Plan to bring diving horse act back to Steel Pier draws criticism from animal rights activists

Steel Pier Diving Horse Vintage Postcard

Change.org Petition Against Reviving Cruelty Toward Horses in Atlantic City

It is absolutely ludricrous, to bring such a barbaric and abusive act back in this day and age of supposed enhanced enlightenment concerning animal suffering.

I remember the late Rue McClanahan spoke out against and worked with other celebrities like Mary Tyler Moore to shut down a horse diving act. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that other Golden Girl and animal lover Betty White were to come forward and condemn this horrific business.

Next thing we will hear, no doubt, is that the horse enjoys it. That is usually the first statement people who abuse animals for the sake of entertainment make when confronted with criticism.

To get a horse up a ramp and then to jump into a pool of water …the horses would had to have been subjected to stimuli that they feared more than the ramp and the water, such as electric shock, beatings, or food deprivation.

— Dr. Holly Cheever, NYSHA’s vice-president and nationally known veterinarian [1]

Here’s the beginning of the report.

Cross-posted from pressofAtlantic City

Written by JENNIFER BOGDAN

ATLANTIC CITY — When the iconic diving horse act returns to the Steel Pier this summer, spectators can expect to see a horse ridden by a stunt diver jump from a platform 30 to 40 feet in the air, much like the original attraction made famous in the 1920s.

Another trapping of the shows, at least the 1990s version of the act, also is likely to return: Animal-rights protesters.

The show’s latest reprisal will be a far cry from the diving horse act last seen at the pier during a two-month stint in 1993, which came to an abrupt close following protests by several animal-rights groups. At that time, the show featured two ponies, a mule and a dog jumping 15 feet into a pool of water. No riders were involved.

“This is a full-scale, custom act,” said Tony Catanoso, one of the pier’s owners. “We know the diving horse is controversial, but I think people need to look at the bigger picture. A diving horse is going to be iconic. It’s going to be a small piece of the development project that will bring family entertainment back to Atlantic City.” Read full story >>

Family entertainment? An abusive animal act?

:: Change.org Petition Link: Stop Plan to Revive Cruelty Toward Horses in Atlantic City

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[1] Don’t Make Him Do It, New York State Humane Association, Summer 2003