For Immediate Release, Thursday 5 January 2023 

3 Racehorses killed in WA in 6 days: Activists to target re-run of Perth Cup 

When CHILI IS HOT was killed in the Perth Cup on 1 January 2023, RAWWA and Perth Racing were very quick to point out that these incidents are rare.

Just 3 days prior on 29 December 2022, KESEM was killed in Race 2 after breaking down at Belmont Racecourse. Two days after, DANNEMORA was killed as a result of injuries sustained in a trial at Belmont on Jan 3, 2023. Vision of this trial only is not available. There is no formal reporting of trials.

Mr Elio Celotto, Campaign Director for (CPR) said today,  “While the high mortality rate of racehorses is of serious concern, equally so is the racing industry’s preference to hide as much as possible the deaths and injuries that plague the industry.”

“Being open and transparent has always been the racing industry’s mantra however they are doing the exact opposite all in an attempt to mitigate any negative publicity and keep race goers going through the turnstiles.”

“Who knows how many more horses have fallen victim to injuries and have simply disappeared without a trace. That we’ll never know.”

“The death of CHILI IS HOT was no doubt a tragedy but the biggest tragedy is, that instead of making genuine attempts to curb the injuries and deaths that plague the industry to this day, the racing industry persists in trying to cover them up.”

CPR along with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will be demonstrating at Ascot Racecourse at the re-running of the Perth Cup on Jan 14 with a tombstone for all 9 horses who were killed at Ascot Racecourse since October 2021.

Since October, 2021 at least 21 horses have been killed on WA racetracks.

Ends

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9998/

For Immediate Release, Friday 6 January 2023 

BREAKING: REPORT REVEALS 92% OF RACEHORSE OWNERS LOSE THE LOT!

ANIMAL ADVOCATES WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE EVERY DAY OF THE MAGIC MILLIONS SALES TO ENSURE POTENTIAL BUYERS KNOW INVESTING IN A RACEHORSE IS A SHAM

Schedule

Tue 10 Jan from 11am – 2pm
Wed 11 Jan from 9am – 12pm
Thu 12 Jan from 9am – 12pm
Fri 13 Jan from 9am – 12pm
28 Ascot Court, Bundall, Gold Coast, QLD
Protest at the Magic Millions Raceday 
Saturday 14 January 10:30am – 1:30pm
Gold Coast Turf Club – Racecourse Drv, Bundall, QLD – main entrance

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) will be attending every day of the Gold Coast Magic Millions sales at Bundall, QLD from  10 – 13 January 2023, with the message that investing in a racehorse is not only cruel and exploitative but a really bad investment. 
 
Research conducted by CPR on the horses at the 2017 Magic Millions yearling sales has revealed that 92% lost money for their owners-many losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
 
The detailed report (available here) also highlights the following:
 
THE STATS

92% of racehorses are unprofitable
4.7% won more than $100,000
67.6% lost more than $100,000
11% did not run a single race
26% ran five races or less

$125M income from prizemoney and on-selling horses
$248M spent on purchase costs and training fees
$123M net loss paid for by racehorse owners.
 
The top ten priced horses from the 2017 Magic Millions sales cost more than $10M to purchase. They won just $940,000. A collective loss of more than $8.8M. Not one of them made a profit.

CPR’s week of outreach and protests will wrap up with a demonstration outside the Magic Millions Race Day on Saturday 14 January 2023 from 10:30am – 1:30pm.

Quotes attributable to CPR Campaign Director Elio Celotto

“Investing” is the term used when buying a racehorse though this is far from the truth. With 92% of racehorses losing money for their owners, its simply gambling with a very low success rate.”
 
“If the cruelty isn’t enough reason to not invest in a racehorse, hopefully learning how much it hurts their hip pocket will be”
 
“From the data set of horses put up for auction in the 2017 Magic Millions yearling sales, $100M was won in prizemoney and at an estimated cost of $248M.”
 
“Many people don’t realise it’s not just the purchase price to be considered, it’s the on-going fees that can really hurt your hip pocket.”
 
