Hold your horses: critics take aim at carriages

Horse-drawn carriages are a familiar sight in Melbourne's CBD and the horses are always popular with tourists, but not everyone thinks they should be working Melbourne's streets.

By EMILY PERRY

At the end of a North Melbourne laneway lies what appears to be an abandoned site, bordered by tin panels and wire fencing, with space for several shipping containers.

Within these wire walls stand eight horses, divided by a few meters of thin string. They have little room to move. One horse has partial cover from a metal sheet attached to the tin shed, which seems to be the only available shelter on the site.

Facing the stables are three carriages, all parked under shade between the shipping containers. This yard is home to some of Melbourne’s horse-drawn carriage horses, only 15 minutes from the center of the city.

The carriages are a common sight trotting through the CBD, driven by handlers clad in colourful costumes and drawn by feather plumed horses . It is this image that tourists see on arrival in Melbourne, and it has become an entrenched part of the local tourism industry.

But not everyone loves them. An online petition on change.org, addressed to Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, was launched in March this year by a group calling itself Melbourne Against Horse-Drawn Carriages.

More than 1500 people have signed.

Organisation member Kristen Leigh says the petition was inspired by seeing the number of people on Facebook and other forums who had concerns about the horses.

“It’s a CBD, it’s not designed for horses. It’s dangerous and unfair on them, bad for their health and an exploitation of animals,” she says.

“Especially over the summer with the heatwave, just how many people were concerned, annoyed and upset – not just by the horses being in the CBD on really hot days, but the yards that they stay in.

“One person mentioned that there was no water at one of the yards and it was a 35-degree day or something ridiculous, with no shelter, no shade,” Ms Leigh says.

According to the RSPCA the use of horse-drawn carriages as a form of entertainment in Melbourne's busy CBD streets has always been a concern.

The horses have to contend with vehicles, trams, pedestrians, buses, extreme weather, and all the sights and sounds these elements produce.

Before 2011, the RSPCA received an influx of phone complaints about the welfare of the horses, resulting in Melbourne’s City Council creating the 2011 Code of Practice for the Operation of Horse-drawn Carriages. Operators must also comply with Victoria’s Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses.

The welfare code sets minimum standards, including clauses that limit working hours – three 12-hour or five seven-hour days a week in almost any weather conditions, unless extreme.

The code is implemented by authorised officers from the Melbourne City Council . However the size of the city and the number of businesses involved make it difficult to regulate.

“Council is absolutely hopeless at monitoring the practice,” Ms Leigh says.

“The week of launching the campaign, we had enough breaches to prove that no one is monitoring this. And when I have sent in breaches of the code, the response has been they have fixed the issues, whatever they were, and then two days later I’ve seen the same operator that doesn’t have a permit operating in the CBD,” Ms Leigh says.

The RSPCA says the code is a “positive development in improving carriage horse welfare, given we started from a zero base”. 

“We recognise that much more needs to be done. It is time for a thorough review of the code,”the RSPCA said, in a statement.

When Lord Mayor Robert Doyle was asked whether the industry was in need of revision, his department replied:  “No.”

A leading member of the horse-drawn carriage industry, Alex MacDonald, has been a carriage driver for the past 28 years and is the owner of the North Melbourne stables.

He is a regular spokesman on behalf of the industry when the carriages hit the news. However, when approached for an interview on the push to ban the practice, he denies the existence of online attention on the local industry.

“Well, the RSPCA I don’t worry about, and PETA are a bunch of loonies. You don’t have a news story here. I refuse to comment,” Mr MacDonald says.

Before 201, Mr Doyle proposed that horse-drawn carriages be moved out of Swanston St and on to St Kilda Rd in front of the Art Centre.

Mr MacDonald was so angry about the move, he ran for Melbourne City Council on lord mayoral candidate Brian Shanahan's ticket at the 2012 elections. His main policy stance  was the return of horse-drawn carriages to Swanston St. The Shanahan-Chamberlin team directed their preferences to Mr Doyle.

Today the horse-drawn carriages are back on Swanston St, based at the corners of Flinders and Collins streets.

Mr Doyle’s office says the return to Swanston St was because of public demand. “Extensive community engagement undertaken ... found that the vast majority of people support horse-drawn carriages. Council then resolved to support them under the Council’s Street Activity Policy”.

The policy doesn’t specify locations for carriage operations, but details permit requirements such as paying an annual fee to the council of $100.

While he was a council candidate, Mr MacDonald’s profile said he was an “owner and operator of a Melbourne tourism business for 26 years”.

While the horse-drawn carriage industry is not included in the City of Melbourne’s tourism plan, nor mentioned on the Tourism Victoria website, the council says it is an asset that “enhances city vibrancy and encourages tourism”.

Dianne Smith, chief executive officer of the Victorian Tourism Industry Council, also believes the industry is a form of tourist attraction and “contributes to interpretation and storytelling”.

In recent years, a number of incidents involving horse-drawn carriages have seen passengers lucky to escape with minor injuries. Last year, a horse pulling a carriage with passengers bolted through the city, coming to a halt when the cart became wedged between a bin and an office building. The driver suffered minor injuries and the horse received a cut on its leg.

In 2011, a 38-year-old Melbourne man was injured after the wheels fell off a carriage, crashing at the intersection of Swanston and Bourke streets.

While Melbourne has avoided serious carriage incidents, animal welfare organisation PETA says these are accidents waiting to happen, given the city’s busy streets, congestion and traffic.

In overseas incidents, an elderly French woman was killed in Vienna four years ago when a bolting carriage horse ran into her. In April this year, 13 school children in Oklahoma, US, were thrown from a horse-drawn carriage at a primary school. Ten children, two teachers and the driver were injured.

Moves to ban the industry have gained support in cities such as Vienna, Rome, Chicago and Montreal. Currently, New York City is in the middle of a battle to abolish the practice, with strong support from city Mayor Bill de Blasio, who argues the treatment of NYC working horses is inhumane.

Celebrities such as actors Alec Baldwin, Lea Michele and  Pamela Anderson and pop star Pink have voiced their support for an industry ban, while figures such as actor Liam Neeson have been publically vilified for supporting the practice.

Melbourne Against Horse-drawn Carriage’s Facebook page has experienced a flood of supporting comments and reports of abuse. They have also faced backlash from horse-drawn carriage lovers and owners. Some have posted photos of their horses in open stables stating they shouldn’t be categorised, or labeled, with the majority.

Local activist Ms Leigh says the mood is changing. “With the New York [move] getting so much press, people are raising their awareness on the issue around the world, realising that horses don’t want to be in the CBD,” she says.

But, for now at least, the carriages have the support of the council and will continue to operate through the CBD.