Two years after the town of Los Angeles shut down a preferred pony trip attraction in Griffith Park, a city-funded survey discovered that almost all respondents are in favor of providing pony rides once more — a consequence that has drawn the ire of animal rights activists.
The city-funded public opinion survey, which ran from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4, discovered that about 70% of respondents had been in favor of providing pony rides to youngsters once more in that location. And of the 30% who disapproved of resuming pony rides, almost two-thirds supported much less concerned animal experiences — like animal petting or just viewing alternatives — within the area.
The pony rides closed in 2022 after 74 years within the park and now metropolis officers are weighing what to do with that facility.
Animal rights activists, who’ve opposed the usage of ponies on the web site and received a hard-fought victory when the horse rides shut down, say they’ve a letter with greater than 12,000 signatures, highlighting the “energy of opposition to the merciless use of animals for leisure” in Griffith Park, in line with Brittany Michelson, a spokesperson for In Protection of Animals.
In Protection of Animals additionally disputes the findings of the survey. The group contends that respondents ought to have been knowledgeable of the alleged mistreatment of the ponies. “If residents knew this significant context,” Michelson wrote in a press launch, “they’d have responded in a different way to the survey.”
The Marin county-based group claims that six geriatric ponies from the previous attraction are unaccounted for, and 4 died beneath “unknown circumstances.”
A 2022 report ready for the Division of Recreation and Parks, which oversees the amenities at Griffith Park, acknowledged that 4 ponies did die and 6 had been positioned in different amenities, however the metropolis didn’t obtain any info till months after the ponies’ deaths. Based mostly on medical information, not one of the animals died from neglect. The report advisable Griffith Park Pony Rides proprietor Stephen Weeks enhance his veterinarian record-keeping and his communication with the town.
“Over the course of 74 years, I’m sure that many ponies have handed away on account of pure causes or horse-related ailments, particularly colic,” Weeks informed The Occasions in 2022. “It’s simply one thing that occurs.”
Activists contend that any animal exhibit on the Griffith Park facility would unavoidably result in cruelty.
“Los Angeles residents don’t wish to see animal cruelty in metropolis parks. Animal fashions are nothing greater than cruelty dressed as leisure, and forcing animals to carry out amid giant, noisy crowds can by no means be humane for these delicate animals,” mentioned Zohra Fahim, president and founding father of Los Angeles Alliance for Animals.
The parks division obtained tons of of public feedback about how greatest to make use of the area. “The Metropolis will consider the potential for each animal and non-animal makes use of for the mission web site,” the mission web site reads.
The choice will finally be as much as the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners and the Metropolis Council, in line with the location. If animal choices had been to be dominated out, different fashionable concepts from the survey included a neighborhood backyard and a nature heart.
Occasions employees author Nathan Solis contributed to this report.