PETA Statement: Mayor Adams Steps Up for Horses—Speaker Adams Must Follow

For Immediate Release:
September 17, 2025

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Below, please find a statement from PETA Director Ashley Byrne in response to Mayor Eric Adams’ signing today of Executive Order 56, which prepares for the end of the horse-drawn carriage industry, and his directive to the City Council to pass Ryder’s Law, the city’s horse-drawn carriage ban:

The only people fighting for this dying industry are the horse-drawn carriage operators trying to make a buck off broken horses’ backs. Today, Mayor Adams heeded the cries from his constituency, the Central Park Conservancy, and every animal welfare group by calling for a ban on horse-drawn carriages. Now it’s time for Speaker Adrienne Adams to stop blocking this ban and get dangerous and cruel horse-drawn carriages off of New York City’s streets.

Ryder’s Law, named after a horse who collapsed on New York City streets and later died, would replace horse-drawn carriages with eco-friendly electric vehicles. The proposal came after video footage of Ryder lying on Ninth Avenue went viral, and reports that his driver slapped him, whipped him, and screamed at him to get up sparked outrage.

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 PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.