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SALT LAKE CITY -- The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants Salt Lake City leaders to ban horse drawn-carriages.
The request came in response to an accident on Saturday in which a horse pulling a carriage with a family of seven got spooked and took off running. The horse eventually ran into a parked car. No one was seriously injured.
Related:
The Doug Wright Show
11 AM on KSL Newsradio: PETA wants an end to horse-drawn carriages in Salt Lake. Doug says those horses are pampered. Should we put an end to the carriages?PETA Director Debbie Leahy says in a press release the group is calling on the mayor and city council to act to prevent future tragedies.
"This incident should serve notice to the people of Salt Lake City that forcing horses to pull heavy loads through busy city streets is cruel and is an accident waiting to happen," said Leahy. "The only way to ensure the safety of passengers, motorists, and horses is to ban horse-drawn carriages."
The co-owner of Salt Lake's Carriage for Hire, Annette Overson, says the PETA accusations are wrong.
"We are close to our animals and we love them and we would like to continue our business," she said. "We just find it unfortunate that PETA or anyone would want to shut a business down over a single incident. We have a good track record."
Overson says accidents like the one that happened Saturday are rare, even though PETA says there are problems with horse-drawn carriages in nearly every city where the carriages are permitted.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
