On the heels of Friends of Animals’ Board Member Elizabeth Forel’s op-ed in the NY Daily News that reminded everyone that the carriage horse industry in NYC needs to be banned, an alarming accident occurred inside Central Park Sunday. A horse spooked when a passerby opened an umbrella, sending him fleeing out of the park and into traffic with his driverless carriage and three frightened passengers.
Eventually they collided with two parked cars.
Forel, president of the Coalition To Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages knows this serious accident had nothing to do with law enforcement. This is a horse’s nervous nature and cannot be legislated.
This the core of the Coalition’s and FoA’s campaign to ban this industry—horses should never be put in a position where they become unwitting weapons and injure or kill themselves or passersby.
It is past time for NY City Council to do its job and shut down this inhumane business. In contrast, one NY-based group, NYCLASS, has called for horses to be restricted inside Central Park, which is meaningless and where the accident occurred.