divh3strongimg alt=”” src=”/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/horse_carriage_1.jpg” style=”width: 400px; height: 267px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: right;” /span style=”color:#000080;”San Antonio Activists to Speak Out at August 1st City Council Meetingnbsp;/span/strongstrong style=”color: rgb(0, 0, 128);”–nbsp;span style=”background-color:#ffffff;”Pressing for Ban of Cruel Carriage Horse Tradenbsp;/span/strong/h3p style=”margin-left: 40px;”strongWhen: Thursday, August 1st, 8:30 press statements. 9:00 inside Council meeting/strong/pp style=”margin-left: 40px;”strongWhere: City Hall, 100 Military Plaza, San Antonio/strong/p/divpspan style=”font-size:14px;”strongSan Antonio –nbsp;/strongThe San Antonio-based sanctuary, Primarily Primates and Friends of Animals, the animal advocacy organization, will rally and speak before the August 1st Council Meeting at City Hall to call for the release of the cityrsquo;s 60 long-suffering carriage horses. nbsp;Primarily Primates and Friends of Animalsrsquo; staff will be available for press statements at 8:30 am outside City Hall before the Council meeting begins at 9:00 am — after which activists will comment on whether the horse-drawn carriage trade should be further regulated or banned./span/ppspan style=”font-size: 14px;”ldquo;Itrsquo;s hell on earth for horses forced to pull carriages in the sizzling heat of San Antoniorsquo;s traffic, Edita Birnkrant, NY Director of Friends of Animals says. ldquo;The City Council has a vote before them on August 1st to modify regulations for the carriage industry, but their daily torment continues. Horses are typically sold to ldquo;killer buyer auctionsrdquo; for slaughter in Mexico when theyrsquo;re no longer profitable. Itrsquo;s time Mayor Castro and the City Council considers ending such a hazardous business,rdquo; Birnkrant adds./span/ppspan style=”font-size: 14px;”ldquo;Primarily Primates sanctuary offers to place the horses at Texas sanctuaries, if Council members ban the horse-drawn carriage trade, — protecting 60 horses from bloody slaughterhouses anywhere in North America,rdquo; says Stephen Tello, nbsp;Executive Director of the 78-acre primate sanctuary in San Antonio./span/ppspan style=”font-size: 14px;”In 2009, a horse stationed in front of the Alamo was frightened by a passing city bus, and the horse ran through downtown traffic. More such incidents are inevitable, the groups says.nbsp;/span/ppspan style=”font-size: 14px;”An increasing number of modern cities have ended the tradition of animal-drawn vehicles due to public safety and animal welfare concerns. nbsp; Letters from veterinarians in support of banning San Antoniorsquo;s carriage horse trade will be distributed at the Council Meeting and are available to the press./span/p