A carriage horse that collapsed a week ago in Central Park died after eating a commonplace but poisonous plant, according to preliminary findings released on Tuesday.
Deniz, the 16-year-old horse who died on June 10, had eaten from a Japanese yew, a shrub that contains lethal toxins, according to the findings of a necropsy report conducted by a veterinary pathologist at Cornell University.
The horse had an abundant amount of the plant in his mouth and stomach, and his symptoms were consistent with poisoning, according to the report released by the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents carriage horse owners and drivers.
The report’s finding does not represent an official cause of death, which the city Health Department will release after a complete necropsy.
The report prompted a new round of finger-pointing between the union and the Central Park Conservancy over who bore the blame for the death, as the City Council considers legislation that would ban or tighten regulation of the carriage horse industry.
Nurettin Kirbiyik, 52, Deniz’s driver and caretaker, appeared at a news conference on Tuesday, where he said he felt vindicated by the report. He said that he had received threats since Deniz’s death, which had also attracted criticism of the carriage horse industry as a whole.
“Now the report has shown the real cause,” he said.
Japanese yew is a common ornamental shrub in the United States, where it is used in landscaping and Christmas wreaths. However, it contains toxins that disrupt the heart’s electrical system when consumed, causing difficulty breathing, seizures and cardiac arrest among both people and animals.
Deniz had stopped to eat some of the shrub during a ride near East 90th Street, according to the union. Soon after, he started trembling, then collapsed. The pathologist said it would have taken less than 1.5 pounds to kill the roughly 1,433-pound horse.
The feud over the use of carriage horses is long-running. Operators say the carriages are popular attractions that provide jobs, while animal-rights activists say they are dangerous and inhumane.
The conservancy blamed the horse’s death on the union’s negligence. Park rules forbid horses from eating vegetation on its 843-acre grounds, and carriage drivers are required to supervise their horses at all times, the conservancy said.
“Perhaps if they had, Deniz would not have suffered as he did, and died,” the conservancy said in a statement, adding: “This tragedy underscores something larger: it’s time for New York City to join other major cities around the world and ban horse carriages from our city.”
But carriage drivers and their union blamed Deniz’s death on the conservancy, which oversees landscaping in the park.
At the news conference, Christina Hansen, 46, a carriage driver and union spokeswoman, held up a branch of Japanese yew. She said that while drivers try to prevent their horses from snacking on vegetation, it is practically inevitable.
“Being with a horse all day is like being with a 1,500-pound toddler, who is hungry as a horse,” she said.
“The fact that it was anywhere within reach of a horse that was on the carriage drive, which was designed for horses to be on, is outrageous,” she added.
Ed Shanahan contributed reporting.
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