The Tribune

Kim Aranha asks why rules are blatantly being flouted in front of authorities and no action taken

Ahhh, the plight of the Bahamian Surrey Horse, these road-weary beasts of burden who tirelessly pull carriages to and fro the cruise ship docks in Nassau in the hot sun.

I am told frequently that Surrey horses are part of Bahamian culture, a statement that in itself baffles me.

Surely horse-drawn carriages are part of everybody’s culture? If we wish to go back far enough in time and say our great-grandparents had horse-drawn carriages ... of course they did. In a time before the automobile, everybody had their horse drawn cart or carriage, their personal “Surrey”.

In fact, if I remember, as a kid, many people had donkeys too, in Nassau, pulling carts.

Has everything that happened before modern mechanics become part of “our culture”? Then, perhaps, we should give up electricity and TV, forgo the electric light and return to candles (though there were times last year and with the many power cuts that we were almost there).

The Ministry of Tourism appears to feel that the Surrey horse is a very important part of our tourism product. They pull out photographs of a Surrey on an empty road, trotting along and looking cool and unpressured. Perhaps the Surrey horse would look that way if we were to change his route and not persist in putting him in the fetid traffic of the city centre, breathing in the fumes spewing out of the frequently black and smoky exhausts of trucks and other vehicles.

Whilst thinking about the horses, it would do not harm to pause and question the health problems those carriage drivers will possibly endure after years of breathing filthy air through their lungs. But the drivers have a choice, the horse does not.

On frequent occasions alternative routes have been suggested. My favourite would go from Junkanoo Beach (Long Wharf for the old timers) and take the tourists to the Fish Fry. Food could be offered, hair braided, the ride could continue across the street to the Botanical Gardens. There is much for the tourist to see, practically no traffic, no fumes … a nice quiet outing. Other routes have been suggested, but we never get past square one.

There are not many Surreys on the road; however, they operate under an astonishing amount of different ministries, departments and boards, ranging from the Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Tourism, Cabs Board, Royal Bahamas Police Force, Festival Place Administration and others.

There are a few rules they have to abide by. Perhaps the easiest is that they may carry, as passengers, two adults and two children aged 14 and under. Not three adults ... not four adults. This appears pretty simple, yet day after day after day, we see these Surreys drive past dozens of policemen and women who do nothing about the overloading. My exasperation that the law is not enforced has reached a point of no return.

If it is the law, and I am told by authority it is and I have seen it written, then why do the police not enforce it? Sometime I count as many as 20 members of the RBPF on Bay Street and not one of them stops the Surrey driver. Why? I would love to know.

Another very simple rule is the hours a Surrey must be on rest time. In the winter it is from 1pm to 2pm and in the s ummer 1pm to 3pm. Yet I see them out there during rest period. Does any body stop them? No. It is law: why does nobody enforce this law … because they are “only animals” I suppose?

I take you one step further. There is an emergency gate adjacent to where the horses stand for tourists to get on for a ride. That emergency gate is not only firmly closed and locked, but blocked by cars or taxis. I shudder to think what would happen if there was an emergency in Festival Place, a fire or gunshots or an explosion; the horses would have no way to get out. They would spook, as horses do, take off galloping dragging the carriages behind them. Countless tourists and locals would be badly injured or killed. It is a dreadful accident just waiting to happen.

The Bahamas Humane Society has repeatedly warned all the powers that be of the danger, seemingly to deaf ears.

Is the Surrey horse, as we know it today, part of Bahamian culture?

This is actually a very interesting question. I am sure there will be some emotional and blustering letters in response putting me good and straight on this matter but, please, before you write that letter, I would love facts to show me how the Surrey horses fit into our culture, other than how they fit in to everybody else’s culture.

• Kim Aranha is the president of the Bahamas Humane Society. Comments and responses to insight@tribunemedia.net