(CN) Ignoble side to sport of kings

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

http://focus.scmp.com/focusnews/ZZZON1P174D_p2.html

by ELLA LEE

 

When the racing director and the senior vet of the Macau Jockey Club

visited its hospital for horses recently, they received a warm welcome from

the patients. One racehorse stretched its head out of the stable and tried

to nibble the director's cheek in an apparent show of affection.

 

But the horse, despite having a broken leg swathed in bandages

following surgery, can be considered one of the luckier ones.

 

More than 200 are shot dead at the club every year. Some of those

killed are horses suffering from serious injuries. But others are generally

healthy and have simply grown too old to be of value on the race track.

 

Last month, the Sunday Morning Post reported that the club kills an

average of six to eight horses each Thursday morning with a bullet to the

head, fired by a handgun, in an open area next to the retirement barn.

 

The issue has raised concerns about ethics in the racing industry and

will be on the agenda when representatives from the Hong Kong Society for

the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) meet Macau government officials

in the near future.

 

Ian Paterson, the club's racing director and chief stipendiary

steward, not surprisingly declares himself to be a ''horse lover''.

 

He said he used to avoid walking near the field where the shootings

are carried out because he, like the vets who pulled the trigger, found it

so unpleasant.

 

''My father is a horse trainer, my brother is a horse trainer. I have

been with horses all my life. I have love and respect for the animals,'' he

said.

 

But he added that the killings were needed because there was nowhere

else for the horses to go.

 

''I, as a racing person, accept it has to happen,'' he said, comparing

the exercise to the SPCA putting down cats and dogs.

 

Mr Paterson said the vast majority of horses killed suffered from

chronic arthritis and were in pain. But he admitted some would have enjoyed

a longer life if there had been proper facilities available.

 

Animal welfare activists are disgusted by the club's execution of

horses and the dumping of their bodies in landfills. They describe it the

''unpleasant underbelly'' of the racing industry, involving the callous

exploitation of horses.

 

The SPCA will be pressing the Macau government to stop the

over-production of racehorses and promote the welfare of retired horses.

 

The club's senior veterinary surgeon, Dr Martin Wainscott, said he

felt bad about killing horses, but had no choice.

 

He also denied claims the horses were shot dead because bullets were a

cheaper option than lethal injections, saying that cost was not a factor in

making the choice.

 

The major problem facing the Macau Jockey Club is that it does not

have links with countries that can receive retired racehorses.

 

Every year, the club imports about 300 horses from Australia, New

Zealand, Europe and North America. But when they retire there is nowhere for

them to go.

 

There are just two small riding schools in Macau. They can accommodate

only about 20 horses. Mr Paterson said that before the 1999 handover to

China, Macau, as a Portuguese colony, had a protocol arrangement with the

European Union for exporting horses. But it had become a ''grey area'' since

its return to China.

 

The club has arrangements with Dubai and Singapore, but this only

enables its horses to be sent to those countries to race there for a month.

 

Mr Paterson argued it was unfair for his club to take all the blame

for the situation. He said the retirement of racehorses was a problem

throughout the racing world.

 

There are many organisations in countries such as the US and Australia

that rescue retired racehorses and enable them to live out the rest of their

lives in humane conditions.

 

Even so, every year nearly 300,000 American racehorses are slaughtered

for human consumption abroad.

 

In the United Kingdom, a national group called Animal Aid is seeking a

commitment from the UK Jockey Club to secure a promise that the racing

industry will provide not less than £5 million (HK$61 million) annually for

the care of racehorses in retirement.

 

The group says about 4,000 racehorses leave the industry each year, but

only few enjoy a decent retirement.

 

''Many endure a downward spiral of neglect - passed from owner to owner.

Others are slaughtered for pet food,'' it said. Animal Aid pointed out in

February that £5 million ''is a pittance in the context of an industry where

the prize money for a Derby winner is more than £500,000 and where the horse

racing-related income of the major bookmakers runs to hundreds of millions

of pounds every year''.

 

The group added: ''Whatever sum is provided, it will be insufficient to

tackle the problems arising from over-breeding of equines.''

 

For the past two years the Macau Jockey Club has been trying to export

horses to various countries. However, the requests have generally received a

cool response.

 

Mr Paterson said the countries concerned were conducting risk analysis

to make sure Macau horses would not bring diseases with them.

