April 24, 2020 Chicago, Illinois (USA): The Chicago City Council voted to stop issuing licenses for horse-drawn carriages in 2021. The new ordinance that goes into effect Jan 1, 2021 will not allow carriage operators to renew their licenses and the city will not issue new ones.
The debate over horse drawn carriages has waged for years. Animal rights activists calling the service unnecessary and cruel and supporters countering that the animals are treated well and the industry provides jobs.
In Chicago carriage regulations allowed 7 passengers. Horses were not allowed to work if temperatures fell below 15 degrees or higher than 90. Currently three companies and 10 licenses are active, down from 60 licenses at the 40 year old industry’s peak.
(Feature photo courtesy Nanamac47 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.or/w/index.php?curid=27998246)
Local Chicago News Report
Watch this 2019 local report that encapsulates both sides of the carriage horse debate.
The horse drawn carriage or caleche industry in Montreal ended earlier this year.
On the subject of carriage horses, learn the historical significance of the 2019 Cleveland Bay Horse foals born at Colonial Williamsburg. Tap2Read.
Week old Williamsburg Valiant investigates the turnout pasture with his birth mother, Fudge.
PC: Colonial Williamsburg
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