Barn Fire Deaths of 17 Horses Prompt PETA Call for Cruelty-to-Animals Charges
For Immediate Release:
August 11, 2026
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
After 17 horses burned to death in a racetrack barn fire in Saratoga Springs on June 16, PETA today sent a letter to Police Lieutenant Paul Veitch urging him to investigate and pursue cruelty to animals criminal charges against the barn’s owner, Saratoga Harness Racing, Inc. and its principals.
According to reports, the horses were confined in a 1940s-era barn that had no smoke detectors, sprinkler system, heat alarms, or fire detection, prevention, or suppression equipment of any kind. PETA alleges that Saratoga Harness Racing knew the risks of keeping horses in such dangerous conditions yet made no effort to protect them. Under New York law, unjustifiably injuring or killing a horse used for racing is a felony.
“Saratoga Harness Racing collects tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies every year but refused to spend a dime on a smoke detector, and 17 horses burned alive in agony as a result,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA is calling on authorities to hold this company accountable for its horrific cruelty.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Veitch follows.
August 11, 2026
Paul Veitch, Lieutenant
Investigations Division, Saratoga Springs Police Department
Dear Lieutenant Veitch:
I write on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Inc. (“PETA”) to request that the Saratoga Springs Police Department investigate and pursue criminal charges against Saratoga Harness Racing, Inc. (“SHR”) for the June 16 barn fire at 342 Jefferson Street that unjustifiably killed seventeen horses used for racing in apparent violation of New York’s cruelty-to-animals laws. PETA commends the Department for rescuing more than 300 other horses trapped in nearby barns during this fire.
According to published reports, SHR kept the horses in a 1940s-era barn that had no smoke detectors, sprinkler system, heat alarms, or fire detection, prevention, or suppression equipment of any kind. SHR had full knowledge of the risks posed by such conduct and yet made no reasonable effort to prevent the deaths of these horses in the event of a fire. New York makes it a felony to unjustifiably injure or destroy any horse used for racing, or to further any act that injures or destroys them. N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. Law § 361.1 It is also a misdemeanor to unjustifiably cause or permit injury or death to any animal. N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. Law § 353.2
Conduct is unjustifiable when it is not “reasonable, defensible, right, unavoidable, or excusable,” based on current practice and societal moral standards. See, e.g., People v. Arroyo, 3 Misc.3d 668, 678 (N.Y. Crim. Ct. 2004), see also People v. Curcio, 22 Misc.3d 907, 917 (N.Y. Crim. Ct. 2008).
SHR’s keeping of horses in an 80-year-old barn without fire prevention, detection, or suppression equipment was entirely unreasonable, indefensible, inexcusable, and therefore criminally unjustifiable as demonstrated by the following facts:
• SHR, with an estimated value of approximately $175-180 million, has ample resources to afford the entire range of proper fire safety equipment, but intentionally refused to provide it.3
• Barns like SHR’s are notorious fire hazards, often described as “tinderboxes” capable of becoming inescapable firetraps within moments of ignition.4
• The danger posed by barns with inadequate or nonexistent fire safety equipment is magnified by horses’ natural instinct to freeze in fear, seeking refuge in the familiarity of their stalls rather than trying to escape, as shown in the Department’s own bodycam footage of the horses saved from nearby barns.5
• Just three years earlier, thirty horses were killed in a barn fire at Tioga Downs Casino in Nichols, New York, underscoring the known and preventable consequences of keeping horses inside barns with inadequate fire safety equipment.6
• SHR was fully aware of the dangers posed by fire and its failure to protect the horse barns, as demonstrated by the company reportedly installing fire safety and suppression equipment in the nearby paddock building. SHR knowingly left horses unattended and vulnerable in barns without comparable reasonable protection.7
• After the June 16 fire, the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) issued a statement to all racetracks demanding the immediate installation of functioning smoke, fire, and heat alarms in every barn and adequate personnel to respond to alarms while permanent, long-term regulatory changes are considered, with the Executive Director describing it as a “moral imperative” to give horses a chance at survival.8
• On June 22, the New York Senate introduced SB 10656, giving the NYSGC authority to require racetrack operators to implement fire protection systems in all stables and barns, calling it a “life-saving bill.”9
Conversely, an act is considered justifiable “where its purpose or object is reasonable and adequate, and the pain and suffering caused is not disproportionate to the end sought to be attained.” Curcio, 874 N.Y.S.2d at 732 (internal citations omitted). SHR’s failure to protect the horses kept in its barns from a known danger, apparently for the sole purpose of sparing this multi-million-dollar company the relatively meager expense of installing even the most basic fire prevention, detection, or suppression equipment, is inexcusable and criminal.
