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The other side of the carriage horse incident in James Bay the carriage operators don’t want you to know about.
Victoria Animal News recently received new information about the horse carriage incident reported on Friday, August 19th at the corner of Menzies and Niagara in James Bay.
A witness to the event contacted the Victoria Horse Alliance to tell them a different story of the events that took place that day than what the original story included which appeared to only interview the carriage driver. This new information raises many concerns about the operating of the carriages and efforts to cover up any bad publicity the companies might get from tourists who could have been injured.
This eye witness account reports that the horse pulling the carriage became very distressed and took off on the driver, running down Niagara St. At this point the carriage driver had lost the ability to control the horse while there were 4 0r 5 passengers riding. People living in the nearby apartments ran out and tried to stop the horse, while the police were called and arrived shortly after.
However, what is of greater concern is the potential effort to cover-up of this incident.
“Before police arrived a man in an SUV drove up and wanted to know where the passengers were and then drove away quickly with them in his vehicle as the police were pulling up.”
Despite there being no injuries reported earlier, the truth of this remains to be seen. Regardless, the witness reports that:
“…the scene was so upsetting that (I) was shaking for hours afterwards.”
Jordan Reichert of the Victoria Horse Alliance and Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada responded to the incident and this new information with disdain for the operation of the horse carriages.
“It has become evidently clear that the carriage operators are willing to go to any means to protect their image and their profits while continuing to exploit these animals. I never believed the original story that only interviewed the carriage driver. They always say everything is okay, even when quite clearly it is not.”
Victoria Horse Alliance has had a billboard on Highway 17 for the past month to raise awareness of the inhumane horse carriage industry in Victoria and discourage people from getting taken for a ride. They encourage anyone who witnesses concerns or incidents with the horse carriages to contact them immediately through their website.
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