End of horse-drawn carriages in Montreal
MONTREAL — The elegant draft horses that pull tourist caleches through Old Montreal will soon be clip-clopping their way into the city’s history books as the municipal administration moves forward with a plan to ban the activity as of 2020.
City Councillor Craig Sauve said Thursday he’s introducing a regulation to end the horse-drawn carriages amid a growing concern over the welfare of the animals, despite tighter rules imposed on the industry in recent years.
“The conclusions are clear: the unfortunate incidents involving horses and caleches have continued to occur,” he told a news conference.
There have been at least four accidents involving carriage horses since 2014, as well as several hundred citizen complaints over the treatment of the horses, according to data provided by the city.
There were also 14 tickets given out in 2016 and 2017 for infractions related to horse health and the state of the carriages.
The city’s new regulation would prohibit horse-drawn carriages anywhere on Montreal’s territory as of Dec. 21, 2019.
Sauve said the timeline would give drivers and owners enough time find other work, noting the administration had been promising to end the carriage horse industry since the municipal election campaign last fall.
“We see there have been a lot of cases of horses being mistreated, horses dying while doing their caleche activities,” Sauve said.
“We promised in the campaign to put an end to this industry, and we’re giving them a year and a half to adjust and we think that’s enough time.”
The city also unveiled its revamped animal-control bylaw, six months after overturning the previous administration’s ban on pit bull-type dogs.
Former mayor Denis Coderre enacted the pit bull ban in 2016 after a 55-year-old Montreal woman died after a dog attack in her backyard.
Mayor Valerie Plante’s administration revoked the controversial ban in December and later held a series of citizen consultations to come up with the framework that was presented on Thursday.
While the new regulations do not target a specific breed, they impose tough conditions on dogs that are considered potentially dangerous.
The bylaw introduces mandatory sterilization of dogs, cats and rabbits and will require pet stores to sell rescued animals.