Results tagged “animalrights”

Following this weekend's crash, the carriage horse debate surfaces in the headlines once again. CityRoom takes a look at the status of the industry after two years of getting audited by the city comptroller's office. They note that while certain things have improved, "the two agencies that oversee the business have acted too slowly in putting reforms into effect."

If only seal sightings were reserved for vast seascapes. PETA sent one of their "seals of disapproval" to the Grand Hyatt Hotel this past week "to protest Canada's seal slaughter while the country's prime minister, Stephen Harper" was attending a meeting inside. The organization notes that tens of thousands of harp seals are slaughtered in Canada each year, and even baby seal's skulls are bashed in during slaughter season.

Now that Ringling Bros. have been caught in the act beating their animals, the Coney Island sideshows are on the PETA agenda. The NY Post reports that the organization is concerned about a capybara, the world's largest rodent, being "victim of a daily assault of noise, cramped conditions and inhumane treatment."

Mayor Bloomberg expressed further support for the city and Port Authority's joint plan to kill 2,000 geese during their molting season in order to prevent accidents like the one that left Flight 1549 in the Hudson River. On his radio show yesterday, Bloomberg said, "There are people who care very much about the geese. But in the end, safety of the public is No. 1. There is not a lot of cost involved in rounding up a couple thousand geese and letting them go to sleep with nice dreams. We're trying to strike a balance. In the safety of flying, the public trumps the rights of the geese...(This way is) less stressful way of eliminating geese. They actually use carbon dioxide, and they just sort of go to sleep." Geese in various city parks within five miles of local airports will begin getting rounded into portable pens where they're killed with cabon dioxide-filled chambers on Monday. Wayne Johnson, a "free-land activist," told the Post, "There's a ton of nonlethal alternatives," such as chemical repellents and goose-frightening pyrotechnics.

The world has been waiting to find out where Liam Neeson falls on the whole carriage horse issue, and you can stop holding your breath now, world: the actor has spoken...and PETA isn't gonna like what he has to say. Last week a story ran in the Irish Echo regarding the New Yorker resident's public support of the Central Park carriage industry, which came out in a letter to the City Council.

Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the nation's largest producer, is used to fending off lawsuits brought by animal rights activists, but yesterday they won a bit of a reprieve. A New York State appeals court dismissed the majority of a case brought by the U.S. Humane Society, which was challenging an Empire State Development Corporation grant that Hudson Valley Foie Gras received in 2006. The court held that most of the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit.

I Dig Doug, a new production in this year’s Fringe Festival, concerns a status-obsessed uptown debutante who decides she should so get involved in presidential politics. When the farcical story begins, the unnamed teen (Karen DiConcetto, called Girl in the program) and her equally self-absorbed friend Nicole (Rochelle Zimmerman) are coasting along on their parents’ money, only mildly concerned about their imminent college application essays – Girl is smart enough to know that if they “can get into Bungalow 8” they can get into Harvard. But Girl’s perfect world is soon torn asunder when she discovers that her personal hero, a lovelorn reality TV star, is nothing more than a phony, craven opportunist. If a Girl can’t believe in reality TV, what can she believe in?

THEATER: According to industry rag Variety, playwright Kristine Thatcher “has been deservedly attracting international attention. [Her] latest, Among Friends, is a whimsical and provocative deconstruction of hetero male bonding." The story goes like this: “Three old friends gather as often as possible to play poker. Matt is a struggling Sears appliance salesman; Will, a public school teacher; and Dan, a real-estate developer and award-winning humanitarian. But when Will discovers the lionized Dan cheating at cards, he decides to explore exactly how deeply the rot goes.” - John Del Signore

Tom Shillue performs at clubs all over New York City, has a Comedy Central Presents half hour special, has appeared in commercials for Audi, Heineken, Ameritrade, Snickers, and provided voiceovers for Verizon, for Amex, and Met Life. He'll be headling at http://comixny.com/event.aspx?eid=69&sid=221on the 14th.

Gothamist has never had a taste for foie gras (although, some of us do) as we can't get past the fact that we're eating liver, but animal rights activists are trying to get the delicacy banned entirely. In an appeal to the state legislature, groups including the Humane Society asked the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets to label foie gras as an "adulterated" food, which is defined as food that is "diseased, contaminated, filthy, putrid or decomposed." This would give the agriculture commissioner the option of banning foie gras. The Times gets what could be the best quote regarding this issue from Eric Ripert, the executive chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin who sighs and then says:

We can criticize how foie gras is produced and be concerned about the health of the duck and blah, blah, blah, O.K., fine.

"don't draw howls from animal rights groups as do the more prevalent horse-drawn carriages," as an LA Times (!!) writer for AM New York reports. Regulation would bring training and licenses, as well as capped fares, which would interesting - apparently some pedicab drivers can make bank ($2000 during peak weeks!) while others can charge through the nose to gouge tourists. Pedicabs were quite popular during the transit strike - even in spite of the higher prices. Apparently the rule of thumb is $1 per block - keep that in mind, anyone can't find a cab apres theater and needs to get somewhere else.

Somebody got a case of the Mondays? Yeah, we just said that. Luckily there is plenty going on tonight to provide a happy transition in to Tuesday...

Carmelo Vargas, the hansom cab driver injured when his horse crashed into a station wagon at Ninth Avenue and 50th Street, is in a coma. Vargas had only been riding horse-drawn carriages around the city since May, lured by the prospect of making more money for his family. His stepson told the Daily News, "He had a problem with this horse. He rode a lot of the horses, but this one scared him." The NY Times, though, has pinto horse experts speculating the horse was probably bothered by a noise, as pintos are usually "docile."

While Gothamist rarely ventures west of the Hudson (Hoboken excluded) the current bear hunt in Vernon, NJ caught our attention. In an attempt to thin out New Jersey's ursine overpopulation, a 6-day hunting season began today which brought out nearly 5,000 hunters to the state's northwest. As in 2003, animal rights groups attempted to block the event, to little success. Although we're not thrilled about the event, we're at least relieved that the hunters are required to rely on shotguns or more old fashioned rifles, and not more modern, laser-guided weapons that make the "sport" even less fair for the animals. Supporters claim the booming number of bears (now estimated to be 1,600 - 3,200) and limited land have forced them to venture into human territory, including local backyards and swimming pools. As of this afternoon, 54 bears had been killed. How do you feel about the event?

EVENT/MUSIC: It's Children's Day at South Street Seaport this Saturday. With Gordon from Sesame Street, The School House Rock Stage Show and They Might Be Giants! Wait...AND fireworks! [via FreeNYC]