Chicago
Sun Times
Letters to the Editor
May 5, 2006
With
the Kentucky Derby fast approaching, a true American tradition, this year
something a little different will be going on for charity at the Run for the
Roses -- mint juleps at $1,000 each to benefit the wonderful athletes that make
this race awe-inspiring: the horses. Proceeds will benefit the Thoroughbred
Retirement Foundation.
Horse slaughter is the No.
1 concern of a retired racehorse and all of America's horses. This is a cruel,
cruel business from start to finish, and it is not only the old, sick and lame
that end their lives in this way. The fate at a slaughterhouse for a horse is a
cruel end indeed, but their lives leading up to that point after purchase by a
dealer are also a horror story. Often they are shipped from auction to auction
in hopes of bigger price tags. Those that don't bring it will be shipped to one
of the three remaining foreign-owned horse plants left in the United States.
They are jammed into trailers for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles --
often with no food, water or rest for hours and hours on end. Many are injured
in the trailer and some die on that ride. It is a well-known fact that horses
are high-flight animals and being thrown in with unknown horses causes panic,
and panic causes injury.
This is a cruel fate indeed
for all horses, but let's speak about the racehorses -- the racehorses that
throughout history have stunned us with their beauty, heart and athleticism.
Many have made their owners millions. All deserve a chance at life and a second
career after giving their all, wouldn't you agree? It may stun readers to know
that the great Ferdinand and Exceller met their end in a slaughterhouse. They
certainly deserved better. Many other big-stakes winners have found themselves
in kill pens, their fate sealed. You can see it in their face: no fire in their
eyes anymore, that great heart broken, the spirit that once never gave up sees
the end.
Thankfully, there are many
wonderful organizations that have stepped up to save these incredible horses.
Many are now successful show horses, trail horses, family horses and
companions. They are truly worthy of this end. It does fall to the owners and
trainers of these amazing creatures to take responsibility, for in the end
these are their charges. Dumping them for $200 to $300 is shameful and
disgusting.
So I applaud all those who
buy a mint julep on Saturday, for they are raising their glass for all those
amazing horses that died in a truly cruel end. Please support the National
Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, and a big thank you to organizations like the
Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses, Thoroughbred
Retirement Foundation, Old Friends, Rerun, the Exceller Fund and the countless
others that work so hard to ensure a good life for the ex-racer. They are indeed
deserving.
Rebecca Meinders,
Pecatonica
http://www.suntimes.com/output/letters/cst-edt-vox05a.html