“There is no Magic, it’s tragic, and it’s not only the racehorse owners who pay the price, the horses eventually pay with their lives.”

Ends

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9996/

For Immediate Release, Tuesday 3 January 2023 

Open letter to Mr James Oldring CEO Perth Racing and RAWWA Re: Racehorse fatalities in WA

Dear Mr Oldring, CEO Perth Racing

I write to you seeking clarification about comments made by yourself and RWWA chief racing integrity officer, Mr Borovica in an article published on the ABC website on Monday 2^nd January 2023.

As being open and transparent has for some time been the mantra of the racing industry, we sincerely hope you will respond.
 
Mr. Borovica was reported to have said in an article on the ABC website and I quote, “It’s unfortunate what occurred yesterday, but we race 2,000 races a year without incident, and we raced the subsequent race without incident.”

As the chief racing integrity officer, is Mr Borovica aware that just 2 days prior to CHILI IS HOT being euthenised, KASEM was euthenised at Belmont Racecourse after sustaining a fracture? This is clearly stated in the Stewards’ Report.

As the chief racing integrity officer, shouldn’t Mr Borovica consider the death of a horse as a result of racing or training as an incident? I assume the answer is yes. I assume it would in fact be considered a serious incident. This is without even mentioning the many incidents that appear in every stewards’ reports because as you say, horseracing is a “high risk” sport. 

As our spokesperson Emma Madle stated in the article, our records show that 10 horses have been confirmed as killed as a result of a racing incident at Ascot Racecourse in a little over the last year.
 
For the purpose of accuracy, we submit the list of horses who we have recorded as being killed and ask you to please conduct your own research and advise if there’s any inaccuracies in our data.
 
The 10 deaths from Ascot Racecourse are as follows:
 
9 October 21                  BATTLE STORM
6 November 21              BOOMTASTIC
13 November 21            SHE’S GOD TO YOU
4 December 21              GRINNING RUPERT
16 December 21            POCOYO
18 December 21            EXPRESSIONIST
4 May 22                        SOMETHINGREADY
8 June  22                      FORTY THIEVES
12 October 22                DISEGNO
1 Jan 23                         CHILI IS HOT
 
 
How is it possible that Mr Borovica was not aware of any of the above deaths and was able to claim that RAWWA conducts 2000 races without incident every year? We have not even mentioned other deaths from other racetracks in WA. 
 
In addition to the 10 horses mentioned above, we are seeking clarification of another horse, Ruatoria who sustained a serious injury on Nov 5 2022 at York Racecourse in Race 2. Despite this, he was kept at the racetrack until the conclusion of the last race and then transported approx. 2 hours to Murray Veterinary Services Clinic. We understand he was immediately euthenised on arrival. My question is why was he not immediately euthenised at the racetrack and why was he allowed to be transported at all especially considering the gruelling pain he would have been in?
We understand that because he was taken of course, it was not required that the horse was reported as deceased in the stewards’ report. The stewards report says,
 
”RUATORIA (T Turner) came under pressure from the 600m and when entering the straight, faltered in its action with its rider restraining the gelding and dismounting near the 200m. RUATORIA subsequently underwent a veterinary examination which revealed a suspected injury to the near-knee and was transferred to a veterinary practice to undergo further examination…”
 
It seems disingenuous that a horse can sustain an injury during a race and can be removed from the racecourse without there being any record of the horse being subsequently euthenised. This has the appearance of only serving to minimise the number of horses that are recorded as race day fatalities.

In the interests of being open and transparent, what is RAWWA and Perth Racing going to do to ensure that all deaths caused by injuries sustained on the racetrack are recorded and put on public record?
 
The death of CHILI IS HOT was no doubt a tragedy but the biggest tragedy is, that instead of making genuine attempts to curb the injuries and deaths that plague the industry to this day, the racing industry persists in trying to cover them up.

