Thanks to everyone who put the pressure on the NY City Council, we finally have a bill – Intro 670 – that amends Section 17-329 Disposition of Licensed Horse of the Administrative code, which will require that the owner sell or donate the horse to either private individuals or a duly incorporated animal sanctuary, with a signed assurance that the horse will not be sold and shall be kept solely as a companion animal and not employed in another horse-drawn carriage business or as a work horse and that the horse would not be sold to auctions or slaughter.

The way the law works now, records are only required to be submitted to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOH) if the horse is sold within NYC.  But if the horse is sold outside the city, as most are  – such as at auction – no records are required.  This bill seeks to change that.  

There is a huge turnover of horses in the NYC carriage business, something of which the public is not aware.   There are a little over 200 working horses at any given time and upwards to one-third drop off the DoH horse registry  each year.  A recent analysis of the horse numbers over the last five years from 2005 through 2010 (acquired via the Freedom of Information Law)  revealed that a whopping 315 horses were no longer on the rolls.  The number is on the low end since the comparison represents a snap shot in time on any given date. There were many horses who came and went between the dates the information was received.

We know that some horses were found at slaughter auctions – Bobby II Freedom, who was rescued in 2010 and is now living at Equine Advocates in Chatham, NY.  Lilly O’Reilly who is honored on our web site.  She was rescued in 2006.  And Manhattan, a horse found at the kill auctions by a rescue group a few years ago.  These horses were found but how many others are not so lucky.  

Please sign our petition to NYC Council Members

These Council Members do not have e-mail addresses – Please call them:

Maria del Carmen Arroyo --   718-402-6130  

Charles Barron - 718-649-9495

Inez E. Dickens - 212-678-4505

Michael Nelson - 718-368-9176

Diana Reyna - 718-963-3141 

Peter F. Vallone, Jr - 718-274-4500

Jumaane D. Williams - 718-629-2900

These Council Members sponsored the bill – call to thank them and ask that they promote the bill and get others to sponsor it. They are not included on this petition because change.org has a maximum of 40 targets. 

Margaret Chin - 212-587-3159 - chin@council.nyc.gov

Daniel Dromm - 718-803-6373 – mmallon@council.nyc.gov.

Melissa Mark-Viverito - 212-828-9800 - mviverito@council.nyc.gov

Rosie Mendez - 212-677-1077 - rmendez@council.nyc.gov

Deborah Rose - 718-556-7370 – (no e-mail listed)