71% want NYC horse carriage ban after Ryder’s collapse: poll
It’s time to put New York City’s horse carriage industry out to pasture, a new poll finds.
The survey, released Thursday and conducted for animal rights groups, finds that 71% of Big Apple voters support a ban on horse carriages after a shocking video showed Ryder, an ailing horse, being whipped by its driver after the creature’s horrifying collapse on a busy Manhattan Street on Aug. 10.
The incident is being reviewed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The online poll of 501 city voters, conducted by John Zogby Strategies for Voters for Animal Rights and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, asked:
“In the past decade, there have been calls by some of the city’s elected leaders to ban horse and carriage rides because of numerous charges of abuse of the horses. Would you support or oppose such a ban?”
A total of 71.3% of voters said they supported a city law to ban horse carriages (43.7% strongly support, 27.6% somewhat support), while only 13.7% of respondents were opposed to such legislation and 15% were undecided.
Queens Councilman Robert Holden introduced legislation in July that would end the licensing of the horse-drawn carriage industry in the city and replace it with electric carriage options. About a dozen other council members have signed onto the bill.
The online survey found that 58% of respondents are pet owners.
The horse named Ryder fell to its knees in rush-hour traffic around 5 p.m. Aug. 10 on Ninth Avenue near the intersection of West 45th Street, and was flogged by his driver to get back up.
“An initial diagnosis determined that the horse was 28-30-years-old rather than the aforementioned 13-years-old, that it was malnourished, underweight and suffers from the equine neurological disorder EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis),” according to an NYPD report.
Ryder is now in retirement on an upstate farm.
Shown the Ryder video, 80% of voters said they were more likely to support a ban on the use of horse carriages and 81% said they wanted Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) to move forward with legislation that “brings an end to carriage horse cruelty in New York City.”
“It is disgraceful that we’ve allowed this inhumane industry and public safety threat to continue,” said New York native and actress Rooney Mara, an animal rights activist.
“The incident involving Ryder is only one of countless incidents captured on camera that show the reality of these horses’ lives. This industry is an embarrassment to New Yorkers and I implore Speaker [Adrienne] Adams to take immediate action to prevent further suffering and preventable deaths.”
Allie Taylor, president of Voters for Animal Rights, said “it’s no surprise” that the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers want to stop what she considers horse cruelty.
“Forcing horses to pull carriages on the busy streets of New York City is barbaric and we’re calling the City Council to swiftly pass legislation to ban horse carriages,” she said.
Animal Legal Defense Fund director Stephen Wells said there is “nothing romantic” about horses “forced to work rain or shine, on hot asphalt, and often to the point of exhaustion.”
Reps from the horse carriage industry dismissed the survey conducted by animal rights activists as biased and for exploiting the heart-wrenching Ryder video — an isolated incident.
But horse carriage driver Christina Hansen, a shop steward for Transport Workers Union Local 100 representing carriage industry workers, admitted the viral Ryder video has impacted public opinion.
“Everybody understandably upset by the Ryder incident. Nobody likes to see a horse down in the street,” Hansen said.
“But the horse carriage industry is highly regulated. We love the horses and take care of the horses.”
The poll also found that 90% of city voters said the “issue of animal welfare and rights” is very important or somewhat important to them, and 69% said they have “been aware of the mistreatment of horses (used in the carriage industry).”
Several cities — including Salt Lake City, Chicago, Camden, Treasure Island, Pompano Beach, Palm Beach, Key West, and Biloxi — have banned horse-drawn carriages.
The poll of 501 voters was conducted by John Zogby Strategies online on August 24 and has a margin of sampling error of +/- 4.1 percentage points.
In a statement to The Post, TWU Local 100 said: “What a surprise. A poll paid for by extremist animal rights groups – that wouldn’t even be in favor of pony rides – found that a majority of people agree with them about banning carriage-horse rides.
“This poll features loaded, biased-soaked questions with statements like ‘there have been calls by some of the city’s elected leaders to ban horse and carriage rides because of numerous charges of abuse of the horses.’ Ryder was a singular incident, and we welcome the ongoing investigation. These groups and Councilman Holden are exploiting this incident to advance their ideological and political agendas.”