Sincerely,
 
Elio Celotto
Campaign Director
Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses

Ends

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9992/

For Immediate Release, Monday 2 January 2023 

ACTIVISTS CALLING FOR MORE STRINGENT TESTING OF HORSES BEFORE RACING

After yet another tragedy, this time in the Perth Cup where five year old mare Chili Is Hot was killed after a fall, the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) is calling for across the board testing of horses at every racetrack in the country similar to the mandatory testing during the Melbourne Spring Carnival.
 
Quotes attributable to Campaign Director for CPR, Elio Celotto 

“The fact that the stringent testing of racehorses only occurs in a handful of key races during the Spring Carnival demonstrates that this industry doesn’t care at all about its horses. It only cares about its image and its social license that they are quickly losing. If the tests were in place at Ascot yesterday, Chili Is Hot may have been scratched from the race and still alive today.”
 
“This was no accident – these are incidents just waiting to happen. A horse is killed on Australian racetracks, on average, every 2.5 days.”

“Chili Is Hot is the tenth horse to be injured and killed in just over 12 months at Perth’s Ascot track alone. The other deaths didn’t event get a mention because, just like most other horse deaths, they didn’t occur in a high-profile industry racing event like the Perth Cup.”
 
“Stringent testing won’t save them all but at least if injuries are picked up early, horses can be given the time required to fully recover. The problem is, they want the horses on the racetrack as much as possible to give their connections the best possible chance of making a dollar.” 
 
“If they really want to reduce injuries and fatalities, they also need to get rid of all the instruments used to force horses into compliance like the whip, tongue ties, spurs and even bits”
 
“This is business as usual for the racing industry that treats the horses they rely upon to exist as disposable objects. Their only real concern when a horse comes to grief is the negative publicity which they know turns more people away.”

Ends

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9990/

For Immediate Release, Saturday 14 January 2023 

ANIMAL PROTECTION ADVOCATES PROTEST OUTSIDE THE CRUEL MAGIC MILLIONS RACEDAY

When: TODAY Saturday 14 January 10:30am – 1:30pm
Where: Gold Coast Turf Club, Racecourse Drv, Bundall, QLD – main entrance 

After a week of exposing the dire financial reality of racehorse investment to potential buyers at the Gold Coast Magic Millions Sales (report here), the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR), joined by Animal Liberation QLD and Coast to Coast Animal Friends will turn their attention to the inherent cruelty of horse racing outside the Magic Millions Raceday.

This is a particularly cruel and insidious racing event. From the get-go the cruelty is clear, with the 2 Year Old Classic, where undeveloped horses will be whipped and terrified to get across the finish line first. Pain, suffering and injuries are guaranteed.

This event offers huge bonuses to female owned horses and now has a race specific to horses belonging to syndicates of twenty or more. Both initiatives aimed at luring more people into this morally bankrupt industry.

Hosts are asking attnedees to dress as if they are going to the races if possible. 

Quotes attributable to CPR Campaign Director Elio Celotto

“After a week of exposing the dire financial reality of purchasing a racehorse to potential buyers, we now bring the focus back to those who suffer most and have no choice in the matter, the horses”.

“The Magic Millions Raceday is a cruel spectacle. There is no magic, it’s tragic. It’s not only the racehorse owners who pay the price, the horses eventually pay with their lives, whether that be today on the track, or when they are whisked away injured to be killed behind the scenes, or in a short time once it is clear their costs outweigh their profit potential”.

“The Magic Millions is a sham for everyone, but especially the horses”. 
 
Ends

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9988/

For Immediate Release, 6 November 2022 

DISMAL ATTENDANCES AND RECORD-LOW TV RATINGS SHOW THE SPRING CARNIVAL HAS RUN ITS RACE

Plummeting track attendances, poor TV ratings and a celebrity drought at this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival have revealed an inconvenient truth for the racing industry: horse racing is out of fashion with celebrities and the community alike who will no longer turn a blind eye to the death toll and cruelty.
 
The sharp decline in crowds at Flemington saw only 45,000 attend Oaks Day, which once surpassed Melbourne Cup day itself in attendances and was spruiked as the carnival’s day of fashion. This was a significant drop from the pre-Covid 2019 crowd of 57,296 and the lowest Oaks Day attendance since 1986. Overall, there’s been a drop in attendance of around 10% to all the major race days in Melbourne since the Caulfield Cup.
 
