Slave Photos

Today's Bizarro is made possible by Human Arrogance. "We do it because we can. Deal with it."

The subject of this cartoon was suggested by my friends at PETA. New York City still has carriage horses stumbling through Central Park and these animals lead miserable lives. They live in concrete garages by night, on the streets among traffic by day. They never get a break until they are hit by a car and killed, which happens with sad regularity.

Some U.S. cities have outlawed this industry, as have London, Paris, Toronto, and even Beijing, and many people are trying to get the practice banned in New York City.

"But the sight of suffering horses pulling an old timey-time carriage is perdy," the tourists complain as they snap their pictures. "Buy a postcard," I reply, "Photoshop your gigantic selves into it, and let the horse have a life."

Animal abuse makes me cranky. We only do it because we can.

To be fair, I took carriage rides myself some years ago. I was so used to seeing these beautiful creatures moving through the streets that I took them for granted and assumed they were well cared for. Later in life, I began to see these situations through the animal's eyes and everything changed. They are slaves, pure and simple, and only treated well enough to keep them alive and working. No animal deserves that life, human or otherwise.

If you agree, here is a petition to ban carriages in NY.