June 4th: Horses Without Carriages International Day

Saturday, June 4: For the occasion of Horses Without Carriages International Day, with

LAV - Lega Anti Vivisection Onlus comes to the streets of Rome to show their opposition to the continuation of the cruel and anachronistic horse carriages.
The botticellle are based on the exploitation of poor horses enslaved in the name of a tradition that no longer has any link with the identity and image of contemporary Rome. According to a recent online survey of Repubblica.it October 2010 as many as 89% of Roman advocates the abolition of the barrels.

The initiative is aimed at all groups and all citizens who wish to demonstrate peacefully. Information materials will be distributed and you can sign the petition OIPA.

It is time to abolish the horse carriage industry in Rome NOW!

The Beginning of the End?

Recently in Rome, 11 of the vetturini, or coachmen asked to change their carriage license permits to taxi licenses. this is allowed due to a resolution from 2010. Does this mean carriages are slowly going to be faded out in Rome? Maybe these carriage drives realize that we will never stop fighting for the horses until this industry is totally abolished. We don't want more laws that are never enforced, we want the industry banned for good.

The next big question is what will happen to these horses. Will they find sanctuary or the butcher?

This is translated, albeit poorly, by me, from the article in Il Messaggero:

11 Carriage Drivers in Rome ask to change their permits from horse drawn carriages to taxi

Laura Bogliolo

ROME - They're trying to change jobs, leaving behind the carriages drawn by weary horses, forced to survive in the traffic of the center. Eleven of the 42 carriage drivers working in the Capital have asked the Department of Transportation to change their authorization to a taxi license. These requests date back to December, when directing the Department of Transportation was Sergio Marchi. In recent months, the drivers continued to express a willingness to change jobs and have met with the department. They are not asking for new permits but rather, a change in the type of permits already issued. The possibility of transforming a carriage license by coachmen into that of a Taxi license is due to a municipal resolution adopted a year and a half ago.

"There is a resolution that the council passed in the courtroom,” -said the Minister for Transportation, Antonello Aurigemma, “ Once we receive requests the Department and the Board will only respect the will of the Council, we welcome such requests, and the offices will work to initiate the process that leads to the issuing of of taxi licenses.”

“It’s all set,” explains Luca Gramazio, “The resolution allows this because the service offered by coachmen also concerns public transport." Simply change the type of license from carriage permit to taxi license. The issue of the botticelle is still a very controversial issue. Recently, the Undersecretary of Health, Francesca Martini, has requested that the city the city prepare warning signs in the areas where the coachmen park, which indicate the time schedules and obligations for the drivers. Not only that, Martini, in response to a question of five members, has listed all the measures that the City should have taken and included in the regulations governing the taxi should include the carriages.

Among these improved controls for the protection of animals which are still often forced to operate in the hottest hours and without rest would be the creation of protected routes with the provision of equipped parking areas and provision on operating hours.

Too many problems are still unresolved, including poor sanitary conditions, the crimes committed daily by coachmen with horses going at a trot (a practice forbidden) and next to the driver (the law prohibited for security reasons), as well as horses being forced to work during forbidden hours. In Defense of Animals has also drafted the actress Franca Valeri, who in a letter sent to Il Messaggero, appeals to save the worn out horses, with their head locked to the ground, forever locked in old blinders. "Rome - wrote Valeri - has no more space, or wind for a carriage ride."

Happy Valentine's Day!!

NOT SO HAPPY FOR HORSES IN ROME!!

Say no to a ride! JUST SAY NO!!

How trashy is THIS guy? Does his cruelty towards horses turn you on?

A CARRIAGE RIDE IS NOT ROMANTIC, DON'T BE A CRUEL VALENTINE!!!

Un giro in carrozza non è romantico, non essere crudele per SAN VALENTINO!

Photos of Horse Drawn Carriages in Rome

Birillo is one of many casualties of this cruel industry. Here he is dying after a traffic accident.

Horse that has Collapsed in Piazza Navonna

His name was Legoli, he was a champion. When they decided it was time for him to retired, they sold him to work as a carriage horse. He died afterone long hour of agony and pain after being hit late at night by a car. Please note that the law states that a horse cannot work for more than 6 hours a day. Why was he out so late at night?

