Log in

opinion

Burdick: Horse racing? Just what AZ doesn’t need

Posted

Sorry Ralph Fales (who wrote “Historic horse racing could be a win for Arizona,” page 8, April 1, 2021, issue of the Apache Junction/Gold Canyon Independent), you may love your horses but the racing industry is rampant with cruelty and I think you know it.

Any time any animal is used to entertain the gullible public it is exploited by its money-hungry promoters, by the track owners who want to sell more hot dogs and cokes, and all the rest who just want a job and are willing to turn a blind eye to what goes on in the stalls.

Horses are drugged with NSAIDs, acepromazine and furosemide among others. Horses are expensive animals to maintain so each injury delays their money making potential. Owners push to get their animal back on the track so the therapeutic NSAIDs are “stacked” with another drug from the same class at the same time. Further injury to the horse as it feels no pain.

Greyhound racing is gone from Arizona and they — like many race horses — suffered career-ending leg fractures. But rescue groups took the Greys; the injured horses will be euthanized as distal limb fractures do not allow for the horses’ weight.

People who want to make their fortune on race horses encourage over-breeding. When each horse isn’t “the one” it is sold. If no buyer is interested the horse goes to the auction in Chandler where the “killer buyers” wait.

Americans were elated when the horse-slaughter houses were shut down in America. But the “killer buyers” transport their buys to Mexico. The animals are brutally killed by stabbing them in their shoulders until they drop then their throats are slit. And the elite of France, Japan and Belgium have some more of our horses to eat.

Public, do some research and be the voice to protect and prevent horse racing in Arizona.

Editor’s note: Myrna Burdick is a resident of Apache Junction.

opinion, letters