After years of advocacy from animal rights groups, San Antonio City Council has voted to ban horse-drawn carriages downtown. The ban will be phased out over five years, ending on January 1, 2030.
San Antonio City Council has outlawed horse-drawn carriages, but tourists will still see the brightly outfitted attractions trotting around downtown streets for several years. The coming ban will mark the end of a more than 160-year tradition. Animal rights activists pushed to end carriage operations, saying that using horses to haul tourists on congested streets is outdated and cruel.
Carriage operators pushed back against that claim as the ban worked its way through City Hall over the past two years. They said the animals are bred to work, are well cared for and are examined by city-contracted veterinarians every six months. This change feels sudden. What happened? Activists believed the council didn’t go far enough in 2013 when it reduced the horses’ maximum workday from 10 to eight hours and required a 16-hour break between shifts. In late 2022, District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 2 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran proposed banning horse-drawn carriages by the end of 2023, though that timeline was pushed back. The policy-making process moved slowly, and council members agreed on a longer timeline to implement the ban. When will horse-drawn carriages leave downtown? Horse-drawn carriages will be fully booted from downtown beginning Jan. 1, 2030. City Council approved a five-year phase-out that gradually decreases the hours that carriages can operate. And the Animal Care Services department stopped issuing new licenses for carriage horses and operators. Carriages are currently allowed to operate Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. On weekends and city holidays, the carriages can run from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Beginning June 2027, weekday, weekend and city holiday operating hours will be shortened by four hours through May 2028
HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES SAN ANTONIO ANIMAL RIGHTS CITY COUNCIL BAN
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