On November 4, 2018, the Montreal SPCA received a call about a carriage horse who had collapsed in Old Montreal. Within half an hour, two officers from the SPCA’s Investigations Division arrived at the scene, but the horse was already deceased.
Given the circumstances of the incident and the fact the SPCA does not have the power to apply provincial animal welfare legislation to horses, SPCA officers immediately contacted the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ), which took charge of the case under the Animal Welfare and Saftey Act.
The Montreal SPCA 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 by-law prohibiting the use of horse-drawn carriages on its territory come into effect on December 3, 2019. In the meantime, the SPCA is asking the City to ensure increased oversight of carriage horses.
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