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“Australian authorities have launched an investigation into suspected animal cruelty after a TV report revealed the alleged mass slaughter of racehorses.
Footage of horses allegedly being mistreated at an abattoir in Queensland caused widespread anger when it was aired on broadcaster ABC on Thursday.
The slaughter of racehorses is legal in Australia, but industry rules in some states require horses to be “rehomed”.
Racing is a popular and lucrative industry in the nation.
Officials described the allegations – which come ahead of Australia’s main spring racing season – as horrifying.
“The mistreatment of animals is abhorrent,” Queensland Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said on Friday.
He said state authorities had immediately sent inspectors to one of abattoirs named in the report on ABC’s 7.30 programme.
It alleged that 300 racehorses were killed over a 22-day period at the abattoir. The report also broadcast claims of horses being beaten and mistreated in other ways.”
Excellent follow up article by Lee Mottershead in the Racing Post today, free to read in the app.
The subject matter of last week’s main column piece, forecasting a possible equine welfare furore in Australia, proved unintentionally prescient, although not for the anticipated reason.
It was reported that Paul Preusker, trainer of leading Melbourne Cup contender Surprise Baby, had served a four-year ban from the sport after being found guilty of using a jigger, a device used to inflict an electric shock upon horses during training.
Prior to that column piece appearing, those linked to Australian racing and its media coverage had made no recent references to Preusker’s past, choosing instead to portray him as a small-time trainer attempting to beat global heavyweights in the nation’s premier race.
That slightly changed this week when the Australian Broadcasting Corporation spoke to Preusker, who said he could empathise with the pain he thought disqualified trainer Darren Weir might currently be experiencing.
Weir is due to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday, facing charges including three counts of “engaging in the torturing, abusing, overworking and terrifying a thoroughbred racehorse”.
In relation to what he called his “journey”, Preusker told the ABC: “People make mistakes, you move on, you put your chin up and fight again.” Not everyone, this columnist included, believes you should be allowed to fight again after committing a heinous offence that is far worse than a mistake.
One such person is Flemington-based multiple Group 1-winning trainer Matthew Ellerton, who believes those found guilty of using a jigger should be banned for life.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he said, while RSPCA Victoria chief executive Dr Liz Walker said: “If animal welfare is a top priority for the racing industry, RSPCA Victoria would expect racing authorities to ensure that this is reflected in the penalties applied to participants who have engaged in animal cruelty. RSPCA Victoria believes the racing authorities should consider life bans where serious cruelty offences have been proven.”
Walker and the organisation she leads are right.
Yet the expectation that Preusker’s involvement in the Melbourne Cup would ignite a debate on equine welfare – the principal subject matter of this month’s International Federation of Horseracing Authorities conference – proved wrong. Something else happened first.
That something was an ABC documentary. Excellent investigative journalism and undercover surveillance shone a shocking light on the brutal treatment some Australian racehorses endure at the end of their lives.
Workers in abattoirs were seen cruelly tormenting thoroughbreds before the poor animals were finally put out of their misery. Questions were raised about what happens to horses once retired from racing. Some of the answers have rocked the sport and left its reputation badly tarnished. The programme is now available on ABC’s official YouTube channel. It is not easy to watch but hiding from the truth will do racing not a jot of good.
The documentary was screened on Thursday evening, two days before the first huge afternoon in Australia’s spring racing season. That was hardly helpful but racing can have no complaints.
That is why Bruce McAvaney, by a country mile the most famous and admired Australian sports broadcaster, was right to address the issue directly in Channel 7’s coverage of the Caulfield Cup and The Everest, telling viewers with obvious sincerity: “It was horrifying to watch. As a small-time owner it made me feel ashamed. And not to have known is not good enough. That has to be the way we all think going forward.”
McAvaney was correct, as was Nick Luck when he spoke about equine welfare on Luck on Sunday two weeks ago and stressed it should not be a stick with which one country beats another. It is an issue that is relevant and crucial to racing nations all around the world.
One allegation made in the ABC programme was that too many horses are bred in Australia, a problem that inevitably makes the problem of ‘wastage’ all the greater. For that reason, Tom Reilly, chief executive of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald: “As the head of the national peak body for breeders, I know we must also look to our own practices.
“The number of foals being produced has dropped from 18,500 in the 2000s to about 14,000 now. Whether that is the right number or not is something we need to consider as part of an industry-led review.”
We need to consider it here as well. Every horse who is bred to race is racing’s responsibility from birth to death. We must therefore be keener to ask questions and then find the answers.
The size of any fixture list should not be the primary factor in the determination of what is an appropriate number of horses to breed every year. The industry must think harder about the demand and need for racehorses after racing. There are some outstanding retraining centres but they can deal only with a tiny percentage of the horses in the system.
Even when one takes into account all those principled owners, trainers and breeders who work hard to find good homes for their horses, we cannot shy away from the fact that in an increasingly urbanised world there are only so many lush green fields free to accommodate the animals who have entertained us on racecourses.
We must therefore rigorously question the number of thoroughbreds we breed. We must have structures in place to know what happens to those foals who never make the track. Governing bodies and welfare organisations must be able to trace the whereabouts of a horse at any point in that horse’s life. Some horses are sold on to race in countries where the quality of aftercare may be wholly inadequate.
That should be in the minds of all those who frequent sales rings. We must direct ever greater resources to those who look after ex-racehorses. We must also not be afraid to acknowledge that euthanasia, when carried out humanely and with dignity, is vastly preferable to unwittingly allowing horses to endure misery at the hands of those who either cannot or do not want to look after them properly.
The vast majority of racing people come into racing because they love horses. That applies equally to those who follow racing, as was obvious yet again by the reaction to Wicklow Brave’s death in the US on Saturday. Any of the sport’s practitioners or fans who watch the Australian documentary will therefore be no less appalled than individuals like McAvaney, Chris Waller and Lee Freedman, who all expressed their disgust.
“I am broken-hearted at the ABC report,” said Freedman. “If we don’t make real changes the court of public opinion will bury racing.”
All those who love racing should be grateful to the journalists responsible for the ABC programme. As McAvaney made clear, not to have known is not good enough. Out of sight can mean out of mind. That is dangerous. If there are problems it is better to be fully aware of those problems in order that meaningful steps are taken.
Last week’s wake-up call in Australia will hopefully lead to conversation and action. That applies both in Australia and beyond.
‘Last week’s wake-up call in Australia will hopefully lead to conversation and action. That applies both in Australia and beyond’.
Hope it does Black Gold and Kristaltips. This is something I can hardly bear to read but know that it is not just confined to Australia. It’s extremely disturbing and hope that things move swiftly to stop this global mass slaughter of healthy young thoroughbred racehorses.
Is there any sort of online petition we can sign?
Jac
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...
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