A dying horse was seen lying on a road in Central Park Tuesday evening after it had been driving a carriage when witnesses said it dropped to the ground. A short time later, the animal took its last breath.
“The horse was still breathing until they let him pass away. There were people in the carriage…tourists that were super scared after seeing this,” said witness Clara Bermudez.
The stunning scene on West End Drive near West 72nd Street stopped parkgoers until the NYPD and the carriage owners covered the horse with a blue tarp.
“I started getting frantic messages and calls. People were sobbing, hysterical videos of another dead horse,” said Edita Birnkant of NYClass. “I felt sick to my stomach that this has happened yet again.”
The carriage driver told NBC New York the horse was a 16-year-old male named Dennis. He said he was perfectly healthy, eating and drinking throughout the day, and then fell to the ground.
“He just go try to pee and in two seconds he’s dying,” the emotional driver said. “I lost someone from my family — but they treating me like a horse abuser, which is not true. The horse was totally healthy.”
Mobile veterinarian Dr. Jessica Fragola rushed to help, but it was too late.
“It’s pretty unusual for a horse to just go down and die like that. Most horses do not die sudden deaths, and I know some in the park have had that happen to them,” said Fragola. “It’s hard to speculate what it could be, first thing that comes to mind is cardio vascular like a heart attack.”
The horse owners insisted the horse had been healthy, and that it had most recently been to the vet in March.
The head of the group fighting to ban horse and carriage rides said that, by coincidence, they had already planned a rally on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday.
“We don’t wanna hear anymore…excuses from any elected official. You stand here and watch that horse die an agonizing death and tell me we should keep this going. No, we don’t want to hear that anymore, New Yorkers have had enough,” said Birnkant.
NYCLASS said they have been working with members of City Council to reintroduce a bill that would ban horse carriage rides in Central Park, and were more hopeful it could pass with the new administration in charge.