Further, the fact that the barn reportedly had grandfathered status under the current New York State and Saratoga County fire codes is irrelevant to SHR’s legal duty to prevent unjustifiable injury and death to the horses kept in its barns. See Contini v. Hyundai Motor Co., 865 F. Supp. 122, 123 (S.D.N.Y. 1994) (“[C]ompliance with mandatory minimum regulatory standards” does not automatically “avoid liability for negligent or reckless behavior if proven.”). New York has long recognized that a person is criminally liable for their conduct, whether criminal or noncriminal, when it creates a grave risk of death or injury to others. See People v. Kazmarick, 417 N.Y.S.2d 671, 674 (N.Y. Co. Ct. 1979) aff’d, 52 N.Y.2d 322 (N.Y. 1981) (citing N.Y Penal Law §15.10 which provides that “(t)he minimal requirement for criminal liability is the performance by a person of conduct which includes a voluntary act or the omission to perform an act which he is physically capable of performing.”).
For these reasons, SHR’s conduct is criminal under N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. Law § 361 and § 353 because it can in no way be viewed under commonly accepted social standards as reasonable, defensible, right, unavoidable, or excusable. SHR, with full knowledge of the foreseeable risk before it, chose to disregard that risk at the expense of the suffering and deaths of 17 horses on its property.
Accordingly, PETA respectfully requests that the Department investigate SHR and file appropriate criminal charges against the company and its principals. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Very truly yours,
Lori Kettler, General Counsel, Regulatory Affairs
PETA Foundation
¹ See N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. Law § 361 (“A person who wilfully or unjustifiably interferes with, injures, destroys or… instigates, engages in or in any way furthers any act by which any horse, mule, dog or any other domestic animal used for the purposes of racing,… is interfered with, injured, destroyed… or any act tending to produce such interference, injury, destruction… is guilty of a felony.”). The statute applies regardless of whether the horses are actively engaged in a professional or competitive activity at the time of the offending action. Practice Commentary to N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. L. § 361.
2 See N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. Law § 353 (“A person who… unjustifiably injures, maims, mutilates or kills any animal, whether wild or tame, and whether belonging to himself or to another… or causes, procures or permits any animal to be… unjustifiably injured, maimed, mutilated or killed… is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.”). New York defines “animal” as “every living creature except a human being.” Id. § 350(1).
3 CDI To Purchase 25 Percent of Saratoga Harness for $30.6 Million, Paulick Report, https://paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/cdi-to-purchase-25-percent-of-saratoga-harness-for-30-6-million (Oct. 28, 2014).
4 Spectrum News Staff, Fire alarms in horse barns a ‘dangerously inadequate half-measure,’ humane association says, Spectrum News 1, https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2026/07/07/humane-association–firealarms-in-horse-barns-an–inadequate-half-measure- (Jul. 7, 2026).
5 Caton Deuso & Valerie Wencis, Saratoga PD release casino barn fire body camera footage, ABC News 10, https://www.news10.com/news/saratoga-county/saratoga-pd-release-casino-barn-fire-body-camera-footage/ (Jul. 27, 2026).
6 Wendy Post, Tioga Downs Arsonist Gets Max Sentence for Fire That Killed 30 Horses, Lancaster Farming, https://www.lancasterfarming.com/country-life/mid-atlantic-horse/tioga-downs-arsonist-gets-max-sentence-for-firethat-killed-30-horses/article_406d0c4e-03ef-11ef-8b0f-0338d4f8098b.html (Apr. 26, 2024).
7 Bianca Caputo, Local legislators look at fire equipment regulations after Saratoga Springs barn fire, ABC News 10, https://www.news10.com/news/saratoga-county/local-legislators-look-at-fire-equipment-regulations-aftercatastrophic-saratoga-springs-barn-fire/ (Jun. 17, 2026).
8 New York State Gaming Comm’n, NYSGC Provides Update Regarding Statewide Racetrack Fire Safety Review, https://gaming.ny.gov/news/nysgc-provides-update-regarding-statewide-racetrack-fire-safety-review (Jul. 1, 2026).
9 New York State Senate, Senate Bill S10656, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S10656 (last visited Jul. 30, 2026); NY Bill targets barn safety after 17 horses die in fire, WNYT News 13, https://wnyt.com/topstories/ny-bill-targets-barn-safety-after-17-horses-die-in-fire/ (Jun. 18, 2026).
