Jumps Racing Put Down in Victoria!

Today marks the end of an 'era' in horse racing. Or should I say an error! Yes, definitely an error - forcing horses to jump over hurdles at full speed was always a bad idea. But the good news this morning is that Racing Victoria has announced they will cease to run jumps races at the end of the 2010 season! *sigh of relief*

This decision will spare horses the miserable fate of broken legs, broken necks, and other injuries from falls during jumps races. So after a brilliant campaign by the Coalition for the Protection of Race Horses, the racing industry has finally faced up to the fact that jumps racing is cruel (not that an industry that kills thousands of horses every year just for being too slow has much to be proud of!).

Hats off to the Coalition; hats off to all those who attended demonstrations; and hats off to you, if you're one of the nearly 8000 Animals Australia and Unleashed supporters who sent letters calling for an end to jumps racing!

If you've got a moment today, you might want to send Racing Victoria an email ([email protected]) congratulating them for getting rid of cruel jumps races. For Victoria to end jumps racing is a huge milestone! They were the largest of only 2 Aussie states that still permitted this cruel 'sport'. And so onward and upward! Now it's time for South Australia to step up and ditch jumps racing!

You might also like to let the Racing Minister for SA, Michael Wright ([email protected]), know that they're letting down the team and should ban jumps racing too!

And if you live in Adelaide, next Tuesday (1st December) is your chance to join a demonstration to