Dear friends:
On April 14th, NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn pushed a bill through the City Council that protects and rewards the horse-drawn carriage industry by giving the drivers a rate hike. To give Quinn political cover, the bill includes language that gives the false impression that the horses will be treated more humanely, when, for all intents and purposes, nothing will change for the horses. They still will still be deprived of a pasture for grazing and interacting; they will still live in multi-story warehouse buildings that are fire traps; and they will still be subjected to the many cruel and dangerous conditions in NYC that can't be fixed.
In the attached NY Times story, Quinn describes the bill as "a huge step forward," but for those of us who have spent many years trying to end the cruelty, this bill is huge step backwards. What is particularly disturbing about this setback is that it comes on the heels of four years of heavy campaigning by local and national organizations, including the ASPCA, the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, Friends of Animals, the League of Humane Voters, PETA, the Humane Society of the United States, Win Animal Rights and NY-CLASS. The campaigns have included lobbying, producing educational materials and videos, running ad campaigns, conducting street demonstrations and submitting petitions signed by thousands of NYers. This work, which has educated the public about the issue, made no difference at all to Quinn. Nor did the thousands of letters she received asking her to show some compassion. She did what, for complicated reasons, is politically expedient for her: protecting the industry.
We shouldn’t be surprised that Quinn pushed through a rate hike and blocked the bills that would end the abuse because, since becoming Speaker, she has blocked every single bill introduced at City Hall to protect animals, including the bill that requires pet stores to install sprinklers so that no more dogs and cats burn to death in their cages, a tragedy that has occurred too many times in NYC. As long as Quinn is in office, NYC’s animals don’t stand a chance.
Thanks to NYC taxpayers, Quinn has a staff of people (the "Community Affairs Unit") already working hard to ensure that she is elected Mayor in 2013. The burden is on each of us to ensure that NYers know the truth about Quinn and that she is voted out of public office for good (We came close in 2009!)
I'm sorry I'm not writing with better news, but I'm sure I speak on behalf of all the activists when I say that we will soldier on....
Please spread the word.
Donny Moss
