Breaking News! Chicago Votes to Ban Horse Drawn Carriages By End of 2020

Chicago City Council voted on April 24 to ban horse-drawn carriages by the end of the year, according to WGN. The Committee on License and Consumer Protection first approved the ordinance in March.

At the end of the year, horse-drawn carriage operators will not be able to renew their licenses, nor will the city grant new licenses. In Chicago, many carriages operate in the Loop and around Michigan Avenue. Animal rights activists have been waiting for many years for the city to put this measure into place. According to the Chicago Tribune, the city has ten existing carriages with licenses.

Jodie Wiederkehr, who leads the Chicago Alliance for Animals, has been working for many years to ban the carriages in the city. She told the Chicago Tribune, “For two years, we have relayed information to aldermen and the mayor about how they (operators) overwork horses and violate laws intended to protect public safety. These horse operators refuse to self-regulate. … The city doesn’t have time to babysit this trade.”

Animal rights activists fought for multiple protections for horses in Chicago, including break times, no work during rush hours and temperature control measures to allow horses to rest when it’s too hot.

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk called the vote a “banner day for overworked horses.” Her full statement read, “This is a banner day for overworked horses in Chicago, who will no longer be forced to pound the pavement through extreme heat, thunderstorms, or blizzards and who are often deprived of even a drink of water, as the Chicago Alliance for Animals has documented for over three years. PETA and the CAA have supported this progressive ban every step of the way, and we have high hopes that this kinder, carriage-free city will influence others to follow suit, including New York—where a horse used for carriage rides died in Central Park earlier this year.”

Horse-drawn carriages are inhumane and cruel to horses. Horses endure painful, tight bridles and are forced to carry weight of up to 1,800 pounds. Horses endure tiny stables and a future of joint pain and arthritis if they are forced to serve this cruel industry.

Sign this petition to demand an end to the cruel horse carriage industry!

Read more about horse-drawn carriages in One Green Planet:

• NYC Passes Law So Carriage Horses Won’t Be Forced to Work in Extreme Heat, But the Fight is Not Over
• Protest in Central Park after Another Overworked Carriage Horse Collapsed and was Immediately Euthanized
• The Truth About Horse-Drawn Carriages in New York City
• Where do all the NYC Carriage Horses Go?
• Can Horse Carriages Ever Really Be Romantic?
• A Horse of a Different Color: Carriage Horses Are Neither War Horses Nor Work Horses

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