Former thoroughbred owner shot son & granddaughter of renowned jockey & racing judge PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida—Why did Ronald John Delserro, 82, on July 6, 2020 fatally shoot two of his longtime Port St. Lucie neighbors, 11-year-old Harper Hansman and her father Guy Alexander Hansman, 55? Was Delserro’s grievance only because the Hansman family brought […]
Horse racing fails to win, place, or show in Georgia, despite HSUS support
Why is the Humane Society of the U.S. helping horse racing to expand into new territory? ATLANTA, Georgia––Again the perennial horse racing industry attempt to legalize pari-mutuel betting and introduce thoroughbred racing to Georgia failed during the 2020 state legislative session, closed on July 3. Opposition to legalizing pari-mutuel betting came chiefly from religious groups […]
Why Europe will not eat U.S. & Australian wild horses
Dutch & Danish seizures of illegally trafficked German horse meat do not mean revived demand WASHINGTON D.C., BRUSSELS––Yes, the Bureau of Land Management under Donald Trump appointee William Perry Pendley is desperately eager to dispose of as many as 45,000 wild horses in holding pens, plus about 68,000 of the estimated 95,000 wild horses […]
Iconic animal use events fall to COVID-19: “Running of the bulls” is latest
“Social distancing” also shuts down SeaWorld, seal hunt, fur auctions, Kentucky Derby, & the carriage horses in Central Park PAMPLONA, Spain ––The 700-year-old Festival of San Fermin, featuring bullfights and the “running of the bulls” through the cobbled streets of the oldest part of Pamplona, Spain, was on April 21, 2020 indefinitely postponed due […]
Montreal carriage horse trade ends, after 354 years
“Calèche” industry was long intertwined with defunct harness track, start of the Premarin industry, horse slaughter, and a notorious glue factory MONTREAL, Quebec––The last vehicle-pulling horses in Montreal, Quebec, are to be off the streets before sunset on December 31, 2019––an hour which, as this article is posted, has already come and gone. “Far […]
Race track deaths upstage notice of horses “retired” due to injury
45 horses dead on three Southern California tracks during 2019 seasons––and 39 at Belmont alone LOS ALAMITOS, California––Two horse deaths in the first race of the next-to-last-day of the Los Alamitos Race Course on December 14, 2019 renewed attention to high injury toll in horse racing, but upstaged the disintegration of the California Equine Retirement […]
California Equine Retirement Foundation runs into deep muck
Current leadership allegedly squandered assets & 27-year positive track record under ousted founder SAN JACINTO, California––Among the 80-odd animal shelters, sanctuaries, and nonprofit rescue organizations foundering in 2019, the California Equine Retirement Foundation (CERF) has probably run through the most money over the past five years. Along the way, CERF blew the the best reputation […]
Why did chuckwagon racer Devin Matsuing dare a grizzly bear to fight?
The grizzly bear had better sense BANFF, Alberta––Convicted on September 13, 2019 of disturbing a grizzly bear more than four years earlier, professional chuckwagon racing driver Devin Mitsuing, 35, was on September 13, 2019 fined $4,000 by Canmore Provincial Court Judge George Gaschler. Mitsuing was given until October 16, 2019 to pay the fine […]
Did the Omak Suicide Race start with a horse massacre & the KKK?
Uncovering the nasty origins of an ugly event OMAK, Washington––The 86th annual edition of the bizarre and often deadly “World Famous Suicide Race” held annually in Omak, Washington, is to be held nightly, August 8-11, 2019. Bizarre as the race itself is, even more bizarre––and perplexing––is that the 12 Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation […]
Three more chuckwagon horses killed as Calgary Stampede 2019 ends
Six horses killed in 10 days; most since 1986 CALGARY, Alberta––The 2019 Calgary Stampede ended on the night of July 14, 2019 with reportedly the second-highest attendance in the history of the event, and three more horses killed in the climactic last heat of the Rangeland Derby, the chuckwagon races that for almost a […]