TORONTO—A Toronto Police Service (TPS) manual obtained by Animal Justice through a Freedom of Information request includes policies that authorize Mounted Unit police officers to shoot severely injured horses and strike them as a form of discipline, raising serious animal welfare concerns.
The manual confirms that officers without veterinary or medical training are authorized to make life-and-death decisions for the animals, including injecting drugs, and determining whether a horse should be euthanized. Consultation with a veterinarian is not required in emergency situations.
Even more alarming, the TPS Mounted Unit policies include instructions for officers on how to kill a horse in the field using a firearm, such as a shotgun, complete with diagrams. Officers are left to decide whether an injury is “so catastrophic that there is no chance of recovery”, a determination typically made by veterinary professionals in any other context involving companion animals.
Mounted police do not carry shotguns, meaning another unit would have to be called in to deliver the weapon. Although the manual suggests checking with police supervisors before shooting a horse, it does not require consultation with a veterinarian.
The policy also encourages officers to strike horses on the neck, shoulder, or hindquarters to “discipline” them or stave off behaviours such as kicking, charging or biting.
Instructing police to hit horses is inhumane and is rejected by modern welfare bodies that rely on evidence-based training methods, including Equestrian Canada principles that explicitly reject relying on pain or fear.
Hitting horses may also run afoul of criminal and Ontario’s provincial animal welfare laws, which prohibit causing unnecessary suffering or distress to animals, particularly because the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Equines prohibits causing avoidable pain or injury to horses.
Aggressive behaviours in horses are nearly always fear-driven or stress-induced, or the result of poor training or handling, and can certainly be triggered by dangerous crowd control situations where horses are used, or by the very type of corporal “discipline” suggested by the policy.
“It’s unfair and unacceptable to leave life-and-death decisions about horses to officers without veterinary expertise,” said lawyer Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice. “Horses are not disposable equipment, and this policy shows a profound disrespect for the horses routinely used by the police, as well as professional medical standards.”
“When police policies spell out how to shoot a horse or strike them to control dangerous behaviour, it’s a clear sign that horses don’t belong in these high-risk urban situations. Using horses in traffic, protests, and crowd-control situations is completely unnecessary, inherently risky, and places animals directly in harm’s way. The use of horses is an archaic policing practice from a bygone era, and it’s increasingly out of step with modern Toronto and the tools available to police today.”
In 2024, a mounted horse named York was struck by a stolen pickup truck on Queen Street West during a police pursuit, highlighting the dangers of exposing horses to modern urban environments with vehicular traffic.
View the full Mounted Section policy obtained by Animal Justice here.
Contact:
Josh Lynn
Public Relations Manager
[email protected]
Camille Labchuk
Executive Director
[email protected]