Despite their tourist appeal, horse-drawn carriages and trolleys in Victoria, B.C. have become a safety concern and should be confined to city parks, according to one animal welfare organization.

The BC SPCA has asked the city to ban the popular tours after two horses fell in an accident between a trolley and a bus near Ogden Point, at Victoria Harbour, last month. Video of the incident showed the two horses struggling to stand up as onlookers watched.

Craig Daniell, the CEO of the BC SPCA, said in a letter to city council that the animals were in “significant distress” for more than five minutes during the episode.

The carriage operator, Victoria Carriage Tours, told CTV Vancouver Island in May that both horses weren’t injured in the accident and that their staff expertly handled the situation.

“Our horses are trained to stay down once they realize they can't get back up on their own," head horse trainer Emily May said.

The company also said this was only the second time in more than a decade that the horses have fallen during a tour.

However, the BC SPCA claimed the horses handlers didn’t have an “appropriate strategy in place to safely resolve” the incident.

Bettina Bobsien, a veterinarian and equine specialist, watched the video of the accident and said she had concerns about the welfare of the horses and the humans involved.

“It was sickening to watch,” she said. “Any animal lover would be sickened to watching that because a horse that’s down and can’t get up, that is a terrible thing for that animal. There were many humans that were put at risk in that situation. There could have been a serious human injury there.”

The BC SPCA is calling on Victoria City Council to take the horse-drawn tours off the streets and move them into city parks instead.

“The BC SPCA recommends Council prohibit the operation of horse-drawn carriages and trolleys on Victoria’s streets, limiting their operation to the safer park environment,” Daniell said.

The organization also asked the city to allow only one horse per vehicle and implement additional safety standards on the industry, including regulated operating procedures and emergency management plans.

Victoria Carriage Tours said in a statement on Wednesday that they have implemented a number of changes in light of the incident, including taking off a horse’s harness right after a fall and never travelling that particular route without flaggers.

“As with any business you are always learning from situations and experience. We can always do better,” it read. “We have gone above and beyond The City of Victoria and SPCA oversight and regulations.”

The company also expressed concern about how the BC SPCA’s recommendation of having one horse per vehicle would affect the training of new horses. They said having horses train in pairs helps the animals build confidence and familiarity with the routes.

“We can attest to [this] with zero horses or human ever harmed in 15 years,” the statement said. “This one incident cannot reflect the whole, not with horses.”

The other tour operator in the area, Tally-Ho Carriage Tours, also issued a statement in response.

“We are confused how safety recommendations suddenly jump to a statement that potentially puts our business at risk,” it read.

Victoria City Council is expected to debate the BC SPCA’s recommendation on Thursday.

With files from CTV Vancouver Island