Horse Carriage in Traffic

Horse dying in the streets of Rome: Birillo



How many more horses need to die or collapse before the mayor of Rome bans this outdated and cruel industry. When in Rome, please do not cause suffering to animals!

False Hope

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7913458.stm

In February of 2009, the BBC falsely reported that,

The 44 horse-drawn carriages will be confined to parks during the week, under plans drawn up by the city, and allowed in the centre only at weekends. They will be replaced on weekdays by electrically-powered vintage cars.


This is absolutely FALSE. There have been no plans to move the carriages to the parks and off the chaotic streets of Rome, nor have they been replaced by vintage electric cars. There are plans underway to introduce the electric cars next Spring, but this is problematic. The city plans to put them in the same places as the horse drawn carriages, and this will ultimately lead to a failure of the program. Unfortunately tourists have been falsely led to believe that horse drawn carriages are a more traditional and romantic means of transportation. They have been led to believe that the horse drawn carriages have existed for centuries as a means to transport people in the city, when, in fact, they were only ever used for the transportation of goods in Rome long before the invention of cars. They were used before Rome ever had the chaos of congested streets or severe pollution that comes with cars and scooters. Don’t be fooled! Say NO to a carriage ride

Ban the Horse Carriage in Rome

The so-called "botticelle" that is, the Roman horse-drawn carriages are not a tradition of transport for people, but represent a degeneration of what was their original meaning and purpose. In fact, the "Botticelli" owe their name to the barrels: the carriage pulled by animals in 1800’s was used solely for transporting goods, and barrels in this case. There was never a "tradition" of tourist transport, therefore, as misleadingly one wants to make the tourist believe.

Nowadays there is no need to justify the use of animals for transport or freight, let alone people. Tourists can have, in Rome in 2009, many means of locomotion, extremely comfortable, fast, with accessories for every need, and far cheaper than the carriage. As well as transportation that does not cause suffering to horses.

Horses are obviously subject to a state of continuous suffering, being forced against their will to haul extremely heavy loads every day (more than one ton, the empty carriage weighs 800 kg ...). The working conditions are inhumane and the animal is brought along fast roads (like the Tiber) where the proximity of cars, speed and the roar of traffic so terrific, with the serious consequence of accidents, often fatal, while the horses are often forced to travel on uphill on cobblestone pavement which is slippery and uneven. These cobblestones, known as Sam Pietrini creates further discomfort when a horse is forced to stand on them without movement, often for many hours. The conditions worsen in summer when the hot sun makes the effort even more unbearable. And yet, the drivers pay no attention to laws, nor are laws enforced.

In times past, the horses traveled on isolated and relatively quiet roads in Rome. Today, the crazy traffic, chaos, smog, the sounds of horns, the speed of vehicles and scooters whizzing close to the carriages, etc. .. make this means of transport absolutely unfit to the conditions of congestion in the city. The carriage is so configured a practice that is deeply anachronistic and certainly cruel to horses, and is thus there is no longer any reason for them to exist today.

The drivers are only interested in making the most profit from this activity and therefore do not care the in the least about the well-being of the animal. The horse is forced to work in unbearable conditions some prohibited under the current regulations (Article 46 of the Rules of the City of Rome for the Protection of Animals)but are frequently observed that the maximum number of passengers is never observed, that the ban of working horses from 1pm to 4pm in the summer season is regularly violated, as well as to not go uphill, not to go at a trot, not to work more than 6 hours per day, etc. .. The carriage drivers also are not subject, like other workers (traders, taxi drivers, etc ...) to any official price list, being able to make money at will and come to ask even $ 300 per trip, all while not paying taxes to the state as there are no price regulations or receipts.

Two fatalities occurred at close range, one in June and November 20 2008, are clear indicators of a condition that is not very sustainable, and cannot last, if not continue to jeopardize the safety of people and horses. The risk factor for accidents is too high and stems from the incompatibility between the nature of these fearful animals, and the state of congestion of the streets of Rome.

Please support our mission: Ban of Horse Drawn Carriages in Rome

Sign our petition

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/ban-horse-drawn-carriages-in-rome

For more information on the Carriage industry in general:

http://www.banhdc.org/