NEW YORK (AP) – For more than 150 years, carriages have been ramming through Manhattan’s Central Park, weathering the arrival of cars, years of criticism from animal rights activists, and even the mayoral administration, which vowed to ban tourism activities.
But the influential nonprofit that now manages the 843-acre park and previously distant from the debate is now casting support. suggestion The industry will be closing next summer.
In a letter to the city council on August 12, the Central Park Conservancy argued that carriages would have a major impact on public safety and road infrastructure in the increasingly busy park.
“We can’t freeze in time,” said Conservancy CEO Elizabeth Smith in an interview this week. “The horses are too unpredictable, the roads are too busy, with too many different types of users, including bikers, runners, pedestrians, strollers and more.”
Smith pointed out that other cities have abolished nostalgic vehicles, including San Antonio. Five years stages Last year in the industry. Chicago Prohibited From 2021 and Montreal I did the same thing Previous year.
Carriage drivers say they are unfairly targeted
The horse-drawn industry has argued that despite the number of horses that have barely been in the park since World War II, it has been unfairly elected.
There are currently 68 licensed carriers with a total of about 200 horses and 170 drivers, according to the Transport Workers Union, which represents employees in the industry.
Meanwhile, Central Park sees around 40 million visitors a year, many of whom are increasing on rental bikes or riding one of the human-equipped pedicabs lined up at the park’s entry points. car It’s banned From a 2018 park drive.
Eliminating carriage hoses also violates the famous landscape architect Frederick Lawolmstead’s vision for the park, with its hilly roads and rolling roads that are slowly made to match the rides of carriages.
“We see the park the way we saw it,” she said during a recent tour.
The enemy says there is no place in a city where horses are busy
Animal rights groups have long complained that horses could easily be scared on city streets, leading to accidents and injuries. They also claim that horses are overworked and that inadequate stables and their drivers are flaunting city regulations, including leaving horse fertilizer piles behind. All animals should be equipped with a device to catch fertilizer.
“There is no way to run a carriage and make it safe or humane for the horses,” said Editor Billunkland, executive director of animal rights organization New Yorkers, for its clean, livable and safe streets. “The amount of regulation cannot change that. The Lord knows what we have tried.”
The conservancy’s call came after the horse’s horse I collapsed and died Videos and photos of the bodies of animals on city streets will be widely spread online near the stable earlier this month.
However, the organization established in the 1980s to revitalize the park did not consider animal welfare concerns in a letter to the council.
Smith said the turning point was the recent two carriage incident. A few days later, two more horses were free from the driver and crashed into a fleet of parked pedicabs, breaking the driver’s wrist, causing other injuries.
The discussion is not over
City Council Speaker Adrian Adams’ office declined to say this week whether the proposed ban would be asked.
Zachary Nosanchuk, a spokesman for Mayor Eric Adams, said the Democratic administration has met with industry representatives and supporters to discuss the “better path” on “sensitivity issues” and to allow Adams’ predecessors to try and make eight years of success.
Former mayor Bill de Blasio, who is also a Democrat; I vowed to shut it down The industry’s first day during the 2013 victory campaign The year opposite to the council And even the rage of actor Liam Neeson It’s still an An honest supporter of the horse carriage industry.
Horse owners and drivers say they are highly regulated
Carriage owners and drivers enjoy a relatively easy life for their horses compared to the tough farm life in the Pennsylvania Amish Country, where most are purchased.
Under city regulations, each is examined by a veterinarian twice a year, with the maximum age they can work is 26.
They work up to 9 hours a day, and if they exceed 89 degrees (32 degrees Celsius), they must stop serving vehicles if the humidity is above 80 F (27 C).
They will also not work if the temperature is below 19 F (negative 7 C) or if there are bad weather, and if daily access to pastures requires you to take at least five weeks of vacation per year outside the city limits.
“My horse, I will give them a lovely life,” said Onur Altintas, a longtime carriage owner and driver. “In Kentucky, they compete for horses. If you’re looking for abuse, it’s abuse.”
This week, when we visited one of Manhattan stables, ornately decorated carriages were parked on the ground, measuring at least 8 x 10 feet (2.4 x 3 meters), housed on the second and third floors of hay-built stalls, but without pasture on the outside.
Utah tourist Lynn Baccarlew lined up to ride a carriage earlier this week, but said guided shaking through the park was high on her to-do list. However, she was surprised within two months of work when she learned about the abuse complaints and the death of a 15-year-old mare from an aortic rupture on August 5th.
“If that’s the case, I know it’s sad. I’ll make you look at it a little different,” said her husband as he jumped into the carriage and the driver called her.
___
Follow Philip Marcelo https://x.com/philmarcelo
