![\"ryders](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ryders-law-rally-08142025-gerardlennon-1.jpg\" "\\"Push")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A group of animal-rights activists, including local politicians and advocates, rallied outside City Hall on Thursday, demanding that the City Council arrange a hearing and pass Ryder\u2019s Law to end the carriage horse industry for good.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Photo by Gerard Lennon<\/p>\n
A group of animal-rights activists, including local politicians and advocates, rallied outside City Hall<\/a> on Thursday, demanding that the City Council arrange a hearing and pass Ryder\u2019s Law to end the carriage horse industry for good.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dozens gathered near the Lower Manhattan building before the City Council\u2019s monthly meeting to support Intro. 0967 \u2014 also known as Ryder\u2019s Law \u2014 to eliminate the horse-drawn carriage industry in NYC. The rally comes more than a week after the death of Lady, a carriage horse who collapsed and died in Hell\u2019s Kitchen<\/a> on Aug. 5.<\/p>\n Queens NYC Council Member Robert Holden, who sponsored the bill, was at the event with fellow City Council Members Frank Morano of Staten Island and Chris Marte of Manhattan. Together with activists from NYCLASS, they pushed for an end to the \u201cantiquated\u201d industry, which has been operating in Central Park since the late 1800s.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has to end,\u201d Marte said. \u201cIt\u2019s 2025 and this is still happening in Manhattan.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Carriage horses should not be on the street: pols Holden said animals \u201care suffering\u201d as the council lags on the bill by not holding a hearing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have animals that are suffering,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to have the courage as a council to have a hearing on bill.\u201d\n<\/p>\n New to the council this year, but not new to the issue, Morano echoed these sentiments.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe streets are no place for horses, he said. \u201cWe need to do something now.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The rally comes just days after the Central Park Conservancy broke its neutrality on the issue by supporting Ryder\u2019s Law\u2019s passage.\n<\/p>\n Edita Birnkrant said the nonprofit\u2019s support is significant in the ongoing effort to stop the horse-drawn carriage industry in NYC.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the very caretakers of Central Park want this cruelty gone, and the majority of polled New Yorkers agree, the council and mayor have no excuse left,\u201d she said. \u201cWe cannot wait for more inevitable tragedies of more horses collapsing or dropping dead, crashing into vehicles, sending people to the hospital, or even causing fatalities. The time to act is right now, and the council must get this done before the year ends.\u201d<\/p>\n The carriage horse industry has been fighting the effort to eliminate it for years, led largely by Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100<\/a>, which represents the drivers. The union argues<\/a> that ending the industry would not only spark job loss, but it would also hurt the local economy. They also maintain that the horses used in carriage riders are better cared for despite the claims of animal rights activists.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is about the 7,000th NYCLASS rally with the same two dozen animal rights extremists who repeat the same lies about carriage horses, no matter the latest development,\u201d Christina Hansen, shop steward at TWU, said. \u201cThey have made the same spurious claims about horse health and safety that they have made since 2008.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n![\"people](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ryders-law-rally-08142025-gerardlennon-2.jpg\" "\\"Push")
Queens NYC Council Member Robert Holden, who sponsored the bill, was at the event with fellow City Council Members Frank Morano of Staten Island and Chris Marte of Manhattan. Together with activists from NYCLASS, they pushed for an end to the \u201cantiquated\u201d industry, which has been operating in Central Park since the late 1800s.Photo by Gerard Lennon<\/p>\n