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A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 


Horse Racing – 27 July 2006
By Mary T. Hoffman

Ever wonder what happens to the thousands of horses that don’t make the grade as good racers?

Here is the answer from Holly Cheever, DVM, who “…has been around horses all her life, including race horses.”

In “Racing from Another Perspective: Experts' Statements about Racing” Dr. Cheever states:

"The undeniable and inescapable problem with the thoroughbred industry is that thousands of foals must be produced in order to develop a few dozen good racers. The excess often meet with inhumane ends and similarly, when race horses are no longer money-earning winners, they too often end up neglected, abandoned, and starving at the hands of uncaring owners, with their final end being the slaughterhouse. For instance, a Kentucky Derby winner was slaughtered in Japan in 2004, despite his spectacular win a decade earlier. The distressing fate of the thousands of abused, neglected and abandoned horses in the United States is recognized by the American Association of Equine Practitioners — the world’s premiere equine veterinary organization — as its primary and most pressing problem.”

“This purely economic motivation stands behind the racetrack saying 'A horse makes no money just standing in his stall.' Once they decide that the horse does not have, or had exhausted, his race-winning potential, they sell the horse to an equine auction, from where horses are either sent to a slaughterhouse that ships horsemeat to the European and Japanese market, or into a downward spiral of abuse at the hands of new owners who may think they would like a retired racehorse, but forget about horses’ longevity and the expense necessary to maintain them properly.”

Such abuses will continue and flourish until the establishment of legal rights for other animals.
From www.Chai-online.org 
http://chai-online.org/en/campaigns/racing/campaigns_racing_experts.htm 
See also:
http://www.all-creatures.org/adow/index.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/horse.html 

Go on to: It Is Better to Err on the Side of Compassion – 28 July 2006
Return to: The Best Diet – 26 July 2006
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