Animal Activists from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR), who have been held responsible for the death of the Melbourne Cup Eve Parade, have now replaced it with a memorial service for the 168 horses that were killed from racing-related injuries in the last racing year.
The event will be held this morning at Federation Square in Melbourne’s CBD. To honour the horses, the names of every dead horse will be read out and a scroll with their names will be rolled out in Federation Square.
CPR says this will be a tribute to those 168 horses, along with all the others that have disappeared from racing and remain unaccounted for. They say the event will also be a funeral for the Melbourne Cup Parade, ‘that we gladly will say goodbye to, and another nail in the coffin of the racing industry itself.’
CPR Campaign Director, Elio Celotto said, ‘The 168 racing deaths in the last racing year represent only a fraction of the true number of fatalities that take place every year. The cancellation of the Melbourne Cup Parade is evidence that horseracing has lost its social licence and no longer has a place in our society.’
Every two days
‘We will solemnly honour every single horse that has fallen victim to horseracing, even if the racing industry would much prefer we forget they ever existed,’ said Mr Celotto.
‘A horse is killed on our racetracks every two days while thousands more disappear from racing every year. For people who genuinely care about animals, they can no longer turn a blind eye to these damning statistics and should never attend a racetrack.
‘Horse racing is nothing more than government sanctioned animal cruelty,’ he said. ‘Addicted to the revenue raised by the industry through taxes, they are as complicit as the industry itself.’
There are a number of other upcoming Nup to the Cup protests in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Adelaide.
Another death
Days before the four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival was set to commence, Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses say they were sent photos of a dead horse lying lifeless on the track.
The eyewitness captured this photo from her apartment near the Flemington track. CPR says they spent the entire day trying to reach stewards and vets at Racing Victoria to verify the image, but they refused to respond.
CPR Communications Director, Kristin Leigh said, ‘Through our own research, we have discovered the horse to be two-year-old filly, Rejuvenated. According to the witness, the jockey fell or dismounted the horse in the fifth jump out at Flemington on Friday 3 November 2023 before the horse continued on a little and collapsing on the track.
‘The jockey was attended to, walked to the ambulance, then the horse was checked as she lay lifeless on the ground, dragged onto the float, and the jump outs continued,’ said Ms Leigh.
‘The only reason anyone knows this poor horse was yet another racing victim is because an eye-witness cared enough to take photos and share them with us.
‘Racing doesn’t advertise the deaths, only the winners, the glitz and the glamour.’
She said the eyewitness was shocked to see how fast they took his body away, so the racing could continue.
Devastating
‘This is a devastating, but every second day, occurrence in Australian racing,’ said Kristen Leigh. ‘The entire purpose of our annual Deathwatch Report, aside from honouring all the fallen horses who go unnoticed, is to highlight to the public that horses lose their lives to racing all the time, not just at the Melbourne Cup.
‘Racing can never be made safe or kind for horses. It is inherently cruel and inherently dangerous.’ She said that the past racing year had been the most deadly ever recorded.
‘Meanwhile, the industry is splashing millions on fancy temporary structures filled with tragic decadence for the rich and famous, when behind that facade is cruelty, abuse, pain, suffering and death,’ said Ms Leigh.
‘We implore everyone to please, put horse racing in the bin this Tuesday and join a NUP to the CUP event instead.’
How infuriating it is to read these protest stories about horse racing.
What is the agenda? surely, if you/they wanted to save horses then surely you/they would embrace the very industry that gives these horses life and purpose.
If this actually had anything to do with horses, why aren’t you/they heading South to protest the culling of brumbies in Kosciuszko National Park? A culling that happens via aerial shooting, leaving horses to suffer before dying amongst their herd.
No of course, this has nothing to do with horses, the pathetic reality is that CPR and or Nup to the cup are just brands that want money, and they use a platform provided by an industry, one I should add that is self-sufficient, legal, regulated, ethical and sustainable, to profit off of.
Please, I beg you, spare me the outrage, I’ve got enough crap going on in my life to be worried about yours.
Notice you didn’t wait for a reply from the group about their opinion on brumby culling before jumping to your clearly ridiculous conclusion. How much money do you expect comes to ethical groups fighting for causes lauded by the establishment? You don’t know much about protest history, do you?
You’re kidding right?
Aerial culling of feral horses is a quick, humane, cost-effective & urgent solution to the numerous problems they have created – absolutely nothing to do with horse racing. Who is racing feral horses anyway?
Your horse racing industry causes cruel life-ending injuries, & more slow deaths than aerial culling. Then there’s the wastage, the thousands bred specifically for racing that are not good enough. What an obnoxious waste of money & resources the horse gambling industry is. Almost as bad as the greyhound industry.
Your ‘mind-bottling’ masterstroke though, is the confected outrage that these ethical charities might occasionally receive financial donations…. as opposed to your honourable horse gambling ROFLMFAO!
My thoroughbred racehorse only ever got 3rd in a single stake race. Easy way to get a cheap, pretrained horse. Not so easy or cheap to get a camel.
Every day horses in the bush break legs and die of dehydration and starvation, and predators. Taking days to die in pain. Bet none of you slactivists have gone out there to help the any of these creatures. It’s easier to protest from the comfort of the city than actually do anything . Thoroughbred horses love to run. YUP TO THE CUP!
“Thoroughbred horses love to run”…with the whip going full throttle!
It’s hard to get mine to not run.
Surely that’s all the more reason to cull them to prevent such suffering? Or maybe we could just bet each other how many will break their legs & die in pain each year? Feral horses love to run, that’s how they break legs.
I think it’s probably easier to throw your money away placing a bet from the comfort of the pub or online at home, than to go out protesting.
Old people break hips and stuff, cause they like to walk. Better to cull them early before that happens. Have you seen Logan’s Run?
If we didn’t find horses useful, they would be close to extinction by now. We have carried our domesticated animals and plants to every corner of the planet and ensured their high population numbers. Maybe you should be promoting thoroughbred koala racing, or koalas as food. Give us a reason to actually care, and we will carry them to the stars.