-Horse Racing-
Racing exposes horses to significant risk of injury and sometimes death. They most commonly suffer catastrophic limb injuries, cardiac arrests and massive bleeds causing them to collapse and die. Racing involves striking the horse with of a whip, which inflicts pain, and can result in injury, to enhance their performance. Horses are social, ranging animal, yet racehorses tend to be housed in isolation and closed confinement. It’s common to see race horses start to have repetitive behaviors, stemming from frustration, stress and inhibition of natural behavior. These include the prevalence of crib-biting (repetitive oral behavior where the horse sucks in a large amount of air) and weaving ( where the horse sways on its forelegs, shifting its weight back and forth). Tongue ties is the widely used for unregulated practice of immobilizing a horse’s tongue to prevent the horse getting their tongue over the bit during a race. It is used on a horse to control with pressure on the reins to the bit on the horse’s tongue which forces them to be compliant. Problems associated with tongue tie use include horses showing signs of pain, anxiety and distress, difficulty swallowing, cuts and lacerations to the tongue, bruising and swelling.
“We should oppose the use of all animals in entertainment, including the use of horses in the racing industry. It’s time to end this cruelty“.
-Grayhound Racing-
Every year, thousands of young and healthy Greyhound dogs are killed because they lack winning potential, were injured while racing or are no longer competitive. While racing has declined sharply in recent years as people have become more aware of the horrors associated with this sport, there are still 11 tracks operating in the U.S today. Racing Greyhounds experience terrible injuries on the track such as broken legs, cardiac arrest, spinal cord paralysis and broken necks. They are kept in kennels for 20 or more hours a day with minimal shelter and suffer from lack of human affection.
While Greyhounds may live 13 or more years, they are usually 18 months to 5 years old when they are retired from racing because they are either unfit to race after an injury or no longer fast enough to be profitable. While some of these dogs are sent to rescue groups, others are simply killed or returned to breeding facilities to serve as breeding stock. They are also commonly drugged by their trainer to enhance more strength.