Veganacious

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The quaint charm of a horse-drawn carriage may bring romantic visions to your mind, but the reality behind the facade is anything but romantic. While Canada outlawed horse-drawn carriages over 100 years ago, the United States has yet to do so. The traffic, speed, noise, and congestion of New York City is no place for a small town girl like me, and defiinitely no place for a horse. Breathing in fumes from traffic, dealing with the constant noise and activity, harsh treatment and harsh conditions leads to lives of suffering. Living flesh is being pitted against machine on a consistent daily basis.

The pounding on horse bones, legs, and spine is very damaging. Most of these horses have much briefer lives than horses in a more natural setting.  The horse has no defense if a car or cab runs into him. Humans that are in the carriage, carriage drivers, pedestrians, and passengers in nearby cars are all at risk.  Due to the intrinsic properties of New York City life, there is no way to remediate the life of a carriage horse. It is toxic, dangerous and cruel. The horses are often under-watered to limit the amount of urination, which further damages the horse’s health.

The carriage drivers do not have any testing to see if they are competent to handle the horses. They have been seen punching horses in the nose, roughly grabbing the horses’ bit and hurting their mouth, and whipping horses without discretion. The drivers themselves are at risk, too, as they dart about in busy traffic, urging the horses to unsafe speeds to make a light or miss a cab. Mayor Bloomberg has supported the use of Hansom Cabs being used in the City without restriction. Let’s hope he is unaware of the torment these horses endure.

Because we are no longer in a time of horse drawn carts, we do not have water troughs on every corner.  The tubs they do use are unsafe, with polluted water, which can spread disease.These horses labor in heat, humidity, cold and snow.  The horses stand in sunlight during the heat of summer, in blizzards in winter. While there are laws designed to limit the time the animals are in adverse weather, it is often violated for financial reasons, and the laws are rarely enforced.

At the end of the hazardous and stressful day,  the horse are returned to…..a garage.  No stables, no grass, just parked as if they were commodities, not as if they had feelings, needs, and desires.  Horses are social herd animals, who need to run, lay down, romp and socialize with other animals. These horses are housed in multi-level buildings in the city with highly flammable hay.  The stalls may be only a standing stall, 4′ x 10′ is the minimum.  Most horses go between the confines of the stall bars to the confines of the carriage bars.   Trying to remove the horses should a fire break out would be nearly impossible. These horses have respiratory problems, bone and joint problems; some are emaciated and scarred. They have to endure the harsh concussive repetitive motions of pounding the streets and usually, also a lack of cushioning in their hooves.  This is a dangerous game for all concerned. And what awaits the horse at the end of their working lives? They go on the market and usually head to slaughter at auction. They end their lives by getting a nail gun to the head, usually repetitively, until they are dead, a cruel end for a brutal life — all for a few minutes of “pleasure” for people enjoying a carriage ride.

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Biz Stone, a co-founder of Twitter, has a new goal: getting healthy vegetarian food into schools.  He has contacted Rep. George Miller, chief of the House Education and Labor Committee, asking for support for the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act.  In the above YouTube video, Wyntergrace Williams (daughter of Montel Williams) pleads for better lunch options for kids. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act would add vegetarian options to children’s school lunches..

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Right in Austin, Texas, the heart of cattle country, barbecue, and obesity,* have come these five fire guys with their new vegan diet plan. Rip Esselstyn, the author of The Engine 2 Diet, had been a vegan for over twenty years when his co-fire guy James Rae (JR) tested 344 on a routine cholesterol screening.  That news, coupled with a family history of early heart disease for JR, led the  other four men to support his quest for health and go vegan in the firehouse.  In the process, JR lowered his cholesterol 150 points while the rest of the crew lost weight – some as much as 20 pounds! Esselstyn had been a pro tirathlete and swimmer before joining the firefighters; his father, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of Cleveland, had been doing research for over a decade with heart disease and had noted that a very-low-fat, plant-based diet along with cholesterol-lowering medicine could bring striking improvement in what otherwise would be considered terminally ill patients. Rip is aptly name – he is one ripped, healthy, athletic looking guy.

Specialist Rae tried eating vegan at the firehouse and then flexing to other foods on the outside. This failed to lower his cholesterol, so he expanded his veganism to a global eating plan which lowered his cholesterol under 200.   Matt Moore, Derick Zwerneman and Scott Walters are the other three firemen who go vegan at work.  Check out the  Engine 2 website here, which allows you to register, get diet and exercise tips, and join a community of other health-conscious folks. Rip Esselstyn takes all the hoopla in stride and admits some folks thing he is daft.  ”For compassion reasons and for environmental reasons, it’s the best way to go,” Esselstyn said of eating a vegan diet. The vegan firemen of Austin’s Firehouse 2 won the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA)  Animal-Friendly Firehouse of the Year Award in 2005.  These five men have demonstrated that firemen can indeed be heroes to the entire community, including the four-legged kind!

*   Nearly two-thirds (64.1 percent) of the state’s adult population is overweight (Texas).  See state report for more information.

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