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PETA Goes After NYC Carriages

Animal-rights activist calls the trade 'disgusting'

By Clay Dillow, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 19, 2008 3:33 PM CDT

(Newser) – Animal-rights activists have long been champing at the bit to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City, and a PETA publicity strongman is in town to do just that, New York magazine reports. Though Michael Bloomberg and others in City Hall support the trade, PETA's Dan Mathews—legendary for his anti-fur tactics—has been crusading to ramp up attention since a Queens councilman proposed a ban in December.

Mathews has taken his message to the front lines, lambasting carriage drivers in Central Park for their "disgusting” trade and deriding the animals' “shackles.” He's also recruiting celebrities such as Alec Baldwin and Cheryl Hines along the way. In recent years, spooked horses have caused a handful of traffic accidents, the magazine notes, and stable conditions are reportedly cramped. The carriage business supports some 450 jobs.

Horse-pulled carriages roll through New York's Central Park in a 1997 file photo. The horse-drawn carriages that clip clop around Central Park could be banned under City Council legislation. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Horse-drawn carriage operators make the best of a sunny day as fall foliage appears in Central Park. (Getty Images)

A horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park in winter. (Archive Photos)

A horse drawn carriage and ferries passengers through Central Park in fall. (Getty Images)

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PETA Goes After NYC Carriages

Animal-rights activist calls the trade 'disgusting'

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Bloomberg: No Smoking in Central Park

Mayor wants to take ban outdoors to cover parks, walkways

New York Carriage Horses Get Raises, 5-Week Vacations

Horses now entitled to vacation

New Yorkers Living Longer Than Most of Us

City's life expectancy now 2 years above national average

PETA Sees Benefit to US Horse Slaughter

It's better than exporting them, group says

'Al-Qaeda Sympathizer' Busted in NYC Bomb Plot

'Lone wolf' Jose Pimentel was 'hour away' from finishing first bomb: Cops

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Animal-rights activist calls the trade 'disgusting'

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

New York City • Michael Bloomberg • horse • animal rights • PETA • Central Park • horse neglect • Dan Mathews

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

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More Newser Stories

Bloomberg: No Smoking in Central Park

Mayor wants to take ban outdoors to cover parks, walkways

New York Carriage Horses Get Raises, 5-Week Vacations

Horses now entitled to vacation

New Yorkers Living Longer Than Most of Us

City's life expectancy now 2 years above national average

PETA Sees Benefit to US Horse Slaughter

It's better than exporting them, group says

'Al-Qaeda Sympathizer' Busted in NYC Bomb Plot

'Lone wolf' Jose Pimentel was 'hour away' from finishing first bomb: Cops

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