As you point out, they are not pets. These 2,000 pound Draft horses have been bred for hundreds of years to do the work they are doing. They are expensive to feed, take up a lot of space, require special draft horse shoes, worming, vet visits, etc. We can reasonably estimate care for each of these horses to be about $7,000.00 per year.
Mean while horse meat can be sold by the pound. 2,000 pounds, that's a lot of meat. Transport and slaughter is brutal. Google: Horse Slaughter Business
If you take 10 horses (no idea how many any one carriage company owns, this is for estimate purposes only) out of work, the owners now have an $70,000.00 bill and no income.
What are your provisions for purchasing and re-homing all of these horses? Do you own property? Are you adopting all or any of them? Don't say "someone" will solve the problem. You are advocating for this measure on humane grounds, what responsibility are you taking for what happens to these animals post job?
Really the answer to preserving the historic character of Savannah's squares is to bring it back to the 1870's. Pedestrians, pedal vehicles, trolleys and horses only after 7:00 PM. Now we have no traffic problem and an area that is MORE likely to draw tourist dollars as we become totally charming
Regulate the heck out of carriage horses. Agreed. No horses out when the temperature goes over 90 or under 35. Ban cars from the squares after dark unless the car carries an 'historic district resident' sticker. Now we have people strolling happily in the evenings the quiet broken only occasionally by the braying of trolley drivers and the soothing clip clop of a safe and comfortable horse doing what draft horses have been bred to do for hundreds of years. Crazy idea? Perhaps, perhaps not.
Finally, the argument that carriage horses "exist solely for the pleasure of people and to make a profit for their owners." is silly. The same argument might be made for sellers of ice cream cones, cookies and cocktails. What a glum world this would be.
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Mean while horse meat can be sold by the pound. 2,000 pounds, that's a lot of meat. Transport and slaughter is brutal. Google: Horse Slaughter Business
If you take 10 horses (no idea how many any one carriage company owns, this is for estimate purposes only) out of work, the owners now have an $70,000.00 bill and no income.
What are your provisions for purchasing and re-homing all of these horses? Do you own property? Are you adopting all or any of them? Don't say "someone" will solve the problem. You are advocating for this measure on humane grounds, what responsibility are you taking for what happens to these animals post job?
Really the answer to preserving the historic character of Savannah's squares is to bring it back to the 1870's. Pedestrians, pedal vehicles, trolleys and horses only after 7:00 PM. Now we have no traffic problem and an area that is MORE likely to draw tourist dollars as we become totally charming
Regulate the heck out of carriage horses. Agreed. No horses out when the temperature goes over 90 or under 35. Ban cars from the squares after dark unless the car carries an 'historic district resident' sticker. Now we have people strolling happily in the evenings the quiet broken only occasionally by the braying of trolley drivers and the soothing clip clop of a safe and comfortable horse doing what draft horses have been bred to do for hundreds of years. Crazy idea? Perhaps, perhaps not.
Finally, the argument that carriage horses "exist solely for the pleasure of people and to make a profit for their owners." is silly. The same argument might be made for sellers of ice cream cones, cookies and cocktails. What a glum world this would be.