Horse Racing: The Death Toll Continues to Rise in the UK

by Stephanie Ernst · 2009-07-20 17:08:00 UTC
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Four horses died just this past weekend during races in the UK, Animal Aid reports:

Their deaths received no mention in the newspaper racing columns and would remain hidden were it not for Animal Aid’s online database, Deathwatch.

On Saturday 18 July at Market Rasen, seven-year-old Falpiase and six-year-old Stellenbosch both pulled up lame and were subsequently destroyed. Newton Abbot, which featured in Animal Aid’s second Deathwatch report for having the greatest number of Thoroughbred fatalities out of all 60 British racecourses, saw two more horses killed on Sunday’s ‘Family Day’. Olay Olay, a nine-year-old gelding, severed a tendon and was destroyed. Heathfield Flyer, another gelding of the same age, finished his race, but the subsequent discovery of an injury meant that he was also killed.

Even more disturbing is the online database mentioned, which I linked to in some earlier posts on horse racing. Visit the Death Watch page; you may find your fingers starting to tire from scrolling before you get through even the 2009 deaths alone.

And on an unrelated note, please forgive the continued light posting. I've run into a really frustrating problem with the hotel Internet connection that is interfering with even basic browsing and page loading, and it's taking me hours to accomplish what I should be able to do in 15 minutes. The posting schedule around here will get back to normal as soon as I'm back in St. Louis.

Stephanie Ernst wrote the original Animal Rights blog at Change.org until December 2009. She can now be found at Animal Rights & AntiOppression.
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