Please come to our press conference on the steps of City Hall on:
When: Tuesday September 20th at 12 noon
Where: steps of City Hall (City Hall is located in downtown Manhattan - bounded on the north by Chambers St.; west by Broadway and east by Park Row.)
We are calling the bill "Bobby's Bill" after Bobby II Freedom, the horse we rescued last June 2010 from the kill auction in New Holland with Equine Advocates.
Because of the 4-digit number on his left front hoof, Bobby was saved and is now living the good life at Equine Advocates Sanctuary in Chatham, NY. You can read about his rescue by clicking here.
Currently, records for horses sold outside NYC are not required by the Department of Health so it is not known where the majority of horses go. There is a high turnover in the trade - about 60-70 horses leave the business every year. The bill seeks to change that by requiring that the owners either sell or donate their horses to sanctuaries or individuals who sign an assurance the the horse will be kept as a companion animal and will not be sold into another carriage business or taken to auction where they can be purchased by kill buyers on their way to slaughter.
We believe many of these horse go to the auctions and then on to slaughter.
The industry is already up in arms about this bill because they claim they find homes for all of their horses. If so, then this bill will require confirmation of that claim.
We hope you will arrange your schedules to come to this very important event.
Thank you.
PS - We still obviously support a total ban of the industry - either the state bill - S5013 and A7748 or the NYC bill - Intro 86A, which will substitute electric cars. But in the meantime, let's save the horses.
--
Elizabeth Forel
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
www.banhdc.org
Horses Without Carriages International
www.horseswithoutcarriages.org
