Projects

Campaign to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages in Philadelphia

The Pennsylvania Chapter of Friends of Animals is committed to banning horse-drawn vehicles in the City of Philadelphia. In order to generate profit to a few companies and provide entertainment to tourists, horses are harnessed to cart us around the city. The harder they work -- day and night, in all seasons -- the more money in tips the driver makes. They are obliged to work on hard pavement in dangerous, unhealthful and unnatural conditions.

This is an injustice to horses, who are social beings, and who evolved over the millennia to live with other animals and run free. Humans have long taken for granted our need and even our right to use them, but this is now being questioned. In a day when trains, trolleys and cars abound, in a time when human ethics expand to understand using animals in various forms of entertainment as injustice, the habit of using horse-drawn vehicles has been ended in numerous cities where it’s existed, including Beijing, Toronto, Las Vegas, Paris and London.

We are confident that the City of Philadelphia can find other ways to preserve and herald the historic richness of this city without resorting to a tradition that puts other conscious beings in harnesses for our amusement. Our message is simple: Horses are not commercial vehicles, and dominating animals is not romantic.

Read more about the problems with the horse-drawn carriage industry and find answers to frequently asked questions here.

What can you do to help?

  1. Avoid horse-drawn vehicles and tell everyone you know why they should never take a ride in a horse-drawn carriage.
  2. Contact Mayor Michael Nutter at 215-686-2181 or www.phila.gov/311/contact. If you are a Philadelphia resident, please contact your City Council member at www.phila.gov/citycouncil, and ask them to support legislation that will ban horse-drawn carriages.
  3. Volunteer to join our campaign or donate to help us ensure that the horses who have been exploited by the carriage industry can live out their lives in sanctuaries.
  4. Sign our petition

Valley Forge Deer

FoA joined CARE (Compassion for Animals Respect for the Environment) to meet the February deadline to oppose a proposal for deer control in Valley Forge National Historical Park. The Park, of course, is known historically as a 6-month headquarters for George Washington, and, more recently, as a safe haven for deer in suburban Pennsylvania. Parks officials hope to bring US Department of Agriculture agents into the 5-mile park, with orders to kill the vast majority of the deer over the next 4 winters, then spend future years controlling the deer with a lab-created birth control substance, most likely leuprolide, a hormone-based formula. It sounds like a large, chaotic experiment on the grounds of the now-peaceful Valley Forge Park—and for no reason. Since 2003, the Valley Forge Park deer population has decreased. In any case, deer need special concern in decisions involving the ecological balance of a space. Moreover, biologists acknowledge that coyotes are beginning to make a comeback, and coyotes could safely exist in a 5-mile park. The coyote population will take time to rebound, but this means we should promote their role in the ecosystem of our region. We call on FoA members to speak up for Valley Forge Park as a rare, safe spot for animal life in the midst of suburban shopping malls and road construction.

-- Lee Hall, Legal Director, Friends of Animals & CARE Board Member


The Vegan Pledge

This January, 30 non-vegans will pledge to try veganism for a month. Friends of Animals will provide vegan counseling in the form of vegan mentors, cooking classes, nutritional and health information, and even shopping classes. Meetings will be held on four Saturdays starting in January in Center City Philadelphia. A similar program was done in England by an organization called Vegan Campaigns. They experienced such great success with this program that Friends of Animals' Pennsylvania Chapter decided to pay them the highest compliment - copying them.

If you're interested in getting more information about pledging to go vegan with us, e-mail philly@friendsofanimals.org. It's a great step for the animals, the environment, and your health.

If you are already vegan and are interested in helping out by serving as a vegan mentor, e-mail philly@friendsofanimals.org. Or sponsor a vegan for a month by donating $50 through our online donation option with a note specifying that it is to "sponsor a vegan - vegan pledge." We also take donations at our mailing address: Friends of Animals, PO Box 30491, Philadelphia, PA 19103.