A horse being carried on an El Al cargo flight from Belgium to JFK reportedly died in mid-air this morning, and representatives from the USDA are on the scene to perform an necropsy. Flight 831 left Belgium's Bierset Airport early this morning and arrived 25 minutes late at 9:35 a.m. A Port Authority spokesman referred us to El Al, and we're awaiting a response from the airline and the USDA.
Humberto Rivera, who's been transporting horses overseas for 14 years, tells us, "This is the first time I've heard something like since happen since I've been in business." Unlike to the stress that the horses are under when they're being transported by truck, air travel "is like being in heaven. Compared to ground transport, it's very safe, the conditions are much less stressful on the animal." Sandra DeFeo of the Humane Society agrees: "Air travel keeps the horse confined for the shortest amount of time possible, and it's probably the safest way to move a horse from overseas to the US."
The most famous case of a horse dying during air transport is Markham, a horse that had to be euthanized on a flight to Tokyo for the 1964 Olympics after it became restless and endangered the lives of the other horses and people on the flight.
