During Tuesday’s discussion on the fate of horse-drawn carriages on downtown streets, City Council members questioned comments from a man who identified himself as the “veterinarian for the City of San Antonio” and suggested horses are immune to health risks from car emissions.
In response to a presentation by Dr. Ben Espy, both District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda pointed out that the city doesn’t employ a full-time veterinarian.
“I would like to clarify a couple things. One, Dr. Espy — thank you for being here — is not the city vet,” said McKee-Rodriguez. “He’s contracted on a case-by-case basis. We do not have an annual contract.”
McKee-Rodriguez filed a request two years ago that council consider a ban on horse-drawn carriages downtown, arguing that the for-profit carriages pose a health risk to the animals and also create traffic concerns. The back-and-forth with Espy occurred during a meeting of council’s Transportation and Infrastructure meeting, which must discuss the proposal before it moves to a full vote.
In a video played before the committee, Espy, who identified himself as the “vetenarian for the city of San Antonio since 2006,” said council should stop thinking of horses like people, adding that the animals don’t suffer health effects from being around car exhaust.
“I’ve inspected all the carriage horses since 2011,” Espy told the committee later in his presentation. “I’m here on public record to tell you that no council person has ever contacted me about the health or welfare of animals. No citizen group has ever contacted me about the health or welfare of animals. The horses that I take care of, as I said in the video, have not had any injuries or health effects from being worked on the city streets.”
Although Espy is a licensed veterinarian who graduated from Texas A&M’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 2006, records show he’s not employed as the city’s official veterinarian. Instead, he works on a contract basis, as McKee-Rodriguez noted.
Cabello Havrda questioned if that contract work played into Espy’s motives in defending the use of the carriages on downtown streets.
“So, my concern here is that if we don’t have horse-drawn carriages, then it sounds like you wouldn’t have that position with the city anymore,” the councilwoman said.
Cabello Havrda added that council should consult an outside veterinarian to inspect the horses before it renders a final decision on whether to enact a carriage ban. She said she wanted an outside expert to gauge the animals’ condition and determine whether they’re suffering negative health effects from their workload.
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will reconvene in August to discuss contingency plans if council moves ahead with a ban on horse-drawn carriages downtown. Carriage owners have repeatedly raised concerns that horses no longer able to work may be sold off and end up euthanized.
“If we do end up phasing the carriages out, I want to ensure that we have a plan in place to ensure that the horses are accounted for and don’t get put down,” District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito said. “That’s the priority.”
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