 

''They [the countries] are extremely cautious and they deserve to be,

the risks are great if they get it wrong. We know our horses are disease

free ... however, these are people who will not take our word until they

have carried out their own analysis,'' he said.

 

But Mr Paterson could not explain why the club had not taken steps to

establish protocols for sending retired horses abroad much earlier, or when

the club first started horse racing 12 years ago.

 

''All I can say is organisations improve with experience, and Macau

Jockey Club is improving,'' he said.

 

Dealing with suggestions that racing itself should be halted in order to

prevent the killing, he said: ''We do not live in an ideal world. Racing

will continue. However, we understand there is a problem. We cannot offer

what Hong Kong does, but we are working towards it.

 

''If you look at Macau in the world picture, I am certain it is better

than a lot of countries. It may not be as good as some others, but it is

definitely among the better ones.''

 

Mr Paterson said the shooting of retired horses at the Macau Jockey Club

would continue, the only difference being that it was now conducted in a

''discreet place''.

 

In Hong Kong, about 300 horses retire from racing every year. The Hong

Kong Jockey Club, which has 1,100 racehorses, sends some of the retired

horses to its four local riding schools in Sheung Shui Beas River Country

Club, Pokfulam, Lei Yue Mun and Tuen Mun.

 

The four local riding schools can accommodate between 700 and 800 horses

at one time. Mainland riding schools receive about 100 horses from Hong Kong

every year and the club pays for the transport fees.

 

Between last July and May this year, 320 horses retired from the Hong

Kong Jockey Club. Of those, 161 were sent overseas, 102 went to riding

schools and the remaining 57 were put down.

 

Only horses suffering from illness or injury are killed. Some are shot

because they have become too dangerous for vets to approach. Since 1998, the

Hong Kong Jockey Club has offered an allowance for owners to send retired

horses overseas. The amount increased from $30,000 to $40,000 in July 2000.

To date, 216 horses have been sent overseas under the scheme, most of them

to Australia and New Zealand.

 

As for the mainland, the Hong Kong Jockey Club first gave 40 horses to

the Chinese Equestrian Association in 1986 and has since donated almost 400

retired horses, mainly to equestrian teams.

 

The club plans to send 90 horses to the mainland next season, some of

them going to the Dalian mounted police, the Guangdong Provincial Sports

Bureau and the PLA's equestrian team in Beijing.

 

It is also studying the possibility of establishing paddock retirement

facilities in the mainland.

 

Despite these efforts, there are some who believe Hong Kong Jockey Club

could do more. One horse owner said all owners should be asked to pay a

surcharge when they purchase a horse so the money could be held back to pay

for the animal's upkeep after its retirement.

 

''Both Macau and Hong Kong jockey clubs can do it. They can set up such

a rule. As racing authorities, the clubs should know more about the welfare

of horses. If owners do not care, they [the clubs] should care,'' he said.

 

He said some horse owners only used their horses for making money.

''Many people own a horses for status and money. They write a big cheque for

a horse but when the horse retires, they do not care because spending money

on a horse's retirement brings no return. Even if it costs only $2,000 or

$3,000 a month to keep a horse on a farm, they do not want to pay.''

 

Dr Pauline Taylor, deputy director of the SPCA, was critical of the way

the Macau Jockey Club used to kill horses openly, saying that ''death

doesn't need to be shared with the world''.

 

''Horses were not allowed to die with dignity - you can go to photograph

them. I can't believe that it was done so openly for the whole world to see.

It is a living animal, surely we owe it something, a decent death,'' she

said.

 

''I don't want to see racing halted. But when racing takes place, I want

the animals involved to be looked after before, during and after the

races.''

 

Dr Taylor said she applied the same ethical standard at the SPCA, where

10,000 abandoned healthy dogs and cats are put to sleep every year.

 

''I am the executioner, but I still respect the animal. I am the last

person to look at the animal's eyes. And I have got to live with that.''

 

Dr Taylor, a Scottish vet who has been practising for 23 years, has

worked in the UK and New Zealand. In those countries she shot horses injured

in racing or hunting. ''My job is to relieve pain and suffering and help

that animal, [and] advise the owner of the animal of the options.''

 

She added: ''You have to rely on the veterinary surgeon to be

professional here. These vets have to go to sleep at night and they have to

live with themselves.''

 

Ella Lee is a staff writer for the Post's news desk. (ellalee)