Here's a good report by an NYU student on the problem of New York City's horse-drawn carriages. Yes, I said Problem. A good point was raised here, will New York City cease to be a great tourist destination if the horse-drawn carriages were eliminated? You know the answer to that. To which, I raise my own parallel point: does a ride on an NYC horse-drawn carriage figure prominently in the plans of tourists coming to New York? I don't think so. If anything else, I think it comes only as a second thought. So, why don't we get rid of this inhumane business? I mean, eliminating horse-drawn carriages isn't like closing down the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The New York Public Library or the Empire State Building, is it? I've lived five years of my life in the city, and I have worked on Fifth Avenue for nearly thirty years now. I have never ridden on a horse-drawn carriage, never had the desire even when I wasn't an animal rights activist, nor do I consider them representative of my city.
When a member of the animal or plant kingdom goes extinct, there will be no second chances. Evolution will simply not repeat itself. There are reportedly eighty bird species that are unique to the Philippines and many of them have already made it to the endangered list. And we, to a great extent, have indiscrimate hunting to thank for it. In spite of two national laws protecting Philippine animals, the carnage continues unabated. The killings could occur as arbitrarily as guys getting together for macho time, or as a result of a well-planned hunting trip involving speed boats, bird callers, and camouflaged outfits. Either way, the outcome is the same. Philippine wildlife, our natural treasures, inches closer to a state of irreparable vacancy. Not too long ago, we learned about the Bacolod Air Rifle Club (BARC) whose unbridled killing of Philippine birds and ducks became the subject of an online petition calling for immediate government intervention. My post on that most disturbing c...
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