source: ABC (https://ab.co/35R72OW)
This week we learned of the many Australian race horses every year being slaughtered for pet food, supplied as food for greyhound racing industry dogs, or exported overseas for human consumption.
The ABC 7:30 Report’s 45 minute story is heartbreaking to watch. Some scenes are reminiscent of documentaries such as Dominion or Earthlings.
Undercover video aired by ABC combined with branding on the horses and access to official databases provides damning evidence of a system out of control.
However, the language used by racing officials to describe the horses as property provides an insight into the mindset that gives rise to this behaviour.
As I sit here in a food court, a television screen shows a horse race underway…
…and the Melbourne Cup is only a couple of weeks away.
How many animals will be injured and euthanised trackside or considered no longer useful to punters and sold off to be discarded via an abattoir, despite years of training and thousands of dollars of winnings?
But it’s not only elite horses that deserve a better end.
Untold numbers of ordinary, gentle creatures not only meet an early end in abattoirs but often live their short lives in confined squalor.
That’s speciesism in action.
November 27, 2019 at 7:09 pm |
I live in the middle of Mennonite (Amish with attitude) territory. It is common for them to purchase failed race-horses, hitch them to wagons and buggies, and then – being “Good Christians” – they treat them like a Charles Dickins work-house. Horse died? Get another. 😯
November 28, 2019 at 6:51 am |
Marginally better than an immediate trip to the abottoir, but not much.