Glee's Lea Michele's PETA Ad Targets Horse-Drawn Carriages!

http://bit.ly/hYL3F1

^ Link to the full Peta video ad against the horse-drawn carriages.

http://www.popeater.com/2011/01/05/lea-michele-peta-ad-horse-drawn-carriages/

Local girl Lea Michele loves New York City, having spent years thriving on Broadway before leaving for Hollywood to conquer television. But there's one aspect of Big Apple life that she can do without: the sight of carriages, pulled by horses, shuttling tourists around busy, exhaust-blanketed streets.

The 'Glee' star has joined up with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in a campaign to end the practice and, as the tagline reads, "Help put horse-drawn carriages out to pasture." The ad campaign will include posters and videos that feature the actress. An attempt to get the ads run on the TV screens inside city cabs was unsuccessful, a spokesman told the NY Times.

Michele, who was born in the Bronx, makes an emotional plea in a video that zeroes in on the facilities where the horses are kept when not working.

"Imagine for a moment that you're forced to do hard physical labor all day, seven days a week -- whether it's sweltering hot or freezing cold outside," Michele says. "At the end of the day, instead of relaxing on [an] easy chair or sleeping in a comfortable bed, you are locked in a tiny closet all night long."

Large clusters of horse-drawn carriages and their drivers can always be found congregating along the southern border of Central Park. Generally, the rides go through the massive park, but they also can be seen clogging around the nearby busy streets, navigating dangerously around aggressive taxis and mammoth city buses.

"After a long day of pulling heavy tourists and being forced to breathe exhaust fumes, these horses must walk through miles of dangerous traffic and climb up steep ramps to reach the upper floors of the multi-story midtown stables," Michele says.

Opposition to horse-drawn carriages in NYC is nothing new, however, and in 2007 the comptroller's office found that the health department was not properly monitoring health hazards related to the horses. The city council moved last April to improve conditions for the animals. The bill passed requires stalls to be big enough so that horses can turn around and lie down and it mandates that the animals get five weeks off a year with time spent at a stable with a pasture.

Before scoring the role of Rachel Berry on 'Glee,' Michele made a name for herself on Broadway in hits like 'Spring Awakening' and 'Les Misérables.'