Activists Protest Horse Race

national | animal rights | press release Sunday March 09, 2008 19:24 by Laura Broxson - National Animal Rights Association naracampaigns at gmail dot com PO Box 11019, Dublin 2

ACTIVISTS PROTEST HORSE RACE

***PRESS RELEASE from the NATIONAL ANIMAL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION***

Yesterday, Sat. 8th March, members of NARA staged a protest at Gowran Park Race Course, Co. Kilkenny.

For over two hours, the activists shouted chants, handed out leaflets, and held posters with slogans such as "Horse Racing = Pain, Gowran Park is to Blame!" printed on them. The protest was to highlight the cruelty of the horse racing industry.

"15,000 horses are bred every year, between Ireland and the U.K., for the racing industry" says spokesperson for the group, Laura Broxson.

"Only a third of these horses make it on to become racers - hundreds of whom actually die, or are killed, during the course of a race. Thousands more are slaughtered, just because they are no longer of any use to their 'owners'."

"Most are sent to Horse Abattoirs, such as the one in Straffan, Co. Kildare, where they are murdered for the meat trade.

Others are exported to foreign countries to be killed - a trade which has been operating on an on-going basis for years. It operates with no controls and involves the systematic export of live horses from Ireland in a way that is cruel and ignores EU Legislation.

Some even end up in laboratories, where they are used in live experiments." she added.

The group hopes to persuade people not to attend horse races, which will result in the timely demise of the industry.

***Photos of the protest are available on request.***

SPOKESPERSON: Laura Broxson 086 8729 444