On Easter Sunday, a self-proclaimed Charleston Animal Society worker verbally assaulted several horse carriage drivers and passengers and also tried to physically assault a Palmetto Carriage Works employee. Thanks to Palmetto Carriage Works’ caring employees who jumped in to protect the passengers and horses and also Charleston police officers removing the woman from the scene, no one was hurt.

Over the last few years, The Charleston Animal Society has been engaging in a reckless misinformation campaign against the Charleston horse carriage industry. Sadly, their heated rhetoric has led to someone, claiming to work for the Charleston Animal Society, to physically assault one of Palmetto Carriage Works employees.

Watch the incident in its entirety here:

Here is another video from a different angle where you can see just how close the women came to hurting a Palmetto Carriage Works staff member.

In this incident, the woman made two noteworthy claims:

1) “We’re coming here for the horses”: Publicly the Charleston Animal Society has claimed they only are looking out for the welfare of the horses. However, we know that their ultimate goal is to shut down the entire carriage industry (which could ultimately leave many horses and mules displaced and without the high level of care that they are currently receiving.)

2) “The animals are starving. They are hurting.”: This absolutely isn’t true. Our animals’ welfare is Palmetto Carriage Works first priority. We are committed to giving the best possible care to our horses and mules.We make sure they are well-fed, groomed, have regular check-ups. and get frequent vacation at our farm on John’s Island. Anyone that has come for a visit to the Big Red Barn will see that we treat our horses and mules as part of our Palmetto Carriage family! Click here to learn more about their care.

Overall, we believe that our employees and customers should not have to worry about their safety. Even after being assaulted by the woman, you can see our driver acted professionally and did what was necessary to protect our guests, but we feel like he should never have been in that situation to begin with. Violent outbursts like these, if they escalate, have the potential to put both the animals and our passengers in danger.

“We hope that the Charleston Animal Society will condemn this encounter and take appropriate action against this woman if she is an employee or volunteer. Additionally, we ask that they help protect the animals they claim to care about by informing their entire staff and volunteers that actions like these cannot be tolerated in our city,” said Tommy Doyle, General Manager of Palmetto Carriage Works. “We can only hope that these were the acts of a rogue person and not the results of an organizational culture at the Charleston Animal Society. Endangering human and animal lives in the name of an extreme agenda is never the answer.”