MONTREAL -- Calèche owners have requested an injunction in an effort to save their jobs.

The City of Montreal has said the horses that pull the carriages -- a frequent summer sight in the Old Port -- work in unsafe conditions. A municipal bylaw shutting down the industry comes into effect at the end of the year.

"We don't constitute that it's safe for the animals in the streets with heat waves in the summer, with climate change, with extreme cold in the winter, with construction on the road, with the number of vehicles on the road," said executive committee member Sterling Downey.

Calèches are part of the city's heritage, said Luc Desparois, who owns 14 of the horses, and filed Monday's injunction.

Horse owners care about the animals, and though accidents occasionally happen, the animals are treated well, he said.

"That's my life over here. I've been doing this since I was 18 years old, and if there would be a right reason to stop, we would, but there's no right reason to stop," he said.

The city has offered calèche owners a deal: $1,000 per horse, help to relocate the animals to refuges and training to find new jobs in the tourism industry.

So far, one owner has accepted the deal.

The city thinks calèche drivers will go elsewhere to ply their trade and that's why more owners haven't accepted the city's deal.

Desparois' injunction request will be heard in court on Tuesday.