Group Wants Prosecutors in Two States to File Cruelty-to-Animals Charges Against Auction Companies
For Immediate Release:
September 12, 2011
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Norfolk, Va. -- PETA is calling for criminal charges against multiple thoroughbred auction companies following the group's undercover investigation of the horseracing industry's "under tack" shows for 2-year-old horses in training—shows in which auction companies show off young horses to potential buyers by pushing them to run a furlong (one-eighth of a mile) at faster speeds than they ever would run in actual races, as just written about in the Wall Street Journal. PETA's new video footage shows horses who panic and bolt and suffer fatal breakdowns and career-ending injuries. One of the horses captured on video suffered a compound fracture of her cannon bone while being pushed hard to sprint at breakneck speed at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Auction in Timonium, Md., on May 19. Fragments of bone can be seen exploding from her foot. Because the auction failed to cancel the event in light of unsafe weather and track conditions, PETA has asked the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office to bring cruelty-to-animals charges against the auction.
PETA videotaped another young horse who suffered a fatal burst aorta when pushed to sprint in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company auction in Florida on June 19. Because the danger of sprinting in severe heat is well known in the industry (some tracks cancel regular races in such weather), PETA is urging the county attorney to file charges against the company for violating Florida's anti-cruelty laws.
"Forcing juvenile horses to run at top speeds on fragile, undeveloped bones and joints is animal abuse," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "The thoroughbred auction companies recklessly endanger—and even kill—very young, inexperienced horses simply to put on a show for buyers."
PETA has sent all four auction companies a list of simple, lifesaving recommendations, including preventing horses under 2 years of age from sprinting; eliminating the timing of the sprints; mandating that under tack shows be postponed in unsafe track or weather conditions; banning whips, toe grabs, and other devices that force the horses to run at excessive speeds; and cracking down on the use of performance-enhancing and injury-masking drugs.
For more information, please see PETA's blog.