Horse Carriage Drivers Buck Proposed Heat Regulations

CENTRAL PARK, NY — New York City's horse carriage drivers are mobilizing against a proposal to enact a rule that would bar horses from being worked when the recorded heat index reaches 90 degrees, claiming that the rule is unnecessary and could actually have negative consequences for horses.

Carriage drivers believe that a bill currently being considered by the City Council is a way to weaken the industry by restricting drivers from picking up rides during the busy summer season, driver and industry spokeswoman Christina Hansen said.

Since 1989, drivers have been barred from working horses on days that reach or exceed a temperature of 90 degrees. Carriage drivers claim the regulation works perfectly fine, and changing the metric to heat index could result in preventing horses from working on days when the air temperature is several degrees cooler than 90.

Animal rights activist group NYCLASS, which is lobbying to pass the bill, disputes the assertion that current heat regulations prevent horses from injury. The group's executive director Edita Birnkrant says she has seen and recorded numerous videos of carriage horses suffering from heat-related stress.

"This is a common sense measure which would give carriage horses some needed relief on the very hottest days of the year. Both the city and National Weather Service take humidity into account for heat emergencies - there is no reason carriage horses shouldn’t," NYCLASS spokesperson Chris Coffey said in a statement. "Many cities are banning the horse carriage industry. We are just asking for horses to be treated with more dignity and respect."

Heat index, sometimes referred to as "apparent temperature," is a measure of how hot it feels when humidity is combined with the air temperature, according to the National Weather Service. The metric generally applies to humans.

Carriage drivers said that the new regulation will keep horses in their stables, which could pose unintended health consequences.

"If we were forced to go home at 90 heat index, many days we would not have even been allowed to leave the stable, as it would be a heat index of 90 when it was only 80 or 82 [degrees Fahrenheit.] It's not good for our horses to be forced to stay inside for days on end during the summer," Hansen said in a statement.

The City Council's Health Committee held a public hearing Tuesday on a package of animal welfare bills including the proposed regulation. Stables were closed so that drivers could testify at the meeting.

One driver, Jean Grassi, said the bill's true aim is "death by starvation" for the carriage industry. A self-described "friendly observer" of the industry, Patricia Saffran, noted that the council bill was not endorsed by equine veterinarians.

Supporters of the bill contradicted these statements by pointing out endorsements of the bill by veterinarians such as Dr. Holly Cheever of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Associatio. Many more animal-rights activists testified in support of the bill than those who testified against it during Tuesday's hearing. Jayna Sisbarro of the California-based Animal Legal Defense Fund said that current regulations do not protect horses because the recorded air temperature often differs from the hotter temperature at street level in New York City.

The legislation, which is proposed by City Councilmember Keith Powers and has 21 sponsors, was held in the Health Committee following Tuesday's hearing. A vote has not been scheduled for the bill.