“The Melbourne Cup is now a cruel reminder to the public of the eight racehorses that died at the event over the past decade,” said the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) campaign director, Elio Celotto.
 
“The public also now knows of the horrific fate that lies ahead for many racehorses who are injured or not deemed profitable and will be prematurely killed out of expediency.”
 
“No major celebrity in 2022 wants to align themselves with animal cruelty and that is what the horse racing industry now represents,” he said.
 
While the racing industry might attempt to blame the weather for this year’s dismal crowds, the Melbourne Cup’s television ratings also nosedived this year drawing the lowest viewership since records began 20 years ago.

A Lonergan Research poll commissioned by the Greens found that 59 per cent surveyed thought horse racing was cruel while 54 per cent believed horses should not be raced for gambling and entertainment.
 
Despite governments and the racing industry continuing to prop up the Melbourne Cup while ignoring the industry’s death toll of at least 139 horses killed on track over the past year, the event has lost its social licence with the community and a growing number of celebrities who are publicly expressing their opposition to horse racing.
 
The dearth of international celebrities at this year’s carnival shows they no longer wish to risk any backlash from being associated with an event mired by animal cruelty and death. This trend follows pop star Taylor Swift’s cancellation of her scheduled performance at the Melbourne Cup in 2019 after social media criticism.
 
During this year’s Melbourne Cup Day, the #NupToTheCup hashtag was one of the top trending topics on Twitter with thousands condemning the industry’s animal welfare record while talkback radio was swamped with callers asking why the event is still run.
 
Radio host Abie Chatfield reportedly turned down a significant appearance fee to attend the races and chastised other celebrities for attending the event on social media. TV host and singer David Campbell and writer Phillip Adams were also among the diversity of voices saying “Nup To The Cup” on social media.
 
“The huge success of Nup To The Cup events across Australia this week has shown that Australians can still celebrate on the day without having to condone a so-called sport that kills animals,” Mr Celotto said.
 
“We are more enlightened as a society these days than to celebrate cruelty out of tradition,” he said. “The Melbourne Cup – and horse racing as a sport – has run its race.
 
“The racing industry has tried to overturn growing opposition by introducing some token safety measures but it doesn’t go anywhere near fixing the cruelty of racing or addressing the massive numbers of horses killed every year just because they no longer bring in profits for their owners.”
 
“Australians are appalled and furious that at least one horse died on average on an Australian racetrack every 2.5 days over the past year.”

Ends

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9986/

For Immediate Release, Monday 31 October, 2022 

Photos: Dinosaur Dash at Flemington to Protest Melbourne Cup

Melbourne – Dinosaurs converged on Flemington today as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) joined forces to protest Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup with a t-rex race.

Photos and videos of the event are available here.

Running (and sometimes stumbling) toward a giant breakaway banner that reads “Finish The Cruel, Prehistoric Melbourne Cup Now”, activists  donned inflatable Tyrannosaurus rex costumes and carried signs reading “Horse Racing Is Prehistoric”. The entertaining event was fun, but the message was serious: cruel and archaic  horse racing should be relegated to pre-history.

“The Melbourne Cup – and all events that drive senseless horse deaths and catastrophic injuries in the name of greed – deserve to go extinct” said PETA’s Emily Rice. “Today’s dinosaur dash proves you can have fun by cheering on willing participants who enjoy themselves. No one needs to be harmed for you to be entertained”.

“We are inviting people to boycott horse racing by saying Nup to the Cup and joining one of these many events taking place across the country” said CPR Campaign Director Elio Celotto. “We’ll be just up the road from Flemington holding an amazing party, with music, dancing and some wild and whacky human races. Everyone is welcome to join us”.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that animals are not ours to use for entertainment, while CPR reports that 139 racehorses died on Australian tracks in the past racing year, in addition to the thousands of horses who die every year off the track from racing-related injuries, or those who killed for simply not being profitable.
 
For more information, please visit PETA.org.au and horseracingkills.com.

