In 2009 people watched in horror as Eight Belles was ridden to her death at the Kentucky Derby. Her jockey whipped her as she ran flat out on the hard dirt track before finally collapsing after crossing the finish line and immediately snapping both her front ankles. She was euthanized in the dirt where she lay, wracked with pain, a victim of the dirty business of thoroughbred racing.
Eight Belles’ tragic breakdown was no freak accident. Rather, it was a glimpse into an industry quietly responsible for more than 1,000 fatal horse breakdowns on U.S. tracks each year.
In the year since Eight Belles’ death, PETA has worked very hard on this issue. PETA has actually changed the media coverage of horse racing so that injuries and deaths are no longer ignored. PETA sparked Congressional hearings to expose the cruelty that the horse-racing industry tries to hide. PETA has even awakened the conscience of some of the abusers and heard from whistleblowers, whom they are working with now. PETA is fighting vigorously for more vital reforms, including the following:
A ban on all drugs designed to push horses beyond their limits
Softer track surfaces to protect vulnerable horses’ bones and joints
A ban on the use of whips
An end to the racing of young horses before their legs are fully formed and strengthened.
An end to the practice of shipping thoroughbreds overseas, where most end up in a dog-food can
PETA investigators have also documented the repulsive underside of the misnamed “sport of kings” (“sport of butchers” is more accurate)—owners who sell horses who can’t win races anymore to slaughterhouses … trainers who give horses drugs to keep them running until they drop, break their legs, or wreck their health … industry leaders who prefer the hardest track surface because, although it breaks the most bones, it pounds the most speed out of the horses and brings these greedy souls the most profitable wins.
With your help, PETA can stop the hideous abuses that these and other long-suffering animals endure. Help us work to get drugs out of the stables in order to allow hurt horses to rest?
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