Through a FOIA request to the California Horse Racing Board, I have obtained the following details on 4 of that state’s 64 kills last year (previous ones here).
Quirt, Nov 13, Del Mar S “Horse had acute abdominal crisis, very painful: 360-degree rotation of the large colon with extensive hemorrhages and rupture of the right ventral.”
Dub Town, Nov 16, Golden Gate S
“Abdominal aortic rupture [with] aortic and intestinal hemorrhage – [horse] bled out.” Dub Town was six years old and had last been raced Oct 7.
Pistachio Princess, Nov 21, Los Alamitos T
“Thoroughbred was found dead in the stall – cause not definitively identified.” Also: “multiple stomach ulcers.” Pistachio Princess was four years old.
Cyclone Slew, Nov 25, Golden Gate R
“Catastrophic breakdown of left carpus: multiple severe fractures, [multiple] ligament/tendon ruptures, severe hemorrhage.” Also: “palmar osteochondral disease [both front limbs]; moderate-marked gastric ulcers.” Cyclone was four years old.
A travesty!!!!
Billboards in California showing some of these atrocities on them as a VOICE FOR THE HORSES educationing the public at large that there IS such a thing as ANIMAL WELFARE laws in California AND that these laws are being broken basically every day by the California Horse Racing Board STEWARDS, COMMISSIONERS, Racing Commission VETERINARIANS, CHRB licensed OWNERS, TRAINERS, JOCKEYS, RACETRACK STAFF, and so on would be an effective way to get the word out that there are multiple reasons why HORSERACING must be BANNED!
The California Code of Regulations regarding BUSINESS CONDUCT & ANIMAL WELFARE should not be regarded on the same level as toilet paper.