For Quick Launch:
February 20, 2024
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Bossier Metropolis, La. – Within the wake of PETA’s 10-month undercover investigation into unsanctioned Quarter Horse racing at two infamous “bush tracks” in Georgia, prosecutors within the state have charged six jockeys with cruelty to animals and one bookie with felony business playing. One of many jockeys, Germarius O’Neal, raced at Louisiana Downs prior to now month.
Jockey Germarius O’Neal (proper) whips a horse in a black market race in Georgia (left).
Georgia “bush monitor” proprietor and convicted felon Arthur “Brutz” English IV not too long ago taunted law-enforcement officers by creating promotional pens formed like syringes and printed with the monitor’s brand.
PETA investigators captured footage that exhibits rampant doping of horses, together with injections of cocaine, methamphetamine, and methylphenidate (Ritalin); jockeys utilizing electrical shock gadgets on and relentlessly whipping horses; and ugly and deadly accidents to horses and jockeys. Lots of of hundreds of {dollars} in unlawful wagers modified arms.
The Washington Put up simply revealed in “The Feds’ Raid on a Bush Observe Fizzled, so Horses Stored Racing—and Dying” that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety, and the U.S. Division of Agriculture deliberate to raid the Georgia tracks following PETA’s investigation, however on the final second, for causes recognized solely to the companies, didn’t—permitting the abuse to proceed.
“The Louisiana Racing Fee mustn’t tolerate these jockeys’ participation in black market racing,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA’s video footage exhibits these jockeys relentlessly whipping horses or wielding shock gadgets—actions which are unlawful in Indiana—and the fee ought to yank their licenses instantly.”
The American Veterinary Medical Affiliation and the American Affiliation of Equine Practitioners introduced new insurance policies towards unsanctioned horse racing after PETA’s investigation, confirming risks to the horses from this abusive drugging and from equine infectious anemia, an uncurable illness brought on by the importation of tainted blood-doping merchandise and the reuse of needles on a number of horses.
Not too long ago, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) instituted a brand new rule after being alerted by PETA to the rampant cruelty at greater than 170 bush tracks working in over 30 states throughout the U.S. Particularly, the CHRB amended Rule 1902, “Conduct Detrimental to Horse Racing,” to ban licensees from “participation in, or presence at, any non-recognized race assembly the place racing occurred.”
PETA—whose motto reads, partially, that “animals aren’t ours to make use of for leisure or abuse in every other means”—factors out that Each Animal Is Somebody and presents free Empathy Kits for individuals who want a lesson in kindness. For extra info, please go to PETA.org or comply with the group on X (previously Twitter), Fb, or Instagram.