Allison Soule (UWS resident) testifies remotely on horse pipeline and turnover
Allison Soule, an Upper West Side resident, testifies remotely about witnessing malnourished, lame horses with drivers staring at phones, the Amish country pipeline, and over 500 horses leaving the registry in eight years with no verification of retirement.
Good evening, members of the Committee on Health.
My name is Allison Soule.
I'm a native New Yorker, and I live on the Upper West Side.
Thank you, Speaker Menon, for your historic leadership.
By backing Roe v.
Wanch's law last night, you proved this council will no longer look the other way.
For too long, the horse carriage industry has scapegoated its tragedies, from decades of horse deaths, including Ryder, to the devastating loss of Ramansh Mahajan.
Unbiased polls have consistently shown 70% of New Yorkers want the exploitation to end.
As a daily Central Park dog walker who tries to avoid the West 72nd Street entrance to spare my own heartbreak, I routinely witness the reality.
Many drivers sit staring into their phones, ignoring horses that appear malnourished and lame.
Exhibiting the classic head jerk and leg raise of an animal in pain.
The industry in part defends this with mandated five-week furloughs to the country.
But let's be honest about the pipeline.
Many are originally purchased from Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Amish country after years of exhausting farm labor, where whipping is well documented.
Even if they are allegedly resting during furlough, that environment follows them.
One driver admitted to me that his horse returned with a fresh whip gash on its nose.
After logging long days on concrete, these horses walk congested city streets back to cramped, poorly ventilated, fire-hazardous stables.
DOH data shows a massive turnover rate.
Records compiled by animal welfare groups showed over 500 horses left the registry over an eight-year span.
Horses are routinely dumped back into auctions, facing farm labor or slaughter, with no verification of true retirement.
Urban carriage horses are purely a tourist attraction, not a city's necessity.
Please pass Intro 943, mandate proof of safe retirement, and transition drivers into alternative employment.
Thank you.
A revanche and brighter.
I thank you for your consideration.
Thank you very much for your testimony.
Audra Gibson is next.
You may begin.