Like yellow cabs, the Statue of Liberty, or Broadway, horse-drawn carriages are New York Town clichés. But these sightseeing walks around Central Park are currently being focused by elected officials and animal advocates who would favor electric carts.
“Manhattan is possibly the worst area in the globe to function a horse, website traffic, sounds, pollution and warmth”protests Robert Holden, a 71-12 months-previous metropolis councilor in New York and author of a textual content contacting for the substitute of horse-drawn carriages with electrical autos by June 2024.
For decades, advocates of the animal result in – additional and much more in the United States – have required to place an conclusion to this tourist attraction, which has existed because the 19th century about the environmentally friendly lung of Manhattan. New York now has 130 coachmen who share 68 licenses and close to 200 horses repaired in the municipal stables.
Opponents of horse-drawn carriages rallied in early August, most notably some activists from the Peta association, when a horse instantly collapsed 1 heatwave afternoon on Manhattan’s enormous 9th avenue, lined with skyscrapers. of heaven.
A video on social media shows the animal on the floor as angry motorists told him to get up.
A micro-demonstration in opposition to horse-drawn carriages then brought collectively 15 persons. American design Bella Hadid judged these “barbaric” walks on Instagram. The manner star urged the New York City Council to approve Mr. Holden’s invoice.
For animal advocates, New York horses stay in precarious conditions, undergo from malnutrition and dehydration, are terrified of car or truck targeted visitors and perform hard.
“They are taken care of like equipment and they are not equipment”thunders Edita Birnkrant, director of an animal rights group, NYCLASS, who thinks horse-drawn carriages have absolutely nothing to do with “A fashionable New York”.
On the contrary, the operators be certain that these horses are perfectly cared for and carefully monitored by the city overall health authorities. In truth, it is forbidden to get the job done a lot more than nine several hours a day, at extra than 32 levels in summertime and significantly less than 7 degrees in wintertime.
Horses “I am delighted and healthier. You are not able to drive a 680 kg animal to do what it does not want to do “insists Christina Hansen, a coachman in New York for ten yrs and whose horse Oreo is entitled to her five-7 days annual “holiday” on the farm.
“Immoral” or “cultural”?
And what would New York be without having its horse-drawn carriages, asks this 42-yr-old girl: “You see us in motion pictures and on Television set. We are as photogenic as the Empire Point out Developing and the Statue of Liberty “.
In Central Park, exactly where a 45-moment walk even now charges $ 160, in just one of the most high-priced towns in the globe, tourists are divided.
“Totally immoral!”exclaims the British Cailey Tyler, who is in favor of the ban, as very well as Maria Luzynska, a Polish lady to see horses for “Less than the heat” offers New York “Worst impression”.
On the opposite, he sees Argentina’s Marina Perry “A cultural dimension that has lasted for generations”.
Coachwoman Christina Hansen describes that the marketplace is now “Dominated by immigrants” from about twenty nations around the world such as Italy, Eire, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico.
A carriage driver can generate $ 100,000 a year, he suggests.
Reverse, supporters of Mr. Holden’s monthly bill are hoping for a vote in October.
But almost nothing is considerably less particular, as the coachmen are backed by the powerful municipal transportation union and Ms. Hansen thinks no just one in New York is in the mood for a journey. “With electrical golfing cart”.
(AFP)
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