Horse Drops Dead in New Orleans

Written by Jennifer OConnor

Posted 12-21-2011

Why a rickshaw was on Bourbon Street in New Orleans is anyone's guess, but for the horse pulling it, it was far from the Big Easy: He fell to the ground and was dead before humane authorities arrived at the scene. A witness reported that the horse appeared to be thin and not well cared for.

Mules have been used to provide carriage rides in the city's French Quarter for many years, and they often suffer when forced to haul oversized loads in Louisiana's notoriously muggy heat. It's time to get mules and horses off New Orleans' streets.

Please ask the City Council to ban carriage rides and any other conveyance pulled by animals in New Orleans. Click here to find contact information for the councilmembers.

Tags:

horses, New Orleans, rickshaw, carriage rides, mules

Recent Comments

julia commented:

Jun 5, 2012 1:44 PM

The horse that died in the French Quarter was a privately owned horse being driven by his owner hitched to a trail buggy NOT a rickshaw. This was a PRIVATE individual with a PRIVATELY owned horse without ANY connection to the mule-drawn carriages in the Quarter. This man was able to drive his horse in the Quarter because NOLA does not have any ordinances prohibiting people from driving their privately owned horse-drawn vehicles on its streets. THIS IS AS IT SHOULD BE because before there were polution-causing, fossil fuel guzzling motor vehicles there were horse-drawn vehicles. Horses are the original GREEN transportation. Horse owners pay taxes that help maintain the streets, too. Anyway, the mule-drawn carriages are regulated by the city, and there isn't any cruelty involved in driving carriages. You people need to learn the difference between work and cruelty. And, in fact, I have been told that it was some of the commercial carriage drivers and owners who first expressed concern and reported this individual in the past to authorities because they thought he had driven his horse too fast on the city streetsand was not driving in a safe manner. The 15 year old horse named Chico was necropsied by vets at LSU and NOT found to have been neglected or abused in any way. Chico's owner had voluntarily turned his body over to the SPCA because he wanted to know why Chico died. No conclusive cause of death was determined. Chico's owner has since sold or given away the two other horse he owned and no longer has horses according to friends of mine in NOLA.
Evlin Lake commented:

Jan 15, 2012 6:28 PM

We held a successful protest yesterday, Jan 14, 2011 for the mules... NOLA http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/Animal-activists-protest-use-of-mule-drawn-carriages-in-New-Orleans-137353353.html http://www.facebook.com/WWLTV/posts/274364389293772
Lynn commented:

Jan 13, 2012 11:53 PM

While I'm not COMPLETELY against this kind of thing, I favor a ban until an investigation can be made as to whether the animals are given adequate care, water and food. And whether the weight of the carriages is more than they should deal with. In general, I do not favor animals being used for this kind of thing if other means of transportation are available, and if they are used, doing so VERY conservatively.
Penni Norman commented:

Jan 13, 2012 3:31 AM

Stop the cruelty now!!! This is clearly abuse to the mules!!
Evlin Lake commented:

Jan 11, 2012 11:19 PM

New Orleans will PROTEST the Cruel & Inhumane Mule Carriage Ride Industry this Saturday Jan 14, 2012 at 1pm. Please meet along the Decatur Street side of Jackson Square where Carriages line up..., New Orleans, LA. If you have a fabcebook, you can see our event page for the protest... http://www.facebook.com/events/286653351382409/ Please sign our petition... http://www.change.org/petitions/campaign-to-ban-mule-drawn-carriages-in-new-orleans Thank you! Hope to see you all there!!!
Susan commented:

Dec 22, 2011 10:15 PM

I live in Charleston, SC and the same barbaric custom is still practiced here for the benefit of our tourist industry. They have instituted some measures that are precautionary, but still...it gets HOT here. Not a LITTLE HOT...a LOT hot. And these poor creatures are made to pull hundreds upon hundreds of pounds of lazy humans down street after street. If you can't see it by walking, you might not need to see it.
Kristin commented:

Dec 22, 2011 4:08 PM

When I visit downtown New Orleans, it DEEPLY saddens me to see these beautiful creatures lined up on the streets in either unbearable heat or bitter cold waiting for some tourist to take a ride on their carriage. I have never, in almost 30 years, seen handlers give water or feed to them during the day. They are expected to stand there like robots, waiting to do their "job". My heart goes out to them. I always go out of my way to pet the sad face of every mule or horse I see. God help them.
Daniela G. commented:

Dec 22, 2011 9:45 AM

In Fira, (Capital of the island of Santorini, Greece), there is a huge business made of having mules carrying people up and down a very long and steep footpath. This is just a few steps away from a cable car, but using the mules as transportation is considered to be a very traditional and entertaining thing. It isn't. It's actually something very very cruel. The enormous amount of animals are just kept for hours on end on a very short leash, under unbearable heat, all day, with no hygiene... It's trully heartbreaking to see animals be treated like this.
John Alexander Gibson commented:

Dec 22, 2011 3:13 AM

New Orleans need to ban these despicable acts of cruelty, horses should be free and should not be turned in to slaves, this exploitation of animals is a crime. A horse has payed with its life, how many more have to die before the council acts, if this was happening to humans people would go to jail, but once again speciesism is at the heart of the problem. Horses deserve to be cared for and free from pain and suffering!
Elena Ciobanu commented:

Dec 21, 2011 3:52 PM

People Stop abusing animals!!!!

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