A carriage horse collapsed and died in Hell’s Kitchen on Tuesday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It happened at around 2:30 p.m. at 51st Street and 11th Avenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Video from the scene shows the horse on the ground as workers dragged the dead animal into a trailer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The horse, carriage, and driver all fell into the street, witnesses said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The horse, like, fell down, and was shaking, like, a little bit,” one witness said.<\/p>\n
“He fell to the street on the other side. He was asking us for help. We helped him, but we could do nothing,” witness Yousef Gehid said.<\/p>\n
A necropsy will be performed.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s too early to speculate” on cause of death, union rep says<\/p>\n
The horse, named Lady, was 15 years old, according to a union representative. She had been in the city for less than two months.<\/p>\n
“It’s too early to speculate. That’s why the good doctors that do necropsies and equine pathologists will do this. But, it seems like it could’ve been some sort of sudden event, like heart attack, aneurysm, stroke. These happen in horses just like they happen in people, without warning and very suddenly,” Christina Hansen of TWU Local 100 said.<\/p>\n
Hansen said Lady had a complete physical in June when she started in New York City and “no abnormalities were detected.”<\/p>\n
So far there’s no criminality suspected, police said.<\/p>\n
Ryder’s Law proposal back in the spotlight<\/p>\n
The incident comes amid an ongoing citywide debate about the use of carriage horses<\/a>. Just last month, carriage horse handler Ian McKeever was found not guilty in an animal abuse trial<\/a> after the carriage horse Ryder collapsed in Hell’s Kitchen<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n Activists are demanding the council pass Ryder’s Law, legislation to phase out horse-drawn carriages and replace them with electric alternatives.<\/p>\n “No animal should suffer like this, especially not on our city streets in the middle of traffic and chaos,” Allie Taylor of Voters for Animal Rights said. “How many more horses must collapse or die before the City Council takes action? This cruelty is not tradition — it’s abuse. The time for excuses is over. We urge the Council to bring Ryder’s Law to a vote and finally put an end to the abusive horse carriage industry once and for all.”<\/p>\n “This happens over and over again. This is not an isolated … this is systematic abuse that is being rubber stamped by the City Council,” said Edita Birnkrant, executive direction of New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets. “There is no protection for horses. That’s why Ryder, an elderly horse with cancer, was worked to death. Lady, a 15-year-old horse, dropped dead on the street. Sick, suffering horses are allowed to be worked to death.”<\/p>\n The carriage drivers union says horses are required to pass annual vet checks and follow strict temperature guidelines, but critics say the enforcement is weak and outdated.<\/p>\n “There is not animal cruelty rights to a horse in the state of New York or the city of New York. They are considered livestock,” said Michael Petrelli, a horse trainer and activist. “If you beat a horse, nothing is going to happen to you. If you beat a dog, you can go to prison. Laws regarding livestock are antiquated. They are set in the 1800s.”<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n