The Central Park carriage horse Lady died suddenly on a Manhattan street due to a likely aortic rupture caused by a small tumor in her adrenal gland, according to preliminary necropsy results shared by the carriage drivers’ union, TWU Local 100. Lady, 15, had recently started working in New York after being sold at auction and had passed a city-mandated physical exam with no issues. The union emphasized that such a sudden medical event could happen anywhere and criticized animal rights activists for unfairly targeting carriage drivers, many of whom love and care for their horses.

However, animal advocacy groups like NYCLASS and PETA disputed the union’s claims, arguing that the tumor should have been detected earlier and that the city’s health oversight of carriage horses is inadequate. They see Lady’s death as part of a broader pattern of neglect and systemic failure in the treatment of carriage horses, renewing calls for stricter regulations or a ban on horse-drawn carriages in Central Park. Lady’s death also recalls the case of another carriage horse, Ryder, whose death nearly three years prior sparked similar controversy and legal action, though the driver was acquitted and the proposed ban has yet to pass.