Uncovering the nasty origins of an ugly event OMAK, Washington––The 87th edition of the bizarre and often deadly “World Famous Suicide Race” held annually in Omak, Washington, is to be held nightly, August 12-15, 2021, after a year’s hiatus due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements. Bizarre as the race itself is, even more bizarre––and […]
Trump signs anti-race horse doping bill & $60 million gift to horse industry
Tax break for Paycheck Protection Program loan/grant recipients appears to have been the dangling carrot that brought horse racing industry support for omnibus funding bill WASHINGTON D.C.––U.S. President Donald Trump on December 27, 2020 “signed H.R. 133, an Act making consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, providing coronavirus emergency response […]
Pit bulls, wolves win in Colorado; horse racing wins in Nebraska; Hsiung loses
Colorado goes to the dogs DENVER, Colorado; LINCOLN, Nebraska; BERKELEY, California––Democratic challenger Joe Biden narrowly led Republican incumbent Donald Trump at 1:45, Pacific time, on November 4, 2020. The three major ballot issues and one mayoral race directly involving animals appeared to have ended, however, with a win for pit bulls in Denver, a […]
Girl, 11, & father killed over a bull mastiff? Race horses involved too?
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 […]
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 […]
Santa Anita deaths just a fraction of the toll in horse racing
Breeding & slaughter drive the industry SANTA ANITA, California; SYDNEY, Australia––A year-long nightmare string of fatal racehorse breakdowns continued at Santa Anita Park through October 2019 with the deaths of horses named Emtech, Colonel, Satchel Paige, and C Q Covergirl, the 35th fatality on the Santa Anita dirt, turf, and training tracks since December […]