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9984/

For Immediate Release, Thursday 27 October 2022 

Animal Advocates to Protest Derby Day as Attendance Figures Plummet 

When: Saturday 29 October 2022
Time: 10.30am start (media opportunities from 11am)
Where: Flemington Racecourse Main Entrance
 
The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) will be protesting Derby Day on the back of plummeting attendance figures at both the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate.
 
Elio Celotto, Campaign Director for CPR said today, “We’ve seen a steady decline in attendance at the Spring Carnival for a number of years now and this year’s figures so far are certainly a sign that people are heeding the call to not attend what is essentially animal cruelty dressed up as entertainment.
 
“On the contrary, we’ve seen unprecedented interest in people wanting to attend and hold their own ‘Nup to the Cup’ events around the country as people continue to want to have a good time but not at the expense of animals”
 
Attendance Figures
 
Caulfield Cup 2019    28000     2022   24289     % drop 13%
Cox Plate 2019           24648     2022   19000     % drop 22%
Source Austadiums.com
 
Aggregate Melbourne Cup Carnival Attendance Figures
Derby Day, Melbourne Cup, Oaks Day & Stakes Day
 
2008  396046    (The year CPR started campaigning)
2019  276186    (last year before Covid-19)
Overall drop of 30% in 11 years
Source https://www.vrc.com.au/racing/track-records-and-attendances/
 
“Nup to the Cup is not just about people getting together and having a good time. It’s about standing as one with all animals and being their voice, when their own is ignored. It’s also an opportunity to raise money for the many charities doing great work around the country that desperately need funding.
 
“If you’re an animal lover, instead of having a punt on a horse that is likely to be killed in a few short years, attend a NTTC event and know that your money is helping animals- not harming them.”

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9982/

For Immediate Release, 5 October 2022 

YOU ARE INVITED FOR DRINKS THIS FRIDAY AT THE GERTRUDE HOTEL FITZROY

When: Friday 7 October 2022
6pm – Media launch (media only)
6:30pm – Ticketed event commences (media are invited to stay for the celebrations)
9pm Nup To The Cup song launch

Where: The Gertrude Hotel, 148 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy VIC

---

MEDIA RELEASE
5 October 2022

‘NUP TO THE CUP’ CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES A SPRING CARNIVAL OF KINDNESS

As the “Nup To The Cup” movement continues to gather steam while attendances decline at the Melbourne Cup Carnival, organisers are this week launching an alternative racing-free season of celebration to give anti-racing revellers their own calendar of events.

The “Nup To the Cup” campaign organisers plan to reclaim Melbourne Cup Day for the animals by hosting cruelty-free celebrations throughout the Spring Carnival and by encouraging the community to host their own events through a new website, nuptothecup.org

This year’s Nup To the Cup media campaign launch at the Gertrude Hotel on Friday will include the live launch of a new “Nup To The Cup” song for those seeking a different tune to traditional racing hype and the unveiling of artworks which feature in the campaign by internationally acclaimed artist Anthony Breslin.

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) Deathwatch 2022 Report has just been released (available here), highlighting 139 horses were killed on racetracks across Australia in the last racing year, while thousands more disappeared from the industry after sustaining injuries.

CPR’s campaign director Elio Celotto said that awareness of the cruelty of horse racing and opposition to racing events had gained huge momentum over the past decade since the “Nup to The Cup” movement emerged in 2010.

“We want to channel that support into a celebration of animals and give people a social alternative to racing industry events that exploit, maim and kill horses,” he said. “Victorians can still have fun on Cup Day without condoning the brutality of horse racing,” Mr Celotto said.

“The best way to back a winner on Cup Day is by celebrating without harming animals rather than supporting a cruel industry in which horses are always the losers.

“It is our vision that in the not-too-distant future more people will choose to attend Nup To The Cup events or organise their own racing-free parties than attend the Melbourne Cup at Flemington.

“Melbourne Cup Day was once a fun day when everybody thought the horses were OK but the public now knows that’s just not the case and it never was,” he said.
 

