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Friday, September 6, 2013

Utah Carriage-Horse Alert

Source

To: mayor@slcgov.com; kyle.lamalfa@slcgov.com; jill.love@slcgov.com; carlton.christensen@slcgov.com; stan.penfold@slcgov.com; luke.garrott@slcgov.com; charlie.luke@slcgov.com; soren.simonsen@slcgov.com

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker
Mayor Ralph Becker: 801-535-7705;

City Council

Kyle LaMalfa, Chair
Council Member District 2
801-535-7781;

Jill Remington Love, Vice Chair
Council Member District 5
801-535-7786;

Carlton Christensen
Council Member District 1
801-535-7723;

Stan Penfold
Council Member District 3
801-535-7726;

Luke Garrott
Council Member District 4
801-535-7782;

Charlie Luke
Council Member District 6
801-535-7784;

Søren Simonsen
Council Member District 7
801-535-7715;

Main Council Office Number
801-535-7600

Dear Mayor Becker and City Council,

Friends of Animals, a non-profit advocacy organization founded in 1957, with many thousands of supporters, strongly urges you to ban horse-drawn carriages in Salt Lake City.

The public uproar following the August 17th collapse and death of Jerry -- a horse forced to pull a carriage in downtown traffic in extreme heat -- highlights the pressing need to shut down a dangerous industry that can’t be humanely regulated. Jerry’s owners released misleading photos claiming Jerry was in good health when the opposite was true. Moreover, questions about Jerry’s health and insufficient veterinary care are alarming.

An investigation is warranted, but meanwhile, Friends of Animals is requesting Salt Lake City officials remove horses from Salt Lake City streets. Horse sanctuaries are available after they’re released.

There is simply no way to improve the carriage horse industry in an urban environment in the 21st Century. Inherently skittish horses are a constant public safety risk on chaotic city streets.  There’s a voluminous list of serious accidents involving collisions with horse-drawn carriages and vehicles, resulting in severe injuries and deaths for people and horses.  Confining horses daily between the shafts of carriages, forcing them to pull heavy carriages loaded with passengers on city streets among swerving vehicles, constant loud noises, pedestrians, bike-riders and emergency vehicles is a recipe for disaster.  Horses, naturally skittish animals, flee when frightened. You have the ability to make Salt Lake City a more humane city by removing an antiquated commercial industry that creates a life of misery for horses, while putting others at risk.

Friends of Animals is eager to advise you further on selecting sanctuaries that can receive the horses.
They were instrumental in crafting the legislation currently pending in the New York State Senate to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City.
The bill requires horses to be placed at appropriate sanctuaries—sparing them the fate of a slaughterhouse.

They have led the movement to eliminate horse-drawn carriages in urban environments around the country.
Salt Lake City should join the growing list of cities that have prohibited horse-drawn carriages from city streets knowing this trade has no place in modern society.

End the dangerous, cruel horse-drawn carriage industry and release each horse to a sanctuary!

Sincerely,

Name/Country

"Our bones & joints ache as we trot hard roads all day. Breathing choking, poisonous exhaust fumes. Not harming us, they say. City traffic sounds frighten us, Yet day to day & against our will, We pull people around on command; Until they change the bill. Our owners rest in the cool shade, While for you, we stand & wait. We're standing in full sun; As we overheat and nearly faint ..."

 

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