmmmm....colonial, historic city with horse drawn carriages? What a concept. I bet horsegirls equines just LOVE to carry her dead weight around the ring! PETA, get a life! These things are what make historic places remain that way. Cobblestone streets are dangerous for vapid blondes in heels, when do we outlaw them (the cobbles)?

— offshore

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:46 PM, 09/02/2009

sorry, no resources or funding to enact bans (especially stupid ones); budget cuts!

— offshore

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:21 PM, 09/02/2009

PETA should get off their high horse and worry about something else. They had their 15 minutes of fame at Vick's expense. Now go back to your closets.

— SayHello2MyLittleFriend

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:57 PM, 09/02/2009

if we know accidents are going to happen why have the horses doing this? totally unnecessary tourist fluff that needs to go away. and seeing that horses can't speak for themselves, PETA should and has every right to do it for them.

— snakeplissken

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:01 PM, 09/02/2009

What do gay horses eat? Hayyyyyyyyy

— Quarkt_98

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:03 PM, 09/02/2009

PETA people are crazy.

— ConservativePatriot22

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:10 PM, 09/02/2009

Vegan Morons

— gizmo68

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:17 PM, 09/02/2009

I've lived here my whole life and never taken a carriage ride in Old City, but now I'm going to do it just to spite PETA.

— PattyB23

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:18 PM, 09/02/2009

I'n not a PETA fan, but I agree with them on this issue. Those horses have a miserable life.

— asv

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:19 PM, 09/02/2009

Seems like PETA's putting the cart before the horse. The Mayor's got more important things to worry about. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.

— kfeeley1111

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:39 PM, 09/02/2009

I am sick of smelling the horse s**t and watching them relieve themselves when I'm in line to get a kabob on 6th street! If I were to take a leak on the side of the street like they do I would get arrested!

— maddog987

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:42 PM, 09/02/2009

Who seriously listens to an organization that thinks eating meat, drinking milk, fishing, hunting, wearing leather shoes, and benefiting from medical research performed on lab rats are all “unethical.” Some people just have too much time on their hands.

— dannywow40

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:48 PM, 09/02/2009

I'm sure the horses just love riding through the crowded streets of Philadelphia, horns blasting at them, cabs dodging around them, having to pull fat tourists all over the city on streets that are burning hot in the summer. Good luck, PETA.

— wassail

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:55 PM, 09/02/2009

Let criminals pull the carriages.

— kliffee

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:51 AM, 09/03/2009

Offshore...get your facts straight before you post..my horse is retired, so I am keeping him and taking care of him but not riding him, most people who know horses know they are a huge expense but I do it because I love them..he is on a great farm and gets a ton of love..you are the one that's DEAD weight, loser...you have no idea what I look like so shut up until you have something positive to say about the issue at hand...Philthy really is full of so many close-minded stupid, uneducated people. I hope PETA wins this one, the busy, over-crowded streets of any city is no place for horse-drawn carriages. I hope we BAN them along with Michael Vick.

— horsegirl