The Hakol Chai animal rights group is calling on the Transportation Ministry to put an end to the use of horses to pull “altezaken” carriages. The group says it has received dozens of reports of horses being used to pull carriages in cities, in what it termed a “cruel phenomenon.”
Horses are far too slow for Israel’s urban roads, and are endangered by being in traffic, the group argued. The use of carriage also slows traffic, it noted. Activists called to change the legal definition of horse-drawn carriages as a “vehicle” in order to get them off the roads.
“It is outrageous to see horses exploited, injured and abandoned in Israeli cities in 2012,” the group said.