Republican Congressman Michael Grimm—notwithstanding his endorsement by HSUS’s Humane Society Legislative Fund—doesn’t support Mayor de Blasio’s pledge to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City.

“I don’t think we should ban the carriages. The only thing we should mandate is that the horses are treated well and treated humanely,” Grimm told the New York Observer.

Grimm, who is challenged in the election by Democratic candidate Dominic Recchia, Jr., opined that the issue is purely political and not a matter of animal welfare as liberal Democratic Mayor de Blasio and animal rights groups have insisted. The stables, put to other uses, would be financially beneficial to developers, Grimm suggested.

Mayor de Blasio did not return the Observer’s request for comment. Click for more details in Ross Barkan’s article.

Posted October 14, 2014