Equine members of the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Mounted Unit weren’t called to duty when terrorists attacked the city on Sept. 11, 2001, but the animals and their human partners will be in evidence today (Sept. 11) when New York marks the 10^th anniversary of that attack.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, 19 hijackers took control of four commercial aircrafts. Five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Minutes later, five other hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the World Trade Center’s South Tower. Shortly thereafter another hijacked aircraft, American Airlines Flight 77, was flown in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A fourth hijacked flight, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed near Shanksville, Penn., after passengers fought hijackers for control of the aircraft.

According to the 9/11 Commission, a ten-member panel appointed by former President George W. Bush to examine the terror attacks, the 256 people aboard the four planes lost their lives, more than 2,600 people died at the World Trade Center, and another 125 were at the Pentagon.

Both towers of the World Trade Center collapsed as a result of the attacks, spewing fire, smoke, and debris throughout the surrounding areas. When the NYPD first responders were dispatched to the scene, the equine members of the Mounted Unit were not among them