Three horses still live in Griffintown
Three horses are still stabled in Griffintown and there are concerns about the conditions in which they’re kept.
In other sad animal news, a man has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for abusing then killing his cat and dog. Don’t look at this if you’re at all tender‑hearted about animals.
But there’s better animal news, sort of: a king penguin hatched at the Biodome last month, just announced this week.
And, later – weirder animal news. Walking along the upper Main, not far from Crémazie, I saw two men staring at something on the sidewalk. It was a dead furry thing and I hoped it wasn’t a cat.
It wasn’t. It was a dead possum.
I’d read that the species habitat was moving north with climate change – there was this piece last year – but this is the first time I’ve seen one, alive or dead. I told the men what it was, and that it wasn’t a huge rat, as one suggested.
Taylor 12:44 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
What’s that line, supposedly from a Saudi prince, commenting on the likely trajectory of the oil economy-‘my grandfather rode a camel, my father drove a ford, I drive a mercedes, my son drives a land rover, but his son will ride a camel’
I’m not happy about horses being kept in substandard living conditions, but I have a hard time believing a post-carbon future doesn’t involve keeping farm animals in urban environments, or using horses to get around. It seems to me that it would be cheaper and easier to develop new infrastructure for urban farm animals (for work and for food) than it will be to redevelop pre-car levels of railway and shipping infrastructure. And I don’t think there’s lithium or hydrogen to replace every car and truck, not responsibly anyways.
Tim S. 14:00 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
I think about this sometimes too, and I think people underestimate the place animals took up in the pre-car era. They took up physical place in stables and on the streets, they needed significant amounts of food, and that food became waste, and lots of people had to be employed to look after them. Also, I’m the first the complain about the dangers of cars and trucks, but horses and carts killed their fair share of riders and bystanders too.
Anyways, I don’t know what the solution is, but the best compromise I can think of is to ration carbon for truly essential things.
H. John 15:19 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
A retweet from Josée Legault today seems apt:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-bristol-64982398
Tim S. 16:53 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
H. John, that is awesome.
Kevin 22:35 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
I love horses. They are romantic and cool.
But they are very expensive to house, feed, and care for, and they are far more fragile than they appear.
In an animal-based economy, commuting means walking to work. Imagining a trip by stagecoach? That requires an extensive network of station houses with large stables and crew every 15 to 30 km depending on terrain, and travellers consider themselves extremely blessed to move 80 km per day.
This is why bicycles became so popular (once some geniuses added brakes and gearing). Not only are they cheap, but they can go farther and travel faster than a person on a horse and you don’t need to spend hours on daily maintenance.
Or figure out how to store countless bales of hay (3-4/horse per week) and muck out stables.
Kate 08:33 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
I’ve thought for awhile that what I need is a donkey. Not to ride, but to take along when I go out so it could carry home my groceries and other small purchases. But of course that also involves, as Kevin says, buying and storing hay, plus vet care and shoeing, plus dealing with the poo.
It’s amazing to think how cities used to grapple with this. Roads were full of horse poo.
walkerp 09:03 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
Perhaps a goat, Kate? Smaller and can eat lots of your garbage. Donkeys can be good for defense against coyotes and other predators, though, if that becomes an issue.
Kate 10:23 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
Can a goat carry things, though?
Never really considered that a lot of the organic material I put in the composting box could be dealt with by a goat – but then, there’d be goat poo to deal with. Can’t win this one, it’s a corollary of the laws of thermodynamics. You want life, there’s gonna be poo.
carswell 10:42 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
Montreal City Weblog Goat Manure Compost Centre!
Turn that paved backyard into an income generator, Kate.
A sustainable business model in more ways than one.
MarcG 10:45 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
Don’t forget the local sustainable organic goat cheese! I think that if you wanted a goat to carry things you would need to make very certain that they weren’t able to gnaw on it as well.
Ian 10:56 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
Goats can be hooked up to carts. Then again, so can large dogs – maybe an easier thing to achieve in the city. Having had goats as a farm lad, I can voich for them really not belonging in an apartment.
Mark Côté 11:20 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
My big bull dog had “saddle” bags and could easily carry home a bunch of cans of cat food—or two bottles of wine. He seemed to enjoy having a job to do.
Kevin 12:16 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
A friend of mine once spent a summer tree planting and her golden retriever significantly increased her output by carrying seedlings.
In Vancouver I had access to a bike trailer designed for a large rubbermaid bin, which was awesome for groceries.
Now I’d probably go for a collapsible wagon, except they don’t handle stairs that well.
Kate 12:40 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
carswell, i’m sure my landlords would be delighted!
CE 14:26 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
@Kevin
This might interest you: https://burley.com/products/travoy
It goes from bike trailer to dolly in about 10 seconds. I have one and use it all the time. I even run a business with it.
dhomas 15:50 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
There are carts that go up stairs. Something like this:
https://www.amazon.ca/Shopping-Loading-Capacity-Foldable-Adjustable/dp/B08FD4W2GS
I have a “diable” with wheels like that. Super practical.
Kevin 18:07 on 2023-03-17 Permalink
CE
That looks great!
dhomas
now I understand the reason for three wheels