ENDS

For more information on Friday’s media launch, the media release or to obtain images, please email [email protected] or phone:

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9979/

For Immediate Release, Friday 23 September 2022 

Channel 7’s Puff Piece Shows the Racing Industry Has Learnt Nothing 

Opinion Piece by Kristin Leigh 
Communications Director
Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses

Racing Victoria has spent this week raving about ‘Here for the Horses’, a Channel 7 puff piece being framed as a documentary. I can only apologise to every sorry sod who had to sit through this excruciating 51 minutes – an insult to the intelligence of us all.

Conveniently timed to go to air in the lead up to the most controversial day on the racing calendar, The Melbourne Cup, ‘Here for the Horses’ provides a narrow view of the racing industry, coming only from a select few of those within. There is no delving into the issues that have long plagued the industry and no balance. The “documentary” provides not a single comment from an anti-racing campaigner, an uncompromised veterinarian, behavioural expert or even the most conservative of animal welfare advocates.

Presumably funded by Racing Victoria, ‘Here for the Horses’ focuses in on and exacerbates the miniscule positive changes industry participants claim have been made, whilst entirely ignoring the horrific and systemic cruelty, abuse and suffering that remains for the majority of these horses from birth to death.

New Racing Victoria CEO Andrew Jones, using the single ex racing horse he and his wife love is some kind of bizarre attempt to prove thousands of others have the same outcome.

Equally, showcasing the few horses who end up in equine therapy each year without talking about where the remainder of the 13,000 exiting racing and breeding go is embarrassing at best. As is talking up new pre-race screening measures to prevent horse deaths on track whilst failing to acknowledge that such measures only exist in the highest of high-profile races during the Spring Racing Carnival – meanwhile horses are started in races almost 180,000 times across the country each year with no improved screening whatsoever.

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, Deathwatch 2022 Report is days away from being published. In contrast to ‘Here for the Horses’ it is based on facts, and its statistics demonstrate the number of horses injured and dying on track remain as bad as ever.

Confinement, isolation, the inability to socialise and graze with a herd, the breaking of spirit, pain and fear inflicting instruments of control, and learned helplessness are also overlooked. The puff piece proves it is business as usual at Racing HQ, where maintaining the façade of being ‘here for the horses’ trumps dealing with even the worst aspects of horse racing’s cold, harsh reality.  

The industry’s inability to look at itself and present itself honestly, is ironically the very reason this puff piece had to be produced, yet still, the same ignorance, denial and selective story telling remains.

Industry participants who feature make it clear they believe a horse is of no purpose unless providing something for the human – an ignorant position that assumes horses have no intrinsic value and exist solely to serve our needs. This flawed belief goes to the very heart of why horses do and will continue to suffer across the board.  

‘Here for the Horses’ makes one thing very clear – the racing industry is determined to continue with the same old ways, in a world that is ever increasingly becoming one in which maintaining the status quo simply no longer cuts it.

‘Here for the Horses’ provides a false narrative which aims to convince the viewer that all has been fixed and racing is now a kind ‘sport’, managed by those who have the horses’ best interests above all else.  The only question that remains is whether people are stupid enough to keep on buying it. We think not.

Kristin Leigh
Communications Director – Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9977/

For Immediate Release, Thursday July 7 2022

SA Jumps Ban Official: Now Victoria must end it!

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) is ecstatic to see jumps racing is now finally illegal in South Australia.

“This is undoubtedly great news and will place Racing Victoria under greater pressure to do the same because blatant animal cruelty is no longer acceptable” said Elio Celotto, Campaign Director for CPR.
 
“We’ve been campaigning with Animal Liberation SA for a ban on jumps racing for the last 13 years and finally we’ve seen our hard work vindicated. Now it’s only a matter of time before Racing Victoria also comes to its senses and rids itself of one of the ugliest spectacles in horse racing -that is jumps racing.”
 
“This has come to pass due to the work of so many individuals and organisations who have refused to accept this blatant animal abuse. We are grateful to each and every one of them – in particular those who took part in and supported our joint campaign with Animal Liberation SA for well over a decade”.

