First they came for the carriage horses.

I have been writing and reading about the Central Park Horses ever since I became aware of the massive, well-funded and highly organized effort on the part of people who call themselves animal rights advocates (and who the media call animal rights advocates) and the political and bureaucratic power structures of New York City to ban the Central Park Horses from Central Park and New York City, and exile them to the rumored but so far largely mythical “rescue farms” waiting to take in all 200 of them.
The horses have been in the park since 1858 and are loved all over the world, but it seems there is a pervasive idea in urban New York City that their lives are grim, filled with too much work, abuse and dangerous traffic. That their time is come, the mayor says the discussion “is over,” no point in any more. Apparently, the mayor of New York City has more power than I thought mayors generally have. The Mayor and City Council President and a broad array of activists have made it a major priority of the new administration to get rid of the horses, above just about everything else.
This is evolving into one more well-meaning tragedy visited upon animals by people who believe they know what is best for them. No one who knows anything about horses believes these active and engaged working animals will be alive for very long, this is a campaign to kill and banish animals so that they can be rescued from meaningful work and connection with human beings.