Kathleen Schatzman (Animal Legal Defense Fund) testifies supporting ban
Kathleen Schatzman of the Animal Legal Defense Fund testifies about a 2014 FOIA lawsuit revealing dozens of hit-and-runs and injuries, commits to contributing transport costs for horses, and calls the ban a public safety issue.
Good afternoon.
My name is Kathleen Schatzman, Strategic Legislative Affairs Manager with the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
And I want to start by thanking you, Council Member Marte.
for introducing this bill, and to all of the 21 council members that are signed on in support.
We, too, are supportive and committed to this issue.
And the Animal Legal Defense Fund is contributing to the cost of transport for the horses should you vote to pass Intro 943, Ramach's Law.
I mention that because there has been discussion and talk about the cost and financial aspect of a transition.
We're all here as animal protection organizations.
However, make no mistake, this is a public safety issue.
In 2014, the Animal Legal Defense Fund's successful State Freedom of Information Act lawsuit revealed that New York City's carriage drivers had committed more than a dozen hit-and-runs over the previous five years and that children,
cyclists, pedestrians, carriage drivers, passengers, and NYPD officers had all been physically injured by accidents involved in New York City's horse carriages.
In one incident, and I think this just needs us to go into detail a bit, one child was rushed to the hospital after falling out of a carriage and run over by a wheel.
In another incident, a carriage driver was found by police lying in the street, not moving, after being thrown to the ground.
Another carriage driver was hospitalized in a coma after his horse became startled and collided with a station wagon.
This latest...
unimaginable tragedy exemplifies the urgent need to bring an end to the horse carriage industry in New York City.
A prohibition on horse-drawn carriages is the only meaningful way to definitively protect the public and the horses in New York City.
And we urge you all to pass Intro 943.
But I do want to make one last comment.
New York City is the greatest city in the world, and it will remain so without horse carriage rides.
Thank you very much.
Mia?
Okay, go ahead.