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 […]
Alleged “horses for ransom” brokers busted in Louisiana
“Killer buyers,” associates of killer-buyers, & partners in questionable rescues FORT POLK, Louisiana––Thompson Horse Lot owner Gary Thompson, 64, of Pitkin, Louisiana, who held a controversial contract to remove an estimated 700 to 750 wild horses from the 198,000-acre Fort Polk military installation, is facing 18 counts of cruelty to animals for alleged severe […]
Will Santa Anita figure out what’s killing race horses? Don’t bet on it!
Investigators are only 3,500 years behind Chinese potters in figuring out that wood ash hardens clay ARCADIA, California––Cro-Magnon troglodytes apparently never figured out that wood ash hardens clay, despite having many millennia of opportunity to do so. Thus the failure of the Santa Anita Park management to investigate the effects of soot and ash fallout […]
Fire, horses, & Santa Anita: ashes, ashes, they all fall down?
A global warming connection to record racehorse deaths? ARCADIA, California––All eyes concerned about horses and horse racing have had the Santa Anita Park turf and track surfaces under microscopic examination since Ash Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Yet hardly anyone so far seems to be looking at the possible track-hardening effects of soot and ash deposition […]
20 racehorses die in 10 weeks at Santa Anita Park––why?
Santa Anita deaths revive debate over track surface safety ARCADIA, California––Famed as the oldest horse racing venue in California, hosting races 1904-1909, 1934-1941, and 1945-present, and as the scene of some of the most memorable wins by Seabiscuit and come-from-behind specialist Silky Sullivan, Santa Anita Park is suddenly notorious for 20 horse deaths in […]
Omak “Suicide Race” 2018: more dead horses & “kill the messenger”
Tribal baseball tradition much better documented than “suicide racing” OMAK, Washington––Add at least two more dead horses to the mounting toll from the annual Omak Stampede Rodeo “Suicide Race,” bringing the known toll since 1983 to 25, with many more suspected but undocumented, and no record existing of injuries and deaths from the first […]
Beavers gnaw way toward wolf, grizzly & economic recovery in the Cascades
Future of logging, hunting, fishing & ranching region lies with nonlethal wildlife tourism TWISP, Washington––Vanishing salmon, Washington’s worst wildfire roaring through the Methow River Valley in July 2014, and flash floods that turned roads into rivers even before Finley Canyon stopped reeking of smoke and ash have brought beaver back to the Upper and […]
These “Blazing Saddles” episodes were no comedy
Padilla Ranch and San Luis Rey Downs disasters may have been only part of the Southern California fire toll on horses LOS ANGELES––Of the estimated 700,000 horses living in California, nearly 60% live in the four-county Southern California region hit by early December wildfires, the largest of which, the Thomas fire raging in the wooded […]
Hurricane Maria: monkeys hold on, horses endure
“Oh my goodness, how could anything have survived this?” CAYO SANTIAGO, Puerto Rico––Hurricane Irma mostly missed the renowned Cayo Santiago rhesus macaque colony, on an island just east of the Puerto Rican mainland, but Hurricane Maria hit it head-on, at full Category 5 strength. The thousand-odd macaques on Cayo Santiago are ninth generation descendants from […]