#delmarkillshorses #animalabuse@delmar #thetarpofdeath@delmar

Posted by Ellen Ericksen on Saturday, 8 August 2015

Protestors drew attention to the death toll of horses at the Del Mar Horse Races on Saturday. The activists were located in the parking lot by the entrance to the races.

“There is no kindness to the horses in that race,” said Ellen Ericksen, the event leader, in a media report. “They are drugged, over-medicated, raced in extreme heat, whipped and then disregarded to slaughter houses in Canada and overseas, dismembered and sold as meat.”

Last Tuesday, PETA requested an investigation into the deaths of as many as 13 Thoroughbred horses since the races opened this summer. The organization suspects that some of the horses may have had pre-existing injuries, covered up with medication to continue the races.

“If trainers know that horses are sore or injured, they should not be giving them painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, or sedatives to keep them running when they should be recuperating,” said Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo of PETA. “If horses need those medications for therapeutic reasons, it’s dangerous and, we believe, illegal to put them on a track.”

Posters at earlier protests held by the same activist group last month featured messages such as “Stop Racing Horses to the Grave,” “Del Mar Death Track” and “Racing Kills Horses.”