Letter to the Editor: Horse racing exposed: drugs, deception, and death
Disclaimer: Letters to the Editor express the opinion of the writer and are not necessarily the opinion of WBIG ownership, management or staff.
Every week, 24 horses die on racetracks across the country because of preventable injuries, and every year 10,000 “Broken-down” racehorses are sent to slaughter. Most horses do not retire, but are sadly transported away from the racetrack to end up in slaughterhouses in Canada, Mexico, or Japan, where they are turned into dog food and glue. Their flesh is also exported to countries such as France and Japan, where it is considered a delicacy.
Horse racing is best described as institutionalized exploitation of baby horses. Imagine being pushed beyond the point of exhaustion: the bones in your legs straining to hold up the weight of your body, your bleeding lungs incapable of taking in enough air, and you’re forced to keep running despite it all. This is what life is like for racehorses who are chronically drugged by trainers in order to mask their pain and enhance their performance.
We all know the famous horses that died for the sake of this cruel sport — Ruffian, Barbaro, and Eight Belles who was “mercilessly whipped” by a sadistic jockey, dying on the track after breaking both front legs in the 2008 Kentucky Derby.
Please contact your U.S. Representative and Senators and ask them to support the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act of 2013, Senate Bill 973 and House Bill 2012, which would increase oversight and penalties for overusing drugs in horse racing.
For more info go to peta.org and search on the term “horse racing”.
Silvie Pomicter, president, Voice of the Animals, Chinchilla
