Animal rights group calls for an end to calèche industry

A group that wants to shutdown Montreal’s calèche industry will hold a vigil and a march in Old Montreal on Saturday to protest against what it says is the poor treatment of horses.

Organizers will try to dissuade Montrealers and tourists from taking horse-drawn carriage rides; if they refuse, protesters will follow the calèches through the streets of Old Montreal.

“We want to inform people about the damage the calèche industry inflicts on the horses,” said Fréderic Thériault, president of Association Terriens, the group that’s organizing the demonstration.

Thériault said protesters don’t want any confrontations with calèche drivers. “We aren’t against the drivers personally, but the industry,” he said.

The group had announced the protest on its Facebook page last Friday, one day before two calèche horses were involved in accidents in Quebec City.

On Saturday, a driver lost control of a horse, which allowed the animal to charge down a hill.

The driver was injured when the carriage overturned.

On the same day, a horse fell to the ground near the Château Frontenac hotel and wasn’t able to get back on its feet until it received treatment from a veterinarian.

Last year, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre tried to put a one-year moratorium on the city’s calèche industry after a horse got away from its driver and was struck by a car in Griffintown.

Coderre said he wanted to “start from scratch” and promised tighter rules and professional standards that would ensure animal welfare and public safety.

However, a Quebec Superior Court justice struck down the order saying the city couldn’t ban rides after it had granted permits to drivers for the upcoming tourist season.

In December, the Ville Marie borough voted to give $500,000 to the calèche industry.

The money will go to setting up “waiting stations” for the calèches and to improve the horses’ wellbeing as well as keeping the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal clean.

The rest of the money will go toward microchips for the horses, and for training and uniforms for calèche drivers to make them look more professional.

Following the two incidents in Quebec City, the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the time has come for Montreal to phase out the calèche industry, as has been done in New York, Toronto and Paris.

“It’s time to follow suit by phasing out this antiquated, inhumane and unsafe industry,” the SPCA said in a statement on its Facebook page.

The SPCA says it gets hundreds of complaints every year from citizens regarding the working conditions and the general state of carriage horses in Montreal.

The SPCA and other animal rights activists say the quaint, horse-drawn carriages are cruel and outdated.

A spokesperson for the city’s calèche industry was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.