ASPCA To Provide Water for Horses

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has agreed to provide water from trucks to New York City's carriage horses, beginning March 10. This is significant, because the water troughs in Central Park are shut off from November to March and the troughs have been empty, except for occasional rubbish tossed into them by passersby.

As New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson's audit found in 2007, the city has simply dropped the ball in assuring even the most rudimentary care of the horses--and that includes assuring that they have adequate drinking water. It is painfully obvious to observers that the horses have no water and that the city has turned a blind eye to the plight of these animals. We can only hope that the drivers do not continue to withhold water out of spitefulness.

Please thank ASPCA President Ed Sayres (212-876-7700, esayres@aspca.org) for his work in coordinating with the drivers and the Parks Department to accomplish this feat.

Historically speaking, the ASPCA has a storied history of helping the horses in just this way. Read a New York Times article from 1906 about the ASPCA's work to help horses.

Water or no water, the ASPCA now supports an outright ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City, as does the Humane Society of the United States. Improvements are no longer a viable option.

Support Intro. 658, the bill to ban the abusive horse-drawn carriage industry in New York City.

Another Inelegant Death

Remembering Clancy
Tonight, four days after the horse died in his stall at the Clinton Park Stables, we have only the most threadbare facts about him. Clancy was his name, he was an 8-year-old Draft Percheron, and he hadn't worked in a few days. He was found dead on Feb. 7 around 10 p.m., and the Department of Health reported the death to the ASPCA the following afternoon.

That's about all we know; the circumstances of how Clancy died remain a mystery. The New York City Department of Health has refused the request by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals to obtain Clancy's veterinary records.

Instead the ASPCA was told to file a Freedom of Information Act request for the records, a development that ASPCA President & CEO Ed Sayres said was unprecedented.

"ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement agents have never before been asked to file a FOIA request in order to obtain records that would help to determine whether or not an animal's death is due to an act of cruelty," Sayres said in a news release. An FOIA request can be an extremely long process.

"We’re being stonewalled by City government,” Sayres said. The ASPCA is authorized by the Attorney General to enforce animal cruelty laws in New York state.

Godspeed, Clancy.

SUPPORT Intro. 658, the bill introduced by Tony Avella to ban horse-drawn carriages in NYC. It is urgent that you hold your city council representative accountable--no more sitting on the fence in view of this development.

We may never know why Clancy died. For the sake of other horses, please support the ban (Intro 658).

Truly, this is disgraceful. The industry apparently is conspiring to keep this death very quiet--almost no media coverage. The AP's so-called story is little more than a industry ad. Yikes, things have gone downhill over at The Associated Press!