The day after Eye on Blogs asked you if San Francisco should ban horse-drawn carriages, PETA asks the same thing of SF's mayor:
PETA has sent an urgent letter to San Francisco
Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors urging them to implement a ban on horse-drawn
carriages. PETA's letter comes on the heels of a June 8 incident in which a
horse pulling a carriage reportedly became spooked and threw the driver out of
the rig, and ran over him before taking off down the streets near Fisherman's
Wharf. After being stopped by a passerby, the horse broke free and ran down The
Embarcadero, knocking down at least two bystanders before being stopped. The
driver was hospitalized in serious condition.
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 for the
city, and we urge officials to ban these rides
before the
next accident occurs."
Read the Eye on Blogs post wherein the idea of a ban is explored. One commenter assured us that "the horses like having a job." What say you?
Horse-draw carriage ban or no?
