More details have emerged regarding the horse that died on an El Al flight from Belgium to JFK this week. Virteuse, a $140,000 European warmblood was en route to his owner in Illinois when it began "kicking forcefully" around 30 minutes after taking off in Belgium. The Post reports that Virteuse, one of 10 horses on the flight, calmed down but died shortly after. USDA officials are conducting a necropsy to determine the cause of death.
Humberto Rivera, who has been in the international horse transportation business for 14 years, told us yesterday that cases in which a horse dies are "very rare," and that the horse is carefully monitored before the flight, so that "if it has even a slight fever, they may not let the horse travel."
