A life-sized model of a horse was marked off with yellow crime scene tape outside the New York City Criminal Court in Manhattan on Monday morning. But it wasn’t the site of a gruesome accident. It was a PETA protest against a horse carriage driver charged with animal cruelty.
The horse was laid on the street outside the trial of Saverio Colarusso, a carriage driver who reportedly forced his horse, Blondie, to work four days on an injured leg in December last year. Colarusso was arrested by a police officer who noticed the horse hobbling. A police veterinarian later diagnosed Blondie as suffering from thrush, a hoof infection that can render a horse lame if left untreated.
“These horses need to be retired to sanctuaries and replaced with a humane form of transportation,” said Ashley Byrne, a PETA campaign specialist who led the protest at the court..
There are those who feel it’s an unjust representation of the entire industry. “We shouldn’t all be tarred by the same brush,” said Stephen Malone, spokesperson for the Horse and Carriage Association of New York. “You can’t punish the industry for one man’s mistake,” he said.
