Montreal’s mayor says she’s more convinced than ever that the city’s caleche industry needs to be shut down.
Valerie Plante’s comments today come after a caleche horse collapsed and died Sunday as it pulled passengers through the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal.
A Facebook group dedicated to seeing the end of horse-drawn carriages in the city wrote the animal was seen coughing before it fell.
The death comes as the city moves to ban caleche rides by the end of 2019.
Plante told reporters today that Sunday’s death won’t speed up that process, announced last June. But it makes it clear to her the city was right to eliminate the practice.
The Montreal-branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is investigating the death and is expected to issue a statement later today.
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The Canadian Press
