NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Central Park carriage horse died of colic last week, according to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
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Billy, a Belgian draft horse, died in his stall around 4 a.m. on July 20, officials said.
The death occurred just a week after a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages and replace them with electric models was introduced in the City Council.
Animal rights groups have been campaigning to end carriage rides in central park for years now. Horse-drawn carriages have been a feature of the park since the 1850s.
A worker at the stables noticed Billy was distressed and took him for a walk on the morning of the 20th, a spokesman for Local Transportation Workers 100 — the union that represents carriage drivers in New York City — told the New York Daily News.
When he returned to his stable, he collapsed and died, the union representative said.
Temperatures reached a high of 91 degrees on July 20, though it’s not clear whether the heat wave played a role in the horse’s death.
The day before his death, carriage rides were suspended due to dangerously high temperatures.
New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets, an animal rights group, demanded the city investigate the death.
The city attributed the death to colic — a gastrointestinal affliction common in horses. Colic is a symptom, not an illness, and the city has not yet announced the cause of the colic that it said was the cause of death.
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