Animal Abuse Protests In Bogota, Colombia Involve Semi-Clothed Activists Against Horse Drawn Carriages (PHOTOS)

Semi-clothed, masked animal activists gathered to protest against horse-drawn carts in Bogota, Colombia last week.

Animals rights organization AnimaNaturalis is urging the government to comply with a plan to replace all of the 1,709 horse-drawn carriages that are a common sight on the streets by January 31, 2012, Elespectador.com reported.

Mike Ceaser of Mike's Bogota Blog writes that the drivers, or zorreros, often use their carts to scavenge and resell junk, and are being called by the government to trade in their horses for motorized tricycles. He writes that animal activists claim the horses are overworked and underfed, and city officials say the carts tangle up traffic.

On September 6, up to 80 activists formed a heart for 45 minutes at Plaza de Bolivar with signs promoting the dignity of animals and the dignity of humans by removing working animals from the streets, El Espacio reported.

According to UPI, more than 2,470 families rely on the horse-drawn carts and are being left in limbo as they wait for a decision about their livelihoods to be made by a government who places little importance on the issue. The author of Mike's Bogota Blog says the zorreros are "overwhelmingly poor and uneducated," and are unlikely to make an easy transition to motorized vehicles.

A carriage ride accident in New York City this summer sparked newfound anger over the city's treatment of the horses. New York State Senator Tony Avella and Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal introduced legislation in June to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City. According to Gothamist, Avella said at the time, "We can no longer turn a blind eye to the mistreatment of these animals." Learn more about supporters of the NYC ban here.

Check out photos from the Bogota, Colombia protests below:

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Comments

[ashabot]

10:27 PM on 09/14/2011

I doubt the critics of compassion posting here have actually seen for themselves the horrific, heartbreaking condition of cart horses in Central America. It is criminal abuse by any standard.

[TomP100]

10:06 PM on 09/13/2011

More contempt for the poor, who depend on these carts for their livelihood, by wealthy, sanctimonious animal rights elitists. Absolutely disgusting.

[ashabot]

10:24 PM on 09/14/2011

Bah.

[Donald Kinge]

06:59 PM on 09/13/2011

There's a big difference between mistreating the horses and using them in the first place. I'm all for proper treatment but to suggest that horses shouldn't be used is ludicrous. They've been beasts of burden for thousands of years with no ill effect. Without human intervention how many horses would be killed because they have no habitat?

[DebbyM]

09:01 PM on 09/13/2011

What on earth do you mean "no ill effect"? Are you insane? Horses have been brutalised for centuries and it continues today. Thousands of horses bred just looking for a racing champion and what happens to all the loosers. Mares confined in stalls for the sake of menopausal women who are more interested in not having hot flashes than in the miserable lives and deaths of those horses and their foals....race horses breaking down on tracks everywhere, rodeo horses shocked to buck and how many of them break their legs or crash into fences? Carriage horses forced to work in unnatural conditions amongst the nightmare and pollution of continuous traffic? It's all mistreatment and if they weren't used, they wouldn't be born and so wouldn't suffer. And do you know how many of those horses wind up on meat trucks to Mexico or Canada already? They are being killed because what else can you do with all the tragic animals that an unfeeling humanity continues to bring into existence? No ill effect indeed!

[StLucie]

04:16 PM on 09/16/2011

Newkirk should stop her insulin immediately, so as not to appear hypocritical.

[Donald Kinge]

10:31 AM on 09/27/2011

I mean that for thousands of years horses were used and there was no ill effect. I thought that was a pretty straight forward comment, apparently reading comprehension is different between us. I did say that I'm all for proper treatment and many of the situations you described are not considered proper treatment (which means I would disagree with them as well). What is wrong with horses as meat? It's ok for us to eat cows and sheep, so why not horses? I don't, but I'm curious why it's so wrong in your opinion. I've seen many horses used on farms (particularly in Amish country) where the people aren't exactly "unfeeling" but use their horses and take care of them. Same goes for most horse owners that put them in stables and take care of them. According to you they should not be there though...strange differences between us.

[Dede Eagleburger]

04:06 PM on 09/13/2011

What will happen to the horses, if they lose their jobs? Do the activists think that far ahead??

