UAnimals is asking the Lviv city authorities to provide documents detailing how the Lviv City Administration’s working group on horse-related activities in the city should operate. According to UAnimals representatives, who are also part of this group, it remains unclear how exactly decisions should be made. As a result, UAnimals, in collaboration with the inter-factional group “Humane Country,” submitted a request for documents regulating the group’s activities.
After a series of incidents involving horses pulling carriages in Lviv, the city council convened a working group on August 27 this year to “develop the main conditions for conducting activities involving the use of animals in the central part of the city,” according to the decision by the city’s executive committee. The group includes city administration employees, scientists, representatives of the horse-drawn carriage business, and animal protection organizations. Among them are UAnimals leader Oleksandr Todorchuk and Head of Strategic Initiatives Department Olha Chevhaniuk.
UAnimals advocates for a complete ban on the use of horses in the city. However, the organization cannot say for certain whether this position will be considered, as there is no set framework for the group’s activities, no operating regulations, no decision-making mechanism, and no meeting protocols. Together with the representative of the inter-factional group “Humane Country,” Yuliya Ovchynnykova, UAnimals has submitted a request to the Lviv City Council for all of these documents.
As a reminder, on August 26, a horse collapsed in the center of Lviv and was unable to stand up for some time. Although horse-drawn carriage activities in the city center were banned after the incident, the boundaries of this “center” were not clearly defined. UAnimals believes that it is also important to clearly establish and legally define these boundaries.
Want to support our work to protect animals? Join us with a donation—no contribution is too small.
Image: Umut Sarialian
