Tally-Ho says “no basis” for carriage tour ban in response to BC SPCA

Tally-Ho Carriage Tours has responded to the BC SPCA’s letter to city council recommending a ban on horse-drawn carriages in Victoria’s streets, saying there’s “no basis” for the letter’s recommendations.

The BC SPCA recently sent a letter to Victoria’s city council suggesting that it prohibits the operation of horse-drawn vehicles on Victoria’s streets, and that if tours should continue, they should only take place in safer park environments.

The letter was in response to a May 4 accident involving two horses who fell over when their carriage, owned by Victoria Carriage Tours, hit a nearby tour bus. Both horses were uninjured.

In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Tally-Ho said that the carriage industry has a strong tradition of working cooperatively with the BC SPCA and the City of Victoria regarding its oversight and regulation

The company also acknowledged that the BC SPCA’s letter primarily focused on recommendations to improve the safety procedures for horse-drawn operations.

“However, one sentence contains a concerning blanket statement that the city consider shutting down the entire industry,” Tally-Ho said. “We are confused how safety recommendations suddenly jump to a statement that that potentially puts our business at risk.”

When asked by Victoria Buzz for clarification on which part of the BC SPCA’s letter Tally-Ho was referring to, owner/operator Donna Friedlander cited the sentence that states, “The BC SPCA recommends Council prohibit the operation of horse-drawn vehicles on Victoria’s streets.”

When asked how that reading of the letter squared with the following sentence, “If tours continue, they should only take place in the safer park environment to reduce dangers to public safety and animal welfare,” Friedlander said that the SPCA’s letter is “a bit confusing.”

“Unfortunately, the media seems to have picked up on the statement that there should be a blanket ban, despite the rest of the letter talking about improved regulations. We tried to address that point in our written response,” she said.

Tally-Ho concluded its statement by saying the company exceeds both current and proposed safety regulations, and that the industry’s safety record is “outstanding” at only a 0.00001% incident rate over the last 20 years.

“We look forward to continued collaborative dialogue with the City of Victoria regarding appropriate oversight of the industry,” the company said.