The city is asleep at the reins when it comes to keeping track of retiring carriage horses, animal advocates charge.
Health Department records reveal more questions than answers — showing the whereabouts of only a handful of the 260 Central Park horses that retired between 2009 and 2014.
A review of city documents, meanwhile, reveals that in that time period 225 horses “retired” or left the industry, 28 were sold and seven died.
In dozens of cases, horses weren’t registered as retired or dead until the DOH sent letters to drivers warning of expired licenses or missing health records.
“This is a clear example of the lawlessness inherent in the carriage-horse trade,” said Allie Feldman, executive director of NYCLASS. “And sadly, because of the lack of regulations, horses go missing all the time.”
Last month, activists hired a private eye to track Ceasar, an old horse that was supposed to be resting on a Pennsylvania farm because of his chronic lung problems. The 22-year-old nag went missing after the city probed driver Frank Luo for allegedly keeping him working past his prime under the license of a healthier steed.
Luo claims he shipped Ceasar out and sold him. Sources familiar with the private investigation believe the horse has changed hands four times since then.
Based on witness statements, investigators are chasing leads that Ceasar could be in Iowa, a known transfer point for equines headed to slaughter.
A 2011 City Council bill would have required carriage-horse drivers to notify the city of horses’ whereabouts once they stopped working, but it never came to a vote. The legislation also would have mandated that owners send the beasts to animal sanctuaries or welfare organizations and provide the groups’ contact information.
Animal-welfare activists told The Post drivers dump the horses without caring where they end up. If the steeds fall into a horse auction, they could be sold for their meat to middlemen for Canadian and Mexican slaughterhouses.
But carriage drivers threw manure on those claims. Stephen Malone says most retired horses — including his own — are donated to animal sanctuaries such as Massachusetts’ Blue Star Equiculture, which pays for their upkeep.
Drivers can also sell their retired mounts for a several thousand dollars because of their safe temperaments.
Carriage operator Chantel Semanchik says it’s no one’s business what happens to the animals once they leave New York.
“If the city provided the stables, seed and hay, then the city can know where the horses go,” said Semanchik, who runs a carriage business in New Jersey and takes in retired Central Park ponies. “But these are privately owned animals. The owners have the right to do what they want.”