The Scoop New York is a website and newsletter covering the movement for a true no-kill New York, from BUF to BK. NYC ACC KILLS, published by TSNY, enumerates and memorializes adoptable cats and dogs who were exterminated by Animal Care Centers of New York City.
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Headlines from Buffalo to Brooklyn
It’s October 17, 2026. This is The Weekly Poop.
This week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined City Council Speaker Julie Menin in calling for the end of the city’s horse carriage industry, marking what looks to be the final chapter in a saga that began some 16 years ago, though it seems closer to a century.
Mamdani was apparently compelled to act after a carriage crash killed a tourist earlier this year, though the move puts the mayor at odds with the Transport Workers Union, which represents carriage operators and has dropped a ton of coin in opposition to a ban.
The council vote, scheduled for next Thursday, looks like a fait accompli.
Its own self-interest aside, TWU rightly contends that there’s nothing in the proposed legislation to guarantee what the bill terms the “humane disposition” of retired horses.
The union might also point out that the politicians now promising horsey heaven on earth are the same ones who endorse without qualification the perpetual wholesale slaughter of healthy and adoptable companion animals at the New York City kill pound.
The lead sponsor of the carriage ban bill is Lower Manhattan rep Christopher Marte. In July, Marte co-authored an op-ed that claimed the retired horses would be given a better life.
“Romanch’s Law, formerly Ryder’s Law, would responsibly phase out horse-drawn carriages, relocate horses to accredited sanctuaries and rescue homes where they can finally live as horses should,” the piece read.
Marte’s co-author was Harvey Epstein, the co-chair of the council’s so-called “animal welfare caucus” who refuses to explain how his purported Love For The Animals jibes with his repeated refusal to do literally anything at all about the cruelty and abuse that today and every day is inflicted upon homeless cats and dogs at the whims of Animal Care Centers of New York City.
As The Scoop New York reported in March, upon the announcement of the caucus:
TSNY queried Menin and Epstein as to whether the caucus will address the ACC kill quota; the oft-repeated goddamn lie that ACC doesn’t kill healthy animals; everyday ACC medical torture killings, specifically spay-neuter-kill; the routine violation of ACC’s open admission contract with the city; and the stagnant, recalcitrant, malicious, cowardly do-nothing ACC board.
Wouldn’t you know: Menin’s office acknowledged the query, then dodged it, passing it off to Epstein’s office, which never replied.
Among the co-sponsors of Marte’s bill is a who’s who of ACC carnage-deniers, with standouts including Gale Brewer, Joann Ariola, Lynn Schulman and, of course, Harvey Epstein.
To be fair, all 51 council members are equally complicit in ignoring ACC depravity. The council members name-checked above get singled out in this space because they tend to crow the loudest concerning their supposed Love For The Animals bona fides. Squeaky liar gets the grief.
Here’s what Marte’s bill as currently posted on the council site says about the fate of retired horses:
A licensed horse shall not be [sold or] disposed of except in a humane manner. A licensed horse may not be sold or otherwise transferred to a person for purposes of slaughter, resale for slaughter, or holding or transport for slaughter, or for use in a horse drawn cab business. No later than June 1, 2027, every owner of a licensed horse shall certify to the department in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner that such horse will not be sold or otherwise transferred for purposes of slaughter, resale for slaughter, or holding or transport for slaughter, or for use in a horse drawn cab business, or any inhumane purpose as designated by the commissioner. The commissioner shall make such certification form available no later than March 1, 2027.
And [link and emphasis ours]:
The department, in coordination with the mayor’s office of animal welfare, shall inform owners of licensed horses of their obligation to dispose of such horses in a humane manner and as required by this section. Such outreach shall include the provision of information regarding individuals and organizations that have certified to the commissioner, in a form and manner to be prescribed by the commissioner, that such individuals or organizations are capable of receiving or acquiring such horses in a humane manner for humane purposes and in accordance with this section.
