Multiple recent deaths of horses at Southern California racetracks have animal advocates calling for an end to horse racing.
Protesters were at the gates of Los Alamitos Race Course Tuesday, where a 6-year-old bay mare, Twentyseventrouts, died during a race on Sunday.
“There is no love at the end of a whip. There is no love at the tip of a needle. There is no love in dollar bills in your wallet,” said Heather Wilson with Kill Racing Not Horses.
Twentyseventrouts was leading Sunday's third race when she suffered a catastrophic injury and fell face-first to the turf. The cause of her death has yet to be determined.
So far, eight horses have died at the Los Alamitos track this calendar year. Wilson says it’s possible that the real number of deaths isn’t being correctly reported.
“The problem is that many horses are being shipped to not CHRB enclosures, so private ranches and clinics that do not have CHRB oversight, so we actually do not know how many horses are being killed,” she told KNX News’ Pete Demetriou. “But according to their data, this is the deadliest racetrack in California.”
Wilson said both the legislature and the public need to press to have horse racing banned in the state, and there is some discussion of getting an initiative on the state ballot to do that in the near future.
Officials at Los Alamitos declined to comment on the protest, but recent statements from the California Horse Racing Board indicated that increased safety measures have led to a 30% drop in deaths of race horses at tracks over the last calendar year.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Related
Related