“We all knew we’d make it to this point – it was only a matter of when” Mr Celotto said.

Whilst Racing SA decided to discontinue programming jumps races, there was always a chance the old guard would be successful in their push to have it reinstated. This legislation will now make that impossible! 

“Victoria is now officially ON NOTICE! as the last state in this country to still support this horrid form of entertainment for gambling profits. How shameful for our state government and Racing Victoria” Mr Celotto said. 

CPR is calling on the public to take action by signing the petition to ban jump racing in Victoria here. 

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9975/

For Immediate Release, Thursday 2 June, 2022

Animal protection orgs unite to expose the sad joke the National Horse Traceability Register has become

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) has joined forces with ten animal protection organisations and individuals to try to get the shambles that is the National Horse Traceability Register back onto its intended course.

Animals Australia, Animal Liberation Queensland, Juliana Waugh AM, Humane Society International and Professor Paul McGreevy are among the collective who have co-signed a report highlighting the failings of the Working Group to make recommendations based on their own Terms of Reference. It also exposes the failings of Agriculture Victoria and Queensland as co-leaders of the Register. 

The Report titled ‘The National Horse Traceability Register has lost its way’ (available here) is calling on horse industries, the Working Group and the Victorian, Queensland and Federal governments to ensure this long awaited NHTR does not just become yet another pointless government exercise. 

Horse welfare, rider safety and biosecurity were the three main reasons given for the need of a NHTR. In September 2020, the Australian Government accepted the Committee’s recommendations for a register and stressed welfare and rider safety as the driving reason for its implementation. 

“The Australian Government agrees that a national horse traceability register could support some biosecurity activities, however, notes that this inquiry and the need for a register was driven by other concerns, including rider safety and horse welfare” (Australian Government, 2020, p. 1).

This was then reflected in the Terms of Reference set by Government Ministers for the National Horse Traceability Working Group which was established that same month to “provide advice on matters relating to the design and introduction of a traceability system for horses, donkeys and mules in Australia.”

Since this time the Working Group has failed to produce any advice that would lead to an effective register and its focus has been shifted off course towards recommendations for a NHTR that will focus solely on biosecurity. This will do nothing to address horse welfare and rider safety, and, as the most recent communication from the Working Group demonstrates will do little to reduce biosecurity risks.

If the new Albanese government actually does take animal welfare issues more seriously than the Coalition then they will ensure this register is put back on track. The newly appointed Minister for Agriculture, Murray Watt, must step up from the poor leadership of Littleproud and ensure the relevant state agriculture Ministers Mark Furner and Mary-Anne Thomas are actually doing what they were tasked to do. 

CPR is calling on all horse lovers across the country to sign their petition directed at the authorities to ensure Australia finally implements a traceability register the public has demanded and the horses need and deserve (available here). 

Quotes attributable to CPR Campaign Director Elio Celotto

“The Australian public was devastated and outraged as scenes of extreme and systemic suffering of racehorses caused at knackeries and slaughterhouses played out across the country’s television screens in October 2019.”

“The subsequent Martin Inquiry and the Thoroughbred Aftercare Welfare Working Group Report both stressed the importance of an effective NHTR as fundamental to addressing the horse welfare issues that have and continue to horrify Australians.”

“It has been over three years since the NHTR was first proposed to Parliament and almost two years since the Working Group was established. Yet all they have achieved to date is a set of proposed business rules which aim to slightly improve existing Property Identification Codes (PIC’s) for the sole purpose of responding to a biosecurity event. In other words, the Working Group has effectively achieved nothing in terms of recommending a NHTR that will achieve its intended purpose.”

“We’ve seen far too much suffering and have made many positive steps in response to address the issue of horse welfare and rider safety to let this slip away and turn into yet another meaningless government exercise.”

“As members of the Working Group, the racing industry must use their strong influence over decision making in high places to guarantee a robust NHTR, especially considering they themselves profess to be in support of such a register.”

ENDS

For More information: horseracingkills.com

https://horseracingkills.com/2023/02/24/9973/