WHAT: Protestors will converge on Midtown’s Clinton Park Stable in response to news that a carriage driver falsified records to force a horse named Caesar to work into old age despite serious respiratory problems. The driver, whose history also includes a dangerous horse carriage accident last fall and citations for overcharging riders, allegedly switched hoof identification to trick the Department of Health into thinking 22 year-old Caesar was a 12 year-old buck to allow him to keep pounding the pavement in traffic. NYCLASS and PETA members will demand to know where ailing Caesar is now and why the driver is being allowed to continue working other horses. 

“Falsifying records to force an old, asthma-stricken horse to work shows the drivers have no regard for the law and no common decency,” says PETA VP Dan Mathews. “This is yet another example of why Mayor de Blasio is right about ending this shady business.” 

Another driver was in court this morning on charges of animal cruelty for working an injured horse Blondie.

What: Stefanie Sinclair, eyewitness to the carriage accident on Central Park South, will attend Tuesday's Stated Council Meeting and meet with City Council Members to tell her story and advocate for the removal of carriage horses from New York City streets. Stefanie, an attorney from Oklahoma who was visiting New York when she witnessed the accident, extended her vacation to share her story with Council Members. She will be joined by Dan Mathews, Senior Vice President, PETA. 

What: Jillian Michaels, star of NBC's "Biggest Loser" and a lifelong equestrian, will lead a rally on the steps of City Hall to support Mayor de Blasio’s plan to end the unsafe and inhumane use of horse-drawn carriages on city streets and retire the horses to sanctuaries.

Topic: Wednesday's Bus vs. Horse Incident 

Actor Will Be Targeted at His Upper West Side Condo

Fleet of Vehicles Would Be Manufactured in New York City

Prototype Designed to Take the Place of Horse Carriage

We fully support the freedom for editorial and opinion writers to express their views, whatever they may be. But when newspapers misuse their news staffs to gather information for their publishers' pet causes, then we should all be alarmed. Several months ago, Daily News reporter Erin Durkin was promised an exclusive look at the electric cars we are unveiling tomorrow (April 17), and she assured us multiple times that her story was for the print edition of today's (April 16) Daily News. Instead, her story did not run in the newspaper, and the opinion pages improperly took the fruits of her news reporting for their own use. We appreciate Erin's written apology for this ethical breach by her editors.

-Allie Feldman, Executive Director, NYCLASS

NEW YORK — A political battle is raging here over an iconic mode of transportation you might have used if you visited the city this winter: not the subway or yellow cabs, but Central Park’s horse-drawn carriages.

By Marc Santora, The New York Times