For Immediate Release:
June 6, 2019
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Arcadia, Calif. – Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo about Derby River, the 27th horse to die at the Santa Anita race track since December:
In March, Derby River was sold at auction in Florida, and PETA will be investigating the circumstances. PETA has exposed that very young horses are often whipped into running faster than they will ever again run at these auctions—risking their lives and often ruining their health. Derby River’s death today at only 2 years old is yet another reason why people want to see an end to racing, but the least that must be done right now is for tracks to put scanning equipment in place to detect pre-existing leg and shoulder injuries and for measures to be taken to ensure that young horses aren’t seriously injured before their bones are even mature.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist view of the world.
