For Immediate Release, Saturday 16 January 2021 Activists take aim at the cruel Magic Millions What: Protest Against the Magic Millions When: Saturday 16 January 2021 Media opportunities from 11:30am Where: Gold Coast Turf Club, Racecourse Drive, Bundall More than 50 protestors representing Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, Animal Liberation Qld, and Coast to Coast Animal Friends will be in attendance. A PA system will also remind racegoers that horse racing = animal cruelty. “The racing industry’s retirement plan is a 50 cent bullet to the head.” — Promoted as the racing industries most prestigious sales event, the Magic Millions is where the cashed up come to purchase the next big winner. “Over one thousand horses, at just one and two years old, are being sold off like mere objects to the highest bidders, destined for a life of confinement, harsh training regimes and likely premature death” said Elio Celotto, Campaign Director of the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR). “They replace the injured and those deemed too slow that the racing industry has so callously discarded” Mr Celotto said. Chay Neal, Executive Director of Animal Liberaiton Queensland (ALQ) added “The Magic Millions flaunts money and glamour, while just down the road at Caboolture, the very same people are sending the horses they perhaps once profited from to be brutally killed. They are discarded like rubbish.” “The racing industry has failed these horses. Breed, use, abuse, then a bullet to the head. This is the racing industry’s business model, and anyone attending or betting on races is a part of that. We’re asking people to realise that horseracing equals animal cruelty, and to never bet on or attend races.” In 2019 the ABC’s 7.30 Report investigation exposed the systemic slaughter of thousands of racehorses every year forcing the industry to make token efforts in response, which includes the continuation of horse slaughter. “The industry should be calling for a ban on the slaughter of all horses bred into this industry, but they won’t because that would force them to have to address the over-breeding problem, resulting in a much lower sale and profitability rate at events such as the Magic Millions” Mr Neal said. “It is business as usual at these abattoirs and knackeries – dealing with the racing industry’s ‘wastage’. Even billionaire Gerry Harvey has been caught out sending racehorses to a NSW knackery.” Things are grim on the track too. At the Magic Millions, two-year-olds will be raced so that owners get a chance to see a return on their investments as soon as possible. “Their bodies are being pushed well-beyond their limits before their bones have even fully fused”. “This is one of the many reasons we see one horse killed on Australian racetracks every three days and another reason why so many are sent to the slaughterhouse” he said. “Opposition to horse racing is growing every year as the public becomes increasingly aware of the reality the horses face and the callous attitudes of those involved” he said. ENDS For More information: horseracingkills.com |
Leave a Reply