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Residents press city on horse-drawn carriage oversight; operators defend care

5823048 · September 22, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Multiple speakers at public comment urged the commission to place horse-drawn carriage oversight and animal-welfare records on a future agenda after alleging missing veterinary records, evacuation failures during Hurricane Ian and inadequate post-termination controls; operators disputed those claims and described routine care practices.

A series of public-comment speakers urged City Commissioners to put the city’s oversight of horse-drawn carriage operations on the agenda and to require better, verifiable veterinarian records and storm-evacuation plans.

Catherine Zauder told the commission she had obtained documents showing horses were left confined during Hurricane Ian in 2022 and alleged the city allowed a terminated franchisee to “walk away” from a franchise agreement without prosecution or removal of advertising. Zauder said, "Rather than holding the franchisee accountable for abandoning animals during a major hurricane ... the city let him simply walk away without penalty or public acknowledgment of the…

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