[Drive NJ]

Interesting

Saw this on the news. While Mr. Avella is totally against horse as being unsuited for being in NYC, he is all for the family pig as a pet in co-op apartments in the Bronx. HUH?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/h...P4J79HiGQir0FP

People die on [illegal] construction sites . . . and yet our threatening enforcement is against the person who has a small pig. There is a total inconsistency in the way the city deals with certain activities,” Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens) told The Post.

Apparently he is untroubled with his own inconsistencies in trying to both ban the carriage horses and then remove them from their owners without compensation.

[danceronice]

Well, the pig is not out in traffic, and honestly most of them aren't any messier than dogs. Or behave that differently-they ARE house pets, unless we're talking about a feeder pig that's going to be the size of a mini. I don't agree with him about carriage horses, but I don't think it's inconsistent he has different stands on working livestock versus a house pet.

[Lynnwood]

He also was totally FOR the eradication of raccoons.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/08/...x-the-problem/

Notice the wording on his bill

“It would mandate that the city has to come out, trap the animal, neuter it and then release it back into the wild someplace,” Avella said.

[oldpony66]

I agree with danceronice, you're looking at two entirely different issues here. The pigs aren't pulling carriages and the horses aren't in apartments.
I suppose he is OK with any companion animal under a certain size then? (except raccoons?) so companion goats, sheep, chickens and the occasional mini-steer would be ok?

As an aside, once when I was walking down near the Wall Street area I saw a woman walking a pet pig with a harness, and it was no mini or potbelly, it was a full size pig... at least a hundred pounds probably closer to 150 It was larger than most dogs. I was pretty impressed, the pig was quite well behaved. She sat down for a while and he sat down right next to her, just chillin'. I guess it was illegal but I thought it was cool.

[michaleenflynn]

I agree with danceronice, you're looking at two entirely different issues here. The pigs aren't pulling carriages and the horses aren't in apartments.
I suppose he is OK with any companion animal under a certain size then? (except raccoons?) so companion goats, sheep, chickens and the occasional mini-steer would be ok?

The big picture here is he is a POLITICIAN, and he is pandering to his niche constituencies; base beliefs, facts, or throughlines be damned. Homeowners in his area in Queens are howling about raccoons (I should know, I am a homeowner in his area), and his Manhattan-based RARA supporters entreat him to make noise about topics like carriage horses and pet pigs.

Trust me, Avella's choice of battles have nothing to do with reason or principles.

[Drive NJ]

The reason this IS the same issue is that he is advocating for removing livestock (the horses) from the city where it doesn't belong so they can live free and yet is in favor of 'other' livestock (now called pets) being OK living in an apartment, rather than having it's own field to be free in.

Makes me think of those radio talk shows where the point is to stir people up to call in - not to make sense

[TheBarnRules]

“It would mandate that the city has to come out, trap the animal, neuter it and then release it back into the wild someplace,” Avella said.

i.e., NIMBY

jerk

[oldpony66]

Trust me, Avella's choice of battles have nothing to do with reason or principles.

I'm fairly certain the majority of politician's battles have nothing to do with reason or principles.

I do see it from your point of view. But I can also see it from the other side, saying they're not in danger on the streets and that's why the horses gotta go but not pigs. Flip side, if the pigs can't live in apartments, then why dogs? (Not trying to start a battle here... just saying I see it from both angles)

And, seriously, they're gonna waste time and money neutering racoons and releasing them into the wild? wow.

[danceronice]

The pigs ARE pets....I would venture a guess almost all of them are indeed potbellies. (Even if they weren't, they wouldn't be in fields if they were free, they'd be in feeder barns. Actually my next-door neighbors here had a pot-bellied pig. Had. He's bacon now.) As oldpony66 says, if they object to pet pigs they don't really have a grounds not to object to dogs and cats. It would be analogous to the carriage horses if people were keeping feeder hogs in the backyard to butcher and selling the meat.

Neutering raccoons? Seriously? Even driving them a county over is silly enough, but geez, if they want to do that, seriously the city has far too much money to spend.