Carriage Horse Suddenly Dies in Central Park, Spurring Ban Calls

Calls to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City have been issued anew, after a 16-year-old horse named Deniz collapsed and died near West 72nd Street in Central Park.

Widely-shared footage of the dramatic June 9 incident depicts Deniz flopped over on one of the park’s roadways, surrounded by concerned onlookers. It occurred just weeks after a spooked horse ran headlong into another carriage in Central Park, which hospitalized a coach driver and spurred similar cries for change.

In a statement issued by the Transport Worker’s Union (TWU), Deniz’s owner Nurettin Kirbiyik said that he was “shocked” by the horse’s abrupt death. Kiribyik added that he had groomed, showered, and shampooed the steed on a daily basis since purchasing it a decade ago.

“Horses are living beings who deserve dignity and compassion,” said City Council member Marte and Julie Capiello, president of the advocacy group Voters For Animal Rights in a joint statement. “They should not be forced to navigate the noise, traffic and demands of New York City streets,” said Marte.

The union said that a recent veterinarian check-up had determined that Deniz was in good shape, and pointed out that horses can often die in sudden and unexpected ways. The TWU closed all city stables on June 10, the day after Deniz’s death, as an expression of collective mourning.

NYCLASS, an organization seeking to essentially eliminate the profession via a bill known as Ryder’s Law, shared the video on social media with the following description: “Parkgoers watched in horror. Many were sobbing, hugging one another, and left devastated by what they had just witnessed.”

“This is a nightmare,” NYCLASS Executive Director Edita Birnkrant told the press. “Enough is enough!”

Birnkrant quickly garnered support from various politicians, ranging from Mayor Zohran Mamdani to City Council Member Christopher Marte, who had introduced a new version of Ryder’s Law for passage.

A previous iteration of the bill failed to pass during last year’s Council session. It is named after a horse who collapsed and died around West 45th Street back in August 2022, leading to animal abuse charges against its coach driver Ian McKeever, after he was seen whipping the animal. McKeever was later acquitted at trial.

“I know that many New Yorkers were disturbed by what they saw yesterday, and I’m one of them,” Mamdani said, during a June 10 presser on a different topic. “I support removing horse carriages from Central Park. I’ve also said that I look forward to working with union partners and community leaders to actually deliver on that.”

“We are grateful that Mayor Mamdani has renewed his call to remove horse-drawn carriages from Central Park after the tragic and preventable death of Deniz,” Council Member Marte, who represents Lower Manhattan, said in a statement. “New Yorkers have seen too many horses collapse, suffer, and die, and it is clear that this industry no longer belongs in our parks or on our streets.”

Marte also said that he would work with “union partners” and animal rights advocates alike to shape the legislation, but that could prove tricky.

The TWU has filed a $1 million defamation lawsuit against NYCLASS, alleging that the organization is pushing Ryder’s Law as a surreptitious real estate bid; their suit cites comments reportedly made a NYCLASS executive in 2010, namely speculation on how valuable the land under decommissioned stables would be.

The Central Park Conservancy has also in the past year called for carriage horses to be banned from Central Park.