|
|
|
Horse-drawn carriage drivers face off against neighsayers
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Horse-drawn carriage drivers face off against neighsayers
The use of four-legged horsepower to pull tourist carriages around Old City streets has long been a subject of debate: Is it cruelty, or merely a way of life for working animals? The horses cannot, of course, speak for themselves. But members of the two-year-old Peace Advocacy Network (PAN), a local group of animal-rights activists, say the horses’ discomfort is evident.
“Look into their eyes for a few minutes and see how they’ve given up,” insists Brandon Gittelman, the legislative director of PAN.
On a recent Sunday, PAN held a protest against the ubiquitous, slow-moving carriages, a cause that’s been getting more publicity in recent weeks following a horse-drawn carriage crash on July 13 that left one woman severely injured. A PAN petition garnered more than 1,000 signatures in just a few days.
PAN protests also usually elicit plenty of curses from carriage drivers. “They don’t have a legitimate reason to protest,” says Ron Jones, a 15-year veteran of the business. Jones takes particular offense to the claims of animal abuse. “Everything we do is about [the animal],” he says, feeding his horse Caesar half of his cheese Danish. “Abuse happens with private owners,” he adds; these horses have their own vets, a constant supply of water and two meals a day.
Gittelman, though, insists that the truth is in plain sight.
“If you go out during the week, look clearly and you see how miserable [the horses] are,” says Gittelman. This misery, Gittelman elaborates, is evident in the fact that the horses breathe in emission fumes, pull people around on hot asphalt and have no peripheral vision, due to their blinders.
This is the message that Gittelman and other supporters of PAN try to relay to passersby at their protests. They hand out signs, fliers and photos of carriage horses contrasted with photos of wild horses in hopes of hammering home the aforementioned misery.
The goal of all this: legislative action spearheaded by Councilman Mark Squilla, whose 1st District includes Old City. Anne Kelly, Squilla’s chief of staff, says the councilman has heard PAN’s arguments, but has no legislation planned. Carriage drivers aren’t worried about a ban. “It’ll never happen,” Jones says. “They’re wasting their time.” After a moment of thought, he adds that the protesters really “need to get a job.” Gittelman, however, has his own thoughts on employment in the carriage-driving industry: “There are so many other ways … to make a living.”
Comments (0)
Popular Posts
Local display advertising by PaperG
Search this blog:
Topics:
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
