Fw: (MO) Macau racing horse slaughter sparks outrage

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Sunday, 16 June, 2002 22:20

(MO) Macau racing horse slaughter sparks outrage

 

 

Macau racing horse slaughter sparks outrage

Sun Jun 16, 5:52 AM ET

By VERNA YU, Associated Press Writer

 

HONG KONG - Animal rights activists expressed outrage Sunday at a report

that hundreds of retired racehorses in Macau are shot every year.

 

Hong Kong's English-language South China Morning Post reported on Sunday

that the Macau Jockey Club kills an average of six to eight retired

racehorses a week by shooting them in the head.

 

" It's a gross exploitation of a beautiful animal, " Dr. John Wedderburn,

chairman of the Asia Animals Protection Network in Hong Kong, told The

Associated Press. " They make a lot of money off the backs of these horses; I

think they deserve better treatment. "

 

Macau is 40 miles (64 kilometers) to the west of Hong Kong, and the former

Portuguese colony derives most of its income from casinos, horse and betting

on dog races. The territory was governed by Portugal for 442 years before it

was returned to China in December 1999.

 

The club's spokeswoman, Miranda Choy, defended the practice, telling The AP

that the club puts down retired racehorses only when there are " no other

options. " She said the lack of space and huge costs of feeding and

sheltering the horses made it impossible to keep all of them.

 

Choy said of the club's 1,050 horses, around 300 of them are being retired

every year. But she declined to reveal how many of them are being killed.

 

Animal rights activists contend that the practice is not only inhumane and

cruel, but also wasteful. They say it would be better to find new homes for

the retired racehorses.

 

Choy, however, said that would be difficult.

 

Although some horses are given to the club's only riding school in Macau,

the school only keeps around 30 horses. Retired horses were previously sent

to Guangzhou, a southern mainland Chinese city near Hong Kong, but Choy said

demand for horses from Guangzhou had dropped.

 

The Post report also said shooting replaced lethal injection more than 12

months ago, though Choy said injections are still being conducted.

 

Dr. Martin Wainscott, the club's senior veterinary surgeon, told the Post

that bullets are used to destroy the horses because they kill the horses

instantly and painlessly.

 

In contrast to Macau, most of the Hong Kong Jockey Club's retired horses are

either sent to its own local riding schools or overseas farms, spokesman

Wilson Cheng said. He added lethal injections are only used to destroy

seriously injured horses.

 

full story:

http://story.news./news?tmpl=story & u=/ap/20020616/ap_wo_en_po/hong_

kong_macau_horse_slaughter_2

 

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