Animal Rights Activists Propose New Approach To Regulating City's Horse Carriage Industry

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Animal rights activists are proposing a new way to regulate the city's embattled horse carriage industry.

As WCBS 880's Kelly Waldron reports, it involves the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Instead of having the Health Department, Consumer Affairs, and the NYPD oversee the horse carriage industry, NYCLASS is proposing the commission be in charge.

"It would streamline enforcement into one agency," Executive Director Edita Birnkrant says, adding that right now no one is holding the drivers of horse drawn carriages accountable for overworking the animals.

"For the TLC Taxis, their regulation is so extreme that they know everything that these drivers are doing," she said.

Meanwhile, horse carriage drivers say they like to be regulated by the Health Department, because they have veterinarians who keep the horses safe and healthy.