UPDATE: Cape May Carriage Company Co-Owner Responds to Animal Cruelty Charges

CAPE MAY — Cape May Carriage received 26 complaints of Animal Cruelty from the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) which alleged the company misused a pesticide spray to keep biting flies off their horses.
The summonses were issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP
Bob Morgan, co-owner of Cape May Carriage Company, told the Herald he and owner Beverly Carr felt there was no basis for the charges brought against them.
“Our invitation is for the public to come to historic, Victorian Cape May and enjoy the town and decide for themselves after looking at our operation,” said Morgan
Morgan said the fly spray in question, “C-Em-Die,” originally from Rockland Corporation, was sold to Chem Tech Limited which discontinued its manufacturing since it already had a product with the same ingredient. He said the product was registered for use in the New Jersey until Dec. 31, 2009
“We purchased the product in 2009,” said Morgan. “We were using the last supply of it that we bought when it was a registered product.”
DEP came to the carriage stop and confiscated the fly spray and charged Cape May Carriage with using an unregistered product.
Cape May Carriage also received a citation for applying a pesticide without a private, pesticide applicator’s license. Morgan said according to DEP regulations, if you have a farm and produce over $2,500 from an “agricultural commodity,” you must have the license.
In question, is defining if horses are an agricultural commodity. Under agricultural commodities, DEP lists dairy and beef cattle, hogs, grains, wheat, oats, rye, vegetables and produce but not horses.
“We don’t produce an agricultural commodity per se, we provide transportation, entertainment and historic tours,” said Morgan.
He said Cape May Carriage does not breed or raise horses to sell them.
Morgan said if someone owns one horse and uses one quart of fly spray on their horse but use your horse for pony rides, they must be licensed as a pesticide operator.
If someone owns 50 horses and uses 100 gallons of the same pesticide but does not use the horses for an income, no pesticide applicator’s license in required.
The label on the “C-Em-Die,” spray says it is for livestock, pigs, hogs, calves and dairy cows and it can be applied 30 minutes before a cow is milked, said Morgan. He said the product is still available on the Internet in Pennsylvania.
Morgan said an inspection may have been triggered from State Department of Agricultural Department when a Cape May Carriage horse died. Morgan said the horse was ill and did not die on the farm but at New Bolton Farm, a division of the University of Pennsylvania.
He said $3,000 was spent on the horse to get a diagnosis. Morgan said the cost to operate on the horse would have cost an additional $9,000 and the horse was 16 years and had several problems.
“We’ve had an investigation from the state Agricultural Department and they found no reason for any complaint and found all the horses in excellent condition,” said Morgan.