Victoria City Council Hears Debate Over Horse-Drawn Carriage Tours

The Canadian Press, 25 Mar, 2016 12:47 PM

VICTORIA — Debate over horse-drawn carriage rides in downtown Victoria, B.C., is heating up.

The owner of Victoria Carriage Tours appeared at a city council meeting on Thursday to defend the industry after an animal rights group started an online petition looking to ban the rides.

Katarina Gallagher says she has was blindsided by the petition, which alleges there has been poor maintenance of equipment, reckless driving of the carriages and improper care of the horses.

Gallagher says the "unfounded" and "vague" accusations about inadequate care and reckless driving are baseless and constitute fear mongering.

More than 900 people have signed the petition, and several speakers aligned with animal rights group "Victoria Horse Alliance" addressed council Thursday, saying they support the ban.

There are currently two carriage companies in the city, Tally Ho Carriage Tours and Victoria Carriage Tours, that have a total of 52 horses and employ roughly 70 people.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Two Indo-Canadians To Be Tried For Surrey Teen Maple Batalia’s Murder At SFU Campus

Batalia, 19 at that time, was fatally shot at Surrey Simon Fraser University campus on September 28, 2011.

Two Indo-Canadians To Be Tried For Surrey Teen Maple Batalia’s Murder At SFU Campus

B.C. Court Tosses Roy Fraser's Appeals Of First-And Second-Degree Murder In 2009 Kamloops Killings

Convicted murderer Roy Fraser has lost an appeal of his first- and second-degree murder convictions for two slayings near Kamloops, B.C.

B.C. Court Tosses Roy Fraser's Appeals Of First-And Second-Degree Murder In 2009 Kamloops Killings

B.C. Court To Rule On Whether Site C Protesters Can Be Removed From Tent Camp

A judge is expected to rule this morning on whether to grant BC Hydro an injunction to remove people protesting the Site C dam project from a tent camp near Fort. St. John.