4 Horses Moved To Plymouth Co. Sheriff's Office
POSTED: 5:02 pm EDT June 30, 2009
UPDATED: 5:38 pm EDT June 30, 2009
BOSTON -- The clip-clop of police horses will be a sound no longer heard on Boston streets.
The Mounted Unit were disbanded Tuesday because of budget cuts, its 12 horses given new homes -- at least until the city can come up with funds to restore the unit.
Four horses from the unit were delivered to their new home on Tuesday with the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department Farm on Obery Street in Plymouth.
The Boston horses join Sheriff Joseph D. McDonald Jr.'s Mounted Unit, which is staffed by volunteer deputies.
Five other horses will be leased to the New York City Police Department, and three others are being returned to their former owners. The 10 officers assigned to the unit will be redeployed to other districts in the city.
Police Commissioner Ed Davis told the Boston City Council he had to choose between animals and people in the budget, and chose to keep people.
The first-in-the-nation Mounted Unit dates back to 1873 and was a familiar sight in crowd control situations.
Copyright 2009 by TheBostonChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 
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