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| For Immediate Release, Tuesday 27 August 2019 BREAKING! DEATHWATCH 2019 REPORT RELEASE Report shows on-track horse deaths would be far worse than they already appear. The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) have just released their 2019 Deathwatch report which demonstrates horses are being killed on Australian racetracks at a rate of at least one every three days, for gambling profits and entertainment. The report covers horse deaths caused by racing over the last ‘racing year’ August 1 2018 – July 31 2019. Read the full report here Key findings of the 2019 report show122 horses were killed on track for a number of reasons most commonly for catastrophic front limb injury (61)On average 1 horse will die on Australian racetracks every 3 days7 horses collapsed and died10 horses died from cardiac causes5 horses died from bleedsThe state with the highest recorded deaths was NSW (51) followed by VIC (31) and QLD (25)54 of the horses that were killed had been raced as a 2-year-old (8 more than last year)10 horses were only 2-years-old when they died on the track17 horses are still listed as ‘active’ on the Racing Australia website at the time of writing, even though some have been dead for almost a yearCPR Communications Director, Kristin Leigh claims the lives taken through injuries sustained from racing would no doubt be much higher. “It’s becoming normal practice now, that if at all possible, horses are being whisked away from the racetrack and killed elsewhere so that they are not recorded as a race day fatality.” She said. “Even worse, when a horse is killed on the track the stewards are sometimes failing to even mention it in their reports. Just two weeks ago John’s Revenge was killed at Coleraine but the stewards only mentioned he sustained an injury. This is just one example and indicates the death toll in Thoroughbred racing would be much higher”. Additionally, deaths caused in training and trials are not required to be recorded (with the exception of deaths in trials in NSW). “The fact is thousands of horses are being injured and pulling up lame from training, trials and races each year and many are never heard from again”. “The industry uses terms such as integrity and transparency to fool the public into believing they have the horses best interests at heart, but what they really care about is hiding the truth as much as possible so that they can continue to make profits from the suffering of others.” A perfect example of the industry hiding the horrors that occur on the racetrack can be seen in a race replay from Morphettville on March 11 this year. The vision shows 13 riders, then suddenly cuts to vision where only 9 riders remain. Some handy industry editing removed vision of what the stewards reported as eight different horses being severely hampered by a collision that resulted from the internal haemorrhage and subsequent death of the ironically named Stellar Collision. View the edited replay from Race 8 here at 0:30 seconds in, and the stewards report here. “The horse racing industry is slowly but surely losing its social license as more people become opposed to the use of animals for entertainment. Our report clearly demonstrates innocent horses are not only being killed but also suffering tremendous trauma in the process for entertainment and gambling profits and that is simply unacceptable.” Kristin said. To read CPR’s 2019 Deathwatch report and to view footage of just some of these deaths visit https://horseracingkills.com/issues/deathwatch/ In memory of the 122 horses killed on Australian racetracks this past ‘racing year’ and the thousands more killed behind the scenes and at slaughterhouses and knackeries for no longer being profitable. ENDS For More information: horseracingkills.com |
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