Montreal Canada Officially Ends the Horse Drawn Carriage Industry

​www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/montreals-horse-drawn-carriage-industry-rides-off-into-history-but-not-quietly/ar-BBYr8kf?li=AAggXBV

Montreal has made it official, come January 1st there will no longer be horse drawn carriage guided tours parading around the streets, exciting activists and angering the horse-drawn carriage community. Citing concerns for animal welfare after a string of incidents involving the horses sparked outrage and concern for the horses' well being, the city moved to make the ban official ending decades of horse-drawn carriage activity in the city. 

The horse-drawn carriage community has expressed anger and resentment towards the decision stating among other things, the horses are well taken care of. Luc Desparois, operator of the largest caleche community, goes on to say that the horses have shelter, are well taken care of from a veterinary perspective, and the incidents cited in the ban were all the fault of the city. In one case, a horse collapsed after getting stuck in a metal grate which :uc states could have been avoided had the city properly informed them of construction to the roads. He argues that horse carriages are part of Montreal's history and shouldn't be done away with despite these concerns.

Unfortunately, his claims that the city is entirely at fault are unfounded when considering separate incidents with the horses. In one incident, video footage shows a horse colliding with a vehicle on the road and in a second incident, a horse dropped dead in the middle of a guided tour leaving the passengers horrified. These incidents cannot be blamed on anything other than the horses getting the shit end of the stick and obviously not being in tip top shape to be pulling these carriages otherwise these things wouldn't have happened.

Horses seemingly provide us with these services happily but things have changed dramatically from when the carriages first hit the road. Horses are no longer safe on busy streets and experience a multitude of potential hazards when operating carriages throughout the city. They are constantly surrounded by vehicles which poses a threat in itself but we must also consider the amount of pollution the horses are ingesting when sharing the road with multiple vehicles. We must also consider the extreme weather horses are forced to pull carriages in including extreme heat waves and blistery cold temperatures.

Horse drawn carriages are part of Canadian history that needs to be put to rest once and for all. As mentioned, there is simply no place for horses on our busy streets any longer as they face multiple dangers to their safety. The government has offered to pay $1,000 per horse to the caleche drivers and has also reached out to the provincial government's labour board to help caleche drivers find work. Despite this, the caleche community intends to continue to fight the ban and they haven't considered yet what their next move will be once the ban is enforced.

Unfortunately for them, it appears they will be out of luck come January first. Three cheers for the end of horse drawn carriages on Montreal's busy streets. I will update this story when more news becomes available.

HAPPY VEG