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.