Death shows it’s past time to ban calèches: Plante
Horse began coughing, collapsed on Sunday for unknown reason
An investigation of the circumstances surrounding the sudden collapse and death of a calèche horse in Old Montreal on Sunday afternoon has been launched by Quebec’s department of agriculture, fisheries and food (MAPAQ). “We received a complaint about this case on the weekend and today we seized the animal to bring it to our laboratories for our investigation to try to learn the cause of death of the horse,” said Yohan Dallaire-Boily, a spokesperson for MAPAQ. Besides conducting an autopsy, MAPAQ investigators are also questioning witnesses and investigating the scene of the incident, which occurred Sunday at about 3 p.m., on St-Jean St. near St-Sacrement St. A video posted on Facebook by a group called the Anti-Calèche Defense Coalition purports to show Charlot, the horse in question, in respiratory distress on Sunday afternoon before he died. That group has been urging anyone who sees a calèche horse that looks sick, injured or is being mistreated to contact police, and to write to MAPAQ Minister André Lamontagne to urge him to take action to protect calèche horses. ACDC coordinator Mirella Colalillo said she has been asking the city for a list of the horses registered to pull calèches.
That way her group can keep track of them, and to facilitate complaints when warranted. The list has been provided in the past, she said, but she filed an access to information request in August and is still waiting. “Nobody is overseeing the situation,” she said. “It’s good that there is going to be a ban in a year but in the meantime nobody is protecting the horses and the laws are not being enforced.” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said the incident serves as more confirmation that her administration’s decision to ban horse-drawn carriages as of Dec. 31, 2019, is the right thing to do. “For me, it was already clear, but now it is even more so,” Plante told reporters on Monday. She added she has no information indicating that mistreatment was a factor in the horse’s death. The horse collapsed around 3 p.m. after doing a morning tour of the old town with tourists, Luc Desparois, owner of Service des calèches et traîneaux Lucky Luc, confirmed in a telephone interview on Monday afternoon. Before embarking on a second tour, Charlot began to cough and then collapsed, Desparois said. He was not on the scene but was called by the calèche driver and arrived just a few minutes after the horse died. A veterinarian was also called to the scene but did not arrive in time to help the horse. Desparois said Charlot was examined by a veterinarian last week due to abdominal pain, was treated for colic but was cleared to work. Desparois said he has only owned Charlot for a few months, that the horse was between 15 and 20 years old and generally healthy. He insists that pulling carriages in Old Montreal is not hard work for horses and that his 20 horses are very well-treated. On Sunday, a witness called the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to report the horse in respiratory distress but by the time two SPCA officers arrived on the scene, Charlot was dead. In a statement issued Monday, the Montreal SPCA said it “has always been very concerned about the way carriage horses are treated in Montreal and is eager to see the City of Montreal’s long-awaited bylaw prohibiting the use of horsedrawn carriages on its territory come into effect on Dec. 31, 2019. In the meantime, the SPCA is asking the city to ensure increased oversight of carriage horses, the statement added. Asked whether the city would move more quickly to get calèches off the streets, Plante said speeding up the process will be difficult because the city is legally obliged to give some notice to owners and drivers before shutting down their business.