[Dragontech]

03:22 PM on 09/13/2011

So they will consider it kinder to the animals pulling the carts the fate that awaits obsolescence? If the zorreros replace the horses with motor vehicles, the horses become a surplus liability that these poor families cannot afford. The horses would, in all likelihood, then be destroyed. Will this "dignity" make the animal rights groups happy? Would it not make better sense to ensure that these animals are provided for appropriately by their owners? Mankind has used horses and dogs to pull loads for thousands of years. We KNOW how to do this in a way that preserves the health and well being of the animals. THAT should be the goal, not getting yet another noisy, smelly internal combustion engine on the streets.

[DebbyM]

09:07 PM on 09/13/2011

There is no dignity in being an animal. Sometimes they have the good fortune of being a cossetted pet, and for the most part they are a commodity that is used until it is worn out or sick and then it is killed brutally. If those horses were killed tomorrow because the Animal Rights people got the industry shut down, at least they wouldn't live the miserable lives that they do for the next ten years. And if they last ten years, they'll be killed then. They are not kept as pets when they are no longer of use. They are killed! Do you honestly think these people are doing the best to preserve the health of those horses? Get real!

[Kim Slama]

02:11 PM on 09/13/2011

Some people actually consider the abuse and enslavement of non-human animals a comforting tradition. They are threatened by the idea of ending the abuse. These same people fail to see the connection between non-human animal abuse and the abuse of underprivileged human beings. Consider for a moment your own socioeconomic position. Unless you are the CEO of a major corporation, you may not be as far above these enslaved animals as you think you are.

[DebbyM]

01:41 PM on 09/13/2011

To Ripdash who said "Colombians show more dignity towards their animals than what CONservati­ves show for their own citizens.

So you think bullfighting is showing decency and respect to animals, because that goes on in Columbia too. Perhaps you should do some research before you make such silly and baseless comments as you've done.

[No-name-plz]

09:57 AM on 09/13/2011

Maybe the 80 activists should be compelled to feed and clothe 2470 familes before being allowed to impose their beliefs on others.

[DebbyM]

01:25 PM on 09/13/2011

Maybe you should grow a heart.

[TomP100]

10:11 PM on 09/13/2011

The only response you can offer to a valid point is a spurious ad hominem attack? The fact that no-name-plz puts the needs of the poor before the desires of misguided animal rights activists shows he/she has plenty of heart. Perhaps it's the AR crowd that needs to grow some heart and compassion for their fellow human being.

[Honest-Frank]

08:54 AM on 09/13/2011

Do they not understand that by getting rid of the horses and replacing them with engines that they will be contributing to Global Warming! The Humanity!

[karen lyons kalmenson]

08:44 AM on 09/13/2011

way to go!!!!!

perhaps we should try the same approach to end the horse and carriage trade on the busy, mean streets of NYC

[Robert Frank]

07:17 AM on 09/13/2011

anywhere in the world where animals are abused , mistreated, tortured, neglected or put to sleep on an industrial scale you will find human insanity...and that's pretty much almost everywhere on earth save a very few places...

[karen lyons kalmenson]

08:45 AM on 09/13/2011

a few oases of decency in a desert of moral dust

[Flying Sparkz1]

02:51 AM on 09/13/2011

Before the last elections, the democrats sent down some of their spin doctors to help the ruling party get re-elected. It looks like those lessons of spin were well learned. No doubt these animals are abused. They are beasts of burden serving poverty stricken owners. For all the aid we give Colombia, it seems not much is being done to reduce poverty and the extreme gap between rich and poor. The severe exploitation of working animals though out the third world is the direct result of poverty. If the city of Bogata wants to rid their streets of poor junk scavangers what better way than to claim they are doing it for the horses.

[democrats for life]

02:17 AM on 09/13/2011

there is a guy there in the picture who looks like he is Bush's brother

[LMPE]

01:12 AM on 09/13/2011

You go Colombians!

[ceez]

12:46 AM on 09/13/2011

IMO I believe horses should not be used to ride or pull carriages. They are such strong and beautiful animals yet we think that we have a right to sit in them and use them to pull carts.

[dadman1257]

09:14 AM on 09/13/2011

Amen. Hope the ban takes effect very soon in NY, and has a positive reaction on others trying to do the same.

[Dragontech]

03:26 PM on 09/13/2011

Except that if they are not ridden, not pulling carts or wagons, then people will not keep them, they make terrible pets. They would be destroyed, as thousands of wild horses are every year here in the US because they damage the wild lands they inhabit. Large mammals that don't "pull their weight" in our society are not given much value. And we humans show little regard for allowing them to live simply because "they are beautiful"