Mondada letter: Horse racing

Though the proponents of horse racing won’t want these inconvenient, verifiable, nonalternative facts to come to light, someone has to speak up for the horses. Here are some of the sobering facts uncovered by reporters Walt Bogdanich and Joe Drape of The New York Times, from their months-long, in-depth investigation as stated on NPR transcript/podcast entitled “Horse Racing, America’s Most Dangerous Game?” On average, 24 horses die every week on racetracks across America. Horses are often forced to run with serious injuries which are masked by often illegal, injected painkillers.

Equally disturbing is the fact that so many young racehorses, even some of the most winning ones, end up being shoved into crowded trucks and transported on grueling journeys to Mexican or Canadian slaughterhouses, only to become dog food or burgers. From PETA: “Two-thirds of horses sent to slaughter are quarter horses, and many are castoffs from the rodeo or racing industries. The thoroughbred-racing industry sends an estimated 10,000 horses to slaughter annually, meaning that half of the 20,000 new foals born each year will eventually be killed for their flesh.”

Please, for the horses’ sake, boycott this exploitative, cruel industry.

This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Mondada letter: Horse racing."