Opinion

HEARTLESS ABOUT HORSES

Steve Dunleavy, carriage-driver crony, likes to call anyone who cares about, or has compassion for, animals wackos, extremists, idiots and fools. “All Horse Feathers” (Oct. 15) is yet another charming Dunleavy column.

All horsing around aside, the only thing odd here is that New York City still allows these 19th-century, slow-moving carriages to operate in heavy city traffic. Now that’s both extreme and wacky.

Elizabeth Forel

Manhattan

Horses pulling carriages through the foul fumes of Fifth Avenue traffic die all too frequently.

It doesn’t matter if they’re spooked, get hit by a car or collapse from heat, it’s a death that should not happen. That it happens to be a horse makes it no less awful.

How shameful that Dunleavy hasn’t the compassion to feel the least bit sad at the death of a beautiful animal.

If he thinks that this isn’t the direct result of the horses working for the carriage industry, then perhaps his thinking process has gone askew.

We “extremists” will not give up on these graceful creatures and will continue to fight the good fight – with or without Dunleavy.

Judy Purcell

Queens

Who, besides those profiting from their labor, actually believes that horses belong on the bustling streets and parkways of New York City?

As a regular visitor to the city, I know that at the end of a day I feel battered, out of breath and wrung out – and that’s from sightseeing.

I see these horses sucking up car fumes, plodding on the scorching asphalt and hauling loads of tourists who, shall we say, would benefit more by walking.

The tradition is archaic and cruel, and its time is done.

Philip Tripp

Fort Erie, Ontario

Dunleavy refers to animal activists as “wacko” because he just doesn’t get it, and he attempts to hand us a load of manure instead of looking at the facts.

Horse-drawn carriages in today’s congested cities are an absurd anachronism, as evidenced by the frequent incidents of spooked horses.

It’s time to put aside foolish romantic notions and reject the slick but unconvincing arguments of the industry. Zelda Penzel

Manhattan