Carriage Horse Dies in Downtown Portland
August 7th, 2009 | 
Author: We’re working with the City to try and enact a ban on horse drawn carriages. Stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s the alert we sent out regarding the incident:
Help IDA ban carriage horses in Portland after tragic horse death
Please contact The City of Portland in response to the recent death of a 23 year-old horse, Balatore, who collapsed last Saturday after suffering a major heart attack while pulling newlyweds in a carriage during the ninth day of a heat wave where temperatures exceeded 90 degrees. Portland currently has no regulations for companies that uses horses to pull carriages.
KATU covered the story detailing how Balatore died in the streets of downtown Portland in front of the main branch of the library while pulling passengers in a cart with a “just married” sign on the back.
It is an unacceptable abuse to allow hoses to work in such extreme temperatures and older horses such as Balatore should have long ago been retired.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Please contact Dan Anderson, the City of Portland’s Bureau of Transportation liason, and politely request a complete ban on carriage horses within city limits.
Remind them that horses do not belong in the city, and there is nothing romantic about forcing a horse to pull heavy loads on pavement in the middle of traffic. This tragic example – Balatore’s death – should be a wake-up call to an animal loving city like Portland to make the compassionate choice to ban the carriage horse industry, falling in line with other progressive cities which have instituted a ban including Santa Fe, New Mexico, Reno, Nevada, Camden, New Jersey and Biloxi, Mississippi.
Horses simply don’t belong in the city. The hard pavement is dangerous for their joints and legs, the shoes used limit effective circulation and the horses do not have free access to much-needed water throughout their working hours. These horses are vulnerable to injuries, car collisions, exhaustion and, as in the case of poor Balatore, death.
Please immediately contact:
Dan Anderson, Public Advocate, Bureau of Transportation
dan.anderson@ci.portland.or.us
503-823-1384
You can also contact the mayor at:
Mayor Sam Adams
sam.adams@ci.portland.or.us
503-823-4120
For more information about animal abuses within the carriage horse industry or campaigns to protect working horses, please contact the NW Office of In Defense of Animals 503-249-9996 or matt@idausa.org.
Posted in Northwest Update
One Response to “Carriage Horse Dies in Downtown Portland”
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In addition, Paris, London, Toronto, and even Beijing have made carriage-horse rides illegal. In places that do have regulations, they're hard to enforce, as most anti-cruelty measures are.
I've learned that NYC's regulations allow horses to work nine hours in a 24-hour period, seven days a week, although the rules say they must have two days off a week and three months off in the summer. I wonder, though, how this is enforced; I imagine poorly, considering the large number of horrific horse injuries and fatalities in NYC.
What about the constant pollution these horses are exposed to for hours on end? I cannot fathom that they do not suffer from pulmonary disease or cancer with constant fumes in their face.
A day in the upper 90's could be as much as 50 degrees hotter on a sun-scorched street because of the "urban heat island effect" (caused by pavement and buildings absorbing heat and holding onto it at night), as opposed to one in the shade of trees [http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/07/trees_really_do_provide_oasis.html]
Horses do not belong in city traffic. They spook too easily and stressed horses bolt. There are far too many hazards for them.