Said department responsible for overseeing the “disposal” of the horses would be the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene — DOH being known to IRL advocates as the immovable object that has for three decades resisted calls to clean up ACC’s gory act, and which thinks the city’s countless unhoused cats and the beleaguered New Yorkers DOH leaves to care for them are doing just fine without the department’s help.
As for “disposing” of the horses in a “humane manner,” I give you the tens of thousands of adoptable cats and dogs “humanely euthanized” by NYC since 1995, when DOH assumed responsibility for then-new ACC.
As you can see from the above data covering the last decade alone, DOH practically oozes indifference toward the well-being of companion animals. Ditto for laws ostensibly meant to protect those animals, for that matter (that TSNY exclusive coming soon, still).
As far as companion animals are concerned — emphasis every New Yorker with eyes that see — NYC DOH does not distinguish between slaughter and discretionary “euthanasia.” Why should New Yorkers believe horses entrusted to the agency’s care would be different?
I asked Marte’s office if the council member could offer New Yorkers reassurance that retired carriage industry horses would, in fact, be protected from elective “humane euthanasia,” despite the squishy verbiage of his bill:
The concern is that the bill language is vague on the definition of “humane” and may allow for retired horses to be euthanized, rather than transferred to animal sanctuaries or equivalent facilities, as there is no commitment that the city itself will “facilitate ... humane disposition.”
Marte duly ignored the query. Further evidence, superfluous as it may be, that New York City Council members will always choose humane-washed grandstanding over putting the city’s money where their capping traps are.
Doesn’t matter. Mamdani and Menin have gamed out to their satisfaction how to safely exploit the issue for their own gain. The big-money pro-kill resource-hoarding non-profit investor class is hallelujah-chorusing, champing at the bit for aura monetization. Absent some unforeseen disruption, this thing is happening.
“According to the actual text of the bill, the DOH head, who already oversees the mass murder of thousands of dogs, cats and other healthy animals at the city kill pound, could and probably would oversee the mass execution of the horses under the Orwellian language of ‘humane euthanasia,’” one longtime city no-kill advocate told The Scoop New York. “This is our worst nightmare realized. This bill must be amended before it is voted on next Thursday!”
To pass it on, find your council member contact info here.
NYC DOH ACC Puppy/Kitten Death Row Show
This week, following ACC’s most recent puppy/kitten killing spree, the Death Row Show covers how the podcast got its handle.
Also: ACC’s leash-biting obsession, sanity cocktails, MIA officials (starring Richard Ball and Zohran Mamdani), and more.
Run the clips for a preview.
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Here’s the latest New York companion animal news:
You can love companion animals or you can love watching their adoptive families terrorized by the government, but not both.
NYC’s free pet food pilot program will kick off across the boros Monday and Gothamist has a list of all 22 pantry locations.
Shelters across New York reported $63 million in current capital needs to bring them into compliance with new state facility standards — which exceeds all such funding Albany lawmakers have allocated to shelters over the last eight years.
Related: “Niagara County legislators secure $5,000 to help Niagara SPCA meet new state standards”
Surprise! New York is failing to protect horses bred for racing from foreign slaughterhouses.
Monroe County will soon have an animal abuser registry, a popular idea these days seemingly everywhere but Albany, which has failed to implement a state registry.
An Erie County man pled guilty to shooting his German shepherd in the head and under state law could be eligible for a lighter sentence than he might otherwise face since he failed to kill the victim, who is recovering in a new home.
Adoption fees for big dogs (over 44 pounds) are 50 percent off through October at SPCA Serving Erie County.
New York’s Bravest saved a gorgeous solid-black kitten from a Bensonhurst storm drain and unfortunately for the rest of us she is already spoken for.
Bodega cat fever is spreading to other NYC businesses as entrepreneurs get wise to the marketing possibilities.
Finally: Godspeed to Jane and her Upper West Side senior dog menagerie.
From NYC ACC KILLS
Food recalls
FDA announced no pet food recalls this week.
Check here for more info on FDA-announced recalls, and here for details on prior FDA advisories and outbreaks.