No one wants horses to suffer just so tourists can enjoy a carriage ride. But there is no evidence that鈥檚 happening. City council would be irresponsible to ban the horse-drawn carriages from Victoria streets based on the efforts of a small advocacy group, the Victoria Horse Alliance.
There are obvious potential issues with the carriage tours. It could be stressful for a horse to share the road with cars. Walking on pavement might be difficult. Drivers who were trapped behind carriages on a summer evening might have their own concerns.
None of those, however, have been established as real problems, and the city bylaws governing the horse-drawn carriages provide good safeguards. The horses must be examined by a veterinarian twice a year, and the vet must certify that they are in good health and capable of handling the work before a licence is issued or renewed.
The SPCA must approve the living conditions for the horses. And the carriages are barred from operating in congested areas during peak traffic hours to reduce stress for the horses and vehicle drivers.
The two companies that provide the tours have an obvious commercial interest in ensuring the horses are fit and well cared-for. Any signs of distress or maltreatment would drive most customers away.
Partly, this debate is philosophical. The Victoria Horse Alliance alleges mistreatment and cites the risk of accidents.
But the group also acknowledges that no matter how well the horses are treated, it will lobby for a ban on the basis that they are 鈥渆xploited.鈥�
鈥淓xploitation can generally be defined as the use of another individual, including other animals, for profit or personal gain,鈥� the group鈥檚 website says. 鈥淲e believe that when any individual human or non-human animal are degraded in this manner it injures the integrity of not just that individual, but all in the community.鈥� (The alliance is a project of the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada, which proposed a ban on all commercial and sport fishing, hunting and trapping in its 2015 election platform.)
The group鈥檚 position is that if a carriage horse cannot decide to shed the harness, leave the cruise-ship passengers behind and spend the afternoon browsing camas lilies in Beacon Hill Park, the work is cruel.
It鈥檚 a flawed argument. The person driving the carriage might also prefer to spend the afternoon in the park. But life鈥檚 exigencies mean people and horses work.
And it鈥檚 certainly no justification for a ban that would cost 70 people their jobs and eliminate yet another attraction in a region that has lost too many. The Provincial Capital Commission foolishly shuttered the Crystal Garden Conservation Centre, the provincial government abandoned the Maritime Museum of B.C. and private attractions have closed.
The region鈥檚 natural beauty is our greatest asset, but a strong tourism sector needs other reasons to visit and stay longer.
The carriage operators should be held to the highest standards of care for their animals, and if stronger safeguards are needed, council should introduce them.
But there is no convincing evidence that the horses are mistreated or suffering, or that public safety is at risk.
And, as a result, no reason for city council to take up this issue.
