Where do Island council members stand on animal welfare issues?
Published: Saturday, December 03, 2011, 1:24 AM
By Letters to the Editor/Staten Island Advance
By JOHN G. HYNES
NEW DORP
The following letter was sent to all three of our Council Members, James Oddo, Vincent Ignizio and Debi Rose. All attempts to contact them have gone unanswered:
As the Council Members representing Staten Island, I am concerned that with the exception of Mr. Ignizio’s co-sponsorship and support of Intro 389 (now Intro 49), which would ban the use of wild animals in performances in [New York City], none of you have taken a stand on any serious animal welfare issues, including the corrupt and brutal carriage horse issue.
There is a bill (Intro 86) supported by New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets and many of your colleagues, which proposes the replacement of the carriage horses with replica antique electric cars. Not only is this a more environmentally responsible option for tourism, it completely eliminates the issue of animal cruelty and neglect, and the danger that a frightened horse poses to the public.
I hope you will all seriously review this issue, and join your other colleagues who have signed on to supporting and co-sponsoring Intro 86.
[The writer is a Department of Agriculture accredited veterinarian and New York member of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association. He practices at the South Shore Veterinary Practice in New Dorp. ]
By JOHN G. HYNES
GREAT KILLSOn Nov. 1, the Gothamist reported, “The results of a preliminary necropsy on a carriage horse named Charlie who collapsed and died in Midtown last Sunday show, ‘Charlie was not a healthy horse.’ According to the ASPCA, who performed the necropsy at Cornell, he ‘was likely suffering from pain due to pronounced chronic ulceration of the stomach and a fractured tooth.’ Dr. Pamela Corey of the ASPCA says in a release, ‘We are very concerned that Charlie was forced to work in spite of painful maladies.’During a meeting I had with Council Speaker Christine Quinn last year, I expressed my concern about the rampant abuse and neglect of these horses.Her response was “I have inspected those horses, and they seem well cared for.”
Ms. Quinn, you are a politician, not a veterinarian. You are not qualified to make assessments on the medical conditions of these animals. Your repeated lack of support for any significant legislation to improve conditions for animals in this city is well-documented. You are no advocate for animals, and your dismal record speaks for itself.
[The writer is a Department of Agriculture Accredited Veterinarian and New York member of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association.]
ASPCA failed carriage horses during Hurricane Irene
Published: Thursday, September 01, 2011, 1:15 AM
By Letters to the Editor/Staten Island Advance
By JOHN G. HYNES
GREAT KILLS
Despite mandatory evacuations, transit shutdowns from 12 p.m. on Saturday, the mayor’s directions to stay off the streets, and laws which state that carriages cannot work during “slippery conditions,” carriage horse drivers forced their horses to work all day on Saturday.
Mr. Ed Sayres, director of the ASPCA, and the humane law enforcement of the ASPCA have failed these animals again, as they are negligent in enforcing existing laws meant to protect these animals. A law that is not enforced is to be complicit in the crime.
This abusive industry is enabled by our mayor, the ASPCA, the very agency meant to protect these horses, and empowered by Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has killed all bills to take these horses out of harm’s way.
[The writer is a veterinarian and New York member of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association.]
OPEN LETTER TO THE ASPCA by Donny Moss – director of Blinders: The Truth Behind the Tradition
This afternoon, someone forwarded to me an e-mail from the ASPCA’s equine vet, Pam Corey. She was defending the ASPCA against all the complaints they have received about not doing a good job concerning the NYC carriage horse issue. NYC has recently been hit with quite a bit of snow and icy conditions and the criticisms were well founded.
But no one hit it quite on the head with such a sense of completeness as Donny Moss, the director of the award winning documentary about the carriage industry, known affectionately as Blinders.
In 2008, his documentary was released. Donny has continued to be a strong advocate for the carriage horses and for ethics in politics.
First off: this is Pam Corey’s response to criticism:
Since December 1st, New York City carriage operations have been suspended 12 times by ASPCA agents due to weather issues or cold temperatures (18 degrees in the winter.) The park drives are patrolled to evaluate safety of the surfaces and when icy or >slippery, the horse carriages are sent back to the stables. No horses left their stables today, February 1st, due to the ASPCA’s suspension this morning, due to slippery roads. Despite the fact that NYC Parks and NYPD officers, as well as inspectors from the city’s department of health and department of consumer affairs must enforce the laws regulating carriage horses,
The ASPCA agents are the only ones that travel to Central Park to examine the road conditions and take the air temperature. Complaints to this department from around the country state that the ASPCA does nothing to protect the horses. Our continued monitoring of the park and response to complaints shows that this is not true.
thank you for your concern about the carriage horses, we share it.
Sincerely,
Pamela Corey DVM
Director of Equine Veterinary Services
Humane Law Enforcement
=======================================================================
REBUTTAL: this is from Donny Moss
Dear Dr. Corey:
In response to your message, perhaps the following reasons explain why people around the country complain to the ASPCA about your handling of the carriage horses:
1. The ASPCA is silent when your voice is needed the most. At the Mayor’s public hearing on the carriage operator rate hike bill, Bloomberg stated, “The ASPCA has convinced me that the horses are treated humanely.” Why weren’t you at that critical hearing in front of the cameras to correct him and to testify in support of a ban? He could have vetoed the bill.
2. The ASPCA did not show up to Council Member Avella’s press conference announcing the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages. Why? Because you were absent in the press at that critical moment, NYers were left with the impression that it was just a bunch of animal rights extremists who support of a ban.
3. The ASPCA pulled out all the stops to preserve your oversight of the carriage industry when a bill was being considered to take it away from you. Why don’t you put that energy into fighting for a ban?
4. The ASPCA wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars of your donors’ contributions on a lobbying firm that you ultimately fired instead of just using your board of directors, your influence in the City, celebrity spokespeople and PR machine to publicly demand a ban.
5. The ASPCA has fostered an environment where carriage operators are comfortable defying your authority and the law. What, if anything, are the consequences for them?
6. The ASPCA allows the industry to state to the press that the ASPCA has never issued a cruelty summons. Could that possibly be true?
7. The ASPCA continues to give the public the impression that you’re monitoring the industry and protecting the horses when, in fact, your presence is sporadic at best and your absence is palpable on weekends, when the horses are working the most.
8. The ASPCA has publicly thanked Christine Quinn for pushing two marginal bills through the City Council at the expense of the carriage ban and other meaningful bills.
9. The ASPCA’s board member, Cindy Adams, wrote a column in the NY Post in April, 2010 congratulating Speaker Christine Quinn and the ASPCA for the passage of the industry bill that would give the drivers a rate increase but precious little for the horses. Why did the ASPCA not demand a retraction?
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On a final note, why is the ASPCA hosting a party in Palm Beach with Georgina Bloomberg to “celebrate the ASPCA’s recent efforts in protecting horses from abuse and neglect” when you have done so little to help and so much to hurt the abused horses in your own backyard?
NYC got hit with 19″ of snow last night and early this morning and it was declared by Mayor Bloomberg to be a “weather emergency.” Public schools are closed. Buses are suspended. Only subways below ground were running.
Emergency city agencies were working – such as police, fire, etc. Others apparently were closed.
this is from Mayor Bloomberg’s press conference, which is on the city’s web site:
“When the snow stopped falling at about 4:00 AM, the official reading in Central Park was 19 inches. This is roughly twice the amount of snow that yesterday’s evening National Weather Service forecast told us to expect. And we have now had the snowiest January in New York City history. We have had 36 inches since January 1st, breaking a record last set in 1925.
“The weather emergency that we declared yesterday afternoon remains in effect. Street cleaning and meter regulations will be suspended today and tomorrow. Clearing the streets remains our number one job – and to do that, motorists should please, please refrain from driving.
So while Mayor Bloomberg is wisely asking motorists to stay home so they do not get in the way of street cleaning efforts – the horse carriages were allowed out. From their stables, up to two miles from Central Park, they need to travel over side streets up 10th Avenue and then to the park. On the way back, they should be traveling down 9th Avenue, which is a direct route — not through Times Square as some do.
One witness said “For a while the horses couldn’t get to the water trough at 6th avenue, but at 11:15 a.m. a guy came to shovel it out. I didn’t recognise him so I asked if he was with the park but he said he was with the carriage drivers.”
Why did the ASPCA allow the horses out today? The ASPCA and the Department of Health refuse to answer our questions. Why does this small industry get to do what they want – who is afraid of whom. Are they really that politically connected?
Having worked on the carriage horse issue for the last four years, I think that
Donny Moss has raised important points (see his email below). Fundamentally, it
appears that Speaker Christine Quinn is using the animal rights community to get
elected as mayor without helping the animals in any real way.
The most important animal rights issues have not been addressed by Quinn, for
example: (1) Ban on horse-drawn carriages/replacing them with electric cars; (2)
Pets in housing (3) Ban on rodeos and on animals in circuses; (4) Ban on selling
puppymill cats and dogs in pet shops.
Passing two minor bills on tethering and licensing fees is reminiscent of
Quinn’s phony horse-drawn carriage “reform” bill last year that was merely
window dressing for a rate hike for carriage operators. Quinn’s “MO” of
appearing to take action for her own political gain without actually helping
animals is unconscionable, and we all have the responsibility to make sure that
she doesn’t get away with it. She does not deserve any support from the animal
rights community until she passes some of the meaningful bills that she has
blocked for her own political gain since becoming Speaker.
Jill Weitz
—– Forwarded Message —-
Subject: Quinn has co-opted one of our groups
Dear fellow activist:
We’ve been undermined. And we can’t be silent about it.
Christine Quinn has co-opted one of our own groups, NY-CLASS, to both work
against us and build support for her in the animal rights community. She’s even
provided them with the tools to do it — the licensing and tethering bills.
Here are the facts:
1. NY-CLASS was founded by the CEO of a real estate development company whose
business depends in part on a good relationship with the Speaker, Christine
Quinn. In 2009, he helped Quinn get re-elected by donating $2,000 to her
campaign – http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Nislick
2. The founder of NY-CLASS has told me several times since 2009 that Quinn is
holding him personally responsible for our campaign against her, and he has
implored me — with a sense of desperation and urgency – to suspend the
campaign. (Our campaign aims to protect the horses, not business interests.)
3. NY-CLASS is promoting Quinn’s licensing and tethering bills as “exciting” and
“groundbreaking” ”animal rights” bills. At best, these bills are a major
disappointment (See e-mail from me at the bottom of this chain).
4. In a separate message to supporters, NY-CLASS suggests that we should vote
for Quinn: ”If Quinn believes that this change will give her votes, she will
continue to react positively to more important . . . animal rights
legislation.” If Quinn wants our votes, shouldn’t she build our trust by
passing a “more important” bill first — perhaps one of the many bills that she
has blocked?
Christine Quinn and NY-CLASS appear to have struck a deal: If the founder of
NY-CLASS silences the anti-Quinn activists and builds support for her in our
community, Quinn will protect his business interests in the City Council. But
what happened to the horses in this deal? NY-CLASS’ effort to ban horse-drawn
carriages has been compromised.
Here are some other questions we should be asking:
1. Why is NY-CLASS working on licensing and tethering bills, which have nothing
to do with their mission or area of expertise?
2. What is NY-CLASS doing to help the carriage horses? Their website contains
no information about their activities and simply directs people to send letters
to City officials.
3. What happened to NY-CLASS’ electric antique car prototype? Activists have
been promoting this humane alternative (and the corresponding bill at City
Hall). Does it even exist?
Quinn’s deceit surrounding these bills and her attempt to generate support among
activists through NY-CLASS reinforce the need for us to educate the public about
why she should be voted out of public office for good.
By Letters to the Editor/Staten Island Advance