Last September, a carriage horse collided with a car in the streets of New York City. The horse suffered bloody injuries.
Sadly, this has not been the first accident of this kind. Worldwide, and especially in NYC, accidents like this have happened many times before, already. On Thursday, September 23, around 5:15 p.m. a white carriage horse named ‘Chief’ collided with a black BMW sedan just south of Central Park.
It is unclear whether the horse crashed into the car or the other way around. However, according to Voters For Animal Rights (VFAR), a NYC-based political animal advocacy organization, the car drove straight into the horse. Whereas NYCLASS, a local group who is working to end horse carriages in the city, said on social media that according to eyewitnesses, the horse ran into the car.
Video footage of the accident shows the animal desperately trying to get back on its feet. The animal struggled to get up since it was still tied to the carriage and the BMW apparently could not be moved out of its parking spot.
Horse suffered serious injuries
When the horse finally managed to get up, the car reversed and tapped the horse. After that, it drove away quickly. According to the New York Police Department, the horse suffered a bloody wound to its leg, which was treated by a veterinarian. The aftermath of the accident looked disturbing: Large blood stains on the sidewalk and a gutter, carriage horse gear and pieces of the damaged BMW, lying on the street.
Animal rights groups call for ban on carriage horses in cities
But the accident also sparked another outrage regarding carriage horses. Citizens and organizations like NYCLASS and Peta are now calling for horse carriages to be banned in cities like NYC and Berlin. Reasons for this, they say, are the frequent accidents and that the horses are exploited for amusement and entertainment purposes. According to VFAR, carriage horses are euthanized or sold to slaughterers when they can no longer continue to work.
Accidents involving carriage horses are on the rise
Since horses are flight animals that want to escape from stressful situations, accidents happen more often in large cities. The traffic and the background noise frighten the sensitive animals to the point where they just want to run off. It is not uncommon for horses and humans to be injured or even die in situations like this.
Source: peta
