Thursday, 06 April 2006

Animal Aid director calls for ban on the Grand National in The Guardian

The Guardian ran a debate between Andrew Tyler, Director of Animal Aid against the head of the Horseracing Regulatory Authority in its sports pages on Wednesday on whether the Grand National should be stopped for being too cruel to horses.

With thirty horses having died at Aintree since 1997 Andrew Tyler says enough is enough and he argues that the carnage in which nine horses died at the recent Cheltenham Festival shows that modern jump horses cannot cope with such deliberately difficult modern courses.

Andrew Tyler explained that horses die routinely at Cheltenham and called it the most lethal course in the country, with 36 dead in 82 days of racing and he said that Aintree came a close second because thirty horses have died during the three-day Grand National meeting since 1997.

Goguenard, trained by Sue Smith, fell several feet from a fence on to his back in 2003. The Last Fling, also trained by Sue Smith, broke his back the year before and in the same race Manx Magic fractured his neck.

At Aintree's fast Mildmay course Strong Promise broke his neck and fellow runner Lake Kariba finished exhausted and died of a heart attack.

Andrew Tyler went on to say that the Grand National course is a deliberately punishing and hazardous event, which is unfair to the horses because they have never encountered anything like it before.

Andrew Tyler added, "The Grand National is a cruel spectacle. It is time to bury it."

Peter Webbon, Chief Executive of racing's regulatory authority disagreed with the Animal Aid director's opinions and wants the Grand National to continue.

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Name: ron dyson	Comment: The Grand National is a barbaric spectacle of licenced animal cruelty and it should be banned forthwith.
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Name: Sue Baumgardt

Comment:
Thank you Andrew Tyler for telling us about the Grand National as it really is. If there were this many deaths in other sports (eg boxing) there would be a huge outcry to ban it - yet humans choose to participate, horses don't. Horse racing destroys so many lives - those who are bitten with the gambling bug as well as all the horses that don't make the grade, are past their best and those injured and killed on the course. The greedy quest for even more profits will eventually end horse racing.... and not before time. Shame on all the media that continue to promote this shameful so called sport as 'just a bit of fun and a flutter'.

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Name: Garry Sheen	Comment: I fully concur with Andrew Tyler, from Animal Aid. The Grand National is a cruel and archaic event which needs to be stopped. These horses are ridden almost to the point of exhaustion, over dangerous courses, with a significant number dying as a result. Surely, those that gamble and watch these races, could find a more humane way of entertaining themselves?
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Name: Mary Alice Pollard, Cornwall's Voice for Animals/UK

Comment:
Well anyone who has any real love and sympathy for horses - will certainly agree to a ban on these horrific races - when so many horses are subject to injury and death during just one race - well it is time we all had a good look at what we are supporting and why ! IT JUST IS NOT WORTH IT ! One death is too many !

How selfish and greedy are these people who have horses ONLY FOR THE PURPOSE of putting them at risk in such races - and to then be dissuaded when they are no longer any good to them - One only needs to read the facts here on the British Horse Slaughter site - to see the real truth about what happens to so many of these wonderful horses when their ' owners ' decide that their time is up - !http://www.britishhorseslaughter.org/

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 April 2006 )

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