VHS has written to Vancouver’s mayor and council, calling for an end to horse-drawn carriage rides in the city following this week’s near-disaster in Stanley Park.
Monday’s incident, in which frightened horses bolted on to the seawall pulling a carriage full of passengers, was a serious threat to both public and animal safety. The runaway carriage hit a park bench, throwing the driver and leaving panicked passengers to jump off. The horses were reportedly spooked by a car horn.
Anyone wishing to express their concerns to the mayor and council can email them. Our letter to the City and our position statement on carriage horses explain the reasons why these rides should be stopped.
Thank you for your support.
6 replies on “Please urge Vancouver City Council to ban horse-drawn carriages”
Please stop the use of horse-drawn carriages in the Park. Thank you.
Horse carriages must not be allowed. Although it sounds very romantic and like a fantastic attraction for the tourist afterall it’s a money grab and a business. Horses work long hours, in a hot summer days, they are dehydrated at times and not well cared for. This “attraction” is cruelty to animals.
The gentleman that cares for these horses does an outstanding job, those horses are his babies, he rests them, switches them out daily and hydrates them regularly. Also people who do not know anything about horses need to realize that the breeds that are used are “working” horses, they actually like having a job the same way some dog breeds enjoy pulling a kid around on a wagon. They can work up to 40 hours of hard-working farming at that before it would be too much for their bodies. It also is less costly to the environment. A carriage or wagon eliminates the use of fossil fuels and the potential risk of such fuels entering the grass birds sit on, the beaches, oceans, ponds that other animals currently inhabit in the area. I understand why people would have gotten scared due to the size of the animals but its happened once in how many years. People have died getting wiped out by the bikes in Stanley park…should we eliminate that too?
City of Vancouver,
It is not fashionable any longer to torment animals for human entertainment. Please stop this antiquated tourist “attraction” in your city. I’m pretty certain people don’t hoiday in Vancouver to go on a carriage ride with over worked horses. Get an electric cart to cart them around in and leve animals out of the city. They don’t belong there. Period. Join the 21st century.
stop this nonsense
Horses belong in a field not in the city