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Hot on the heels of last weeks hansom cab accident comes word from the ASPCA that it issued 76 summonses last year to hansom cab drivers and horse and stable owners with violations ranging from "poor animal treatment to erratic driving." That's about one summons every five days.
The stats come out as the ASPCA uses the recent accident to renew its lobbying to restrict carriage rides and stables in Manhattan to Central Park only (currently horse drawn carriages are allowed in the park or on adjacent streets between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m.).
Currently there are 68 licensed hansom cabs in the city, 360 licensed carriage drivers and about 175 horses working with them. Beyond last weeks accident "Last year, two horses ran loose in traffic after a driver hit their coach. In 2003, two cabs carrying passengers toppled after their horses bolted."
"At some point, the horses will be confined to Central Park, because the program cannot funciton in high-trafic zones" the president of the ASPCA told the Post. "We'd like to see that day come sooner not later." Gothamist couldn't agree more. What's your take?
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We live in midtown near some of the west side stables. Handsome cabs drive down our street to get home and we sometimes hear the horses clip-clopping by at 1am, 2am or even 3am... what are those poor horses doing up so late???
Hmm, maybe we could ban the car traffic instead.
An anecdote: Once I took a girlfriend for a ride in one of those hansom cabs. It was valentine's day and was supposed to be a romantic evening. Instead it kinda of smelled, was cold, and the driver kept telling us about all the people who had been arrested/murdered/raped in the park. He then offered us a joint. Point is...it was a beautiful horse, but a weird driver. I think we should work on confining the drivers as well as the horses to Central Park.
I have seen horses on Central Park South at 1AM. I have seen drivers forcing their horses into U Turns directly in front of oncoming traffic from two directions. This is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. I have seen these horses driven through rush hour traffic and whipped along surrounded by buses and cabs and trucks. PLEASE SOMEONE STOP THIS NEEDLESS CRUELTY. Why doesn't the ASPCA live up to its name and do whatever necessary to get and keep these innocent animals off the city streets?
Imagine the horror of these poor horses being forced to negotiate city traffic while hauling heavy carts.
I operate a carriage company in Dallas Tx. I have watched this story unfold, & would caution all to stop adding fuel to the fire.
I, as many operators, have lobied for some logic in the requirements for licensing and sensable(sp?)laws & enforcement. As long as those in charge don't perform the jobs that they a paid to do then you can expect that any and every industry will have those that will exploit it.
Perhaps someone should check on the requirements for licensing of drivers, or the standards required for a horse to be used in this industry.
I have read here that the SPCA wants to ban carriages from the streets. I can tell you that this is simply people that do not wish to do the job. If horses can not deal with traffic, road noise, and crowds, then why do most urban police have mounted patrols???
I have operated a sucessful carriage service on city streets for over ten (10) years and never had an accident... This does not happen by chance or luck. It happens because I, much the same as many others in this industry, have pride in what we do and assume responsability for the operation of our business.
I deal with the Department of Transportation throughout the year and am astounded at the inepitude that abounds. If they, and the ASPCA would do their jobs and enforcement would do the same then the contraversy here would disappear.
I am not saying that there is no fault on the operators in this instance, but I am saying that to just ban carriages on streets or to label tham as unsafe is a worse injustice. Perhaps someone should look into the licensing requirements for drivers, or even into the motives of those sopposedly protecting the horses.
I'll bet most of you didn't know that at least two breeds of draft horse would now be extinct were it not for those of us who drive them. Where do you think we get the funds to keep them?? No one, but we who operate carriages cares to breed them, feed them, and by the way love them.
You go ahead an ban them, & then draft horses will just be one more thing in a museum that you will have to explain to your kids.
I guess my question is: Wouln't it have been better to have done the right thing in the first place?? Make the right laws and enforce them..