One of the last two companies offering horse-drawn carriage rides in Philadelphia will be closing at the end of the year and its horses will be sent to an undisclosed animal sanctuary.
City officials have been trying to close the facility for months but wanted to be careful about how they did it so that the horses wouldn’t just be auctioned off to a slaughterhouse.
The agreement, reached in Common Pleas Court on Thursday, also provides monitoring of the horses and their living conditions through the end of the year.
Han Hee Yoo is the owner of the Philadelphia Carriage Company. Her lawyer, Barry Penn, said:
“She’s been operating since 1977, so it’s been a long time. And since her husband died in 2009, she’s been running it herself, and it’s not been easy. She’s done her best. I think [the settlement is] a good solution for everybody.”
Building-code violations had been discovered in June at the company’s stable by the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Inspectors from the Animal Care and Control Team noted that the horses no longer had turnout space since the vacant lot the company had been using now has condominiums sprouting up.
They also noted that the stable was dirty and had poor ventilation, the stalls weren’t large enough, and the horses appeared malnourished and covered in urine and feces.
(H/T: The Inquirer, The Inquirer)
