A Very ‘Merry’ Offer! PETA Will Chip In if Easton’s Beach Carousel Gets an Animal-Friendly Revamp

For Immediate Release:
October 9, 2024

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

The Newport City Council is exploring funding options to revive the Easton’s Beach Carousel, and PETA has weighed in by sending a letter to Mayor Xaykham Rexford Khamsyvoravong this morning offering to help with restoration costs if the city chooses only non-animal pieces for the carousel. PETA points out that the carousel’s archaic mechanical menagerie unintentionally normalizes animal exploitation and that replacing horses with cars, unicycles, tractors, airplanes, rockets, and bulldozers—or even more imaginative designs like shooting stars, rainbows, or brooms—would set a more up-to-date, compassionate example for children.

In the letter, PETA notes that horses and other animals used for rides and other forms of entertainment are often beaten to make them do what they don’t understand or want to do, deprived of all that’s natural and important to them like living free from spurs and a human on their backs, and even slaughtered for dog food and fertilizer once they’re too sick, old, or worn out to be of human use. The group also points out that an animal-friendly overhaul would reflect a shift in public opinion—which has sharply turned against animal-exploiting enterprises, including camel and elephant rides.

“Horses are affectionate, loyal individuals, not living taxis, and updating archaic carousel designs would help reinforce to impressionable young people that all sentient beings deserve our respect,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is eager to help the Newport City Council restore the Easton’s Beach Carousel with a modern spin that engages children’s imaginations and helps create a kinder world for all animals.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Khamsyvoravong follows.

October 9, 2024

The Honorable Xaykham Rexford Khamsyvoravong

Mayor of Newport

Dear Mayor Khamsyvoravong:

Greetings! I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally, including thousands in Rhode Island, with an offer: PETA would happily contribute toward the cost of restoring the carousel at Easton’s Beach if you’d please leave the horse figures in storage and include only animal-free pieces, such as cars, unicycles, tractors, airplanes, rockets, and bulldozers, which children are naturally drawn to, or even more whimsical designs, like shooting stars, rainbows, or brooms. Please allow me to explain what’s behind this perhaps unexpected but important proposal that reflects modern social evolution.

Times change, and our understanding of animals has greatly evolved over the past few decades. Animal-themed carousels unintentionally celebrate animal exploitation. Animals used for rides and other entertainment—including horses—are confined and in servitude, never free to pursue their own lives and interests. They’re also sometimes beaten, tormented, and slaughtered when their bodies wear out. For instance, a PETA investigation into the use of horses for racing revealed that horses are whipped, often medicated, and forced to race even while injured, frequently leading to broken bones or death. Horses used for carriage rides are often forced to toil in extreme weather, pulling oversized loads for hours on end, sometimes until they collapse, as indeed they do.

All animals are thinking, feeling, affectionate, and playful beings who form strong bonds with their offspring if permitted to keep them (a rarity). They crave freedom from oppression. Horses are herd animals who prefer to stay together always, graze for many hours every day, and form strong friendships, but animal-themed carousels reinforce the notion that these sentient beings simply exist for human entertainment, rather than that they are individuals with the same capacity to experience fear, pain, joy, grief, and love as any member of our species.

With people worldwide calling for an end to the exploitation of animals in entertainment, we hope you’ll accept our offer to create a merrier world for animals and set a compassionate example with your celebrated carousel.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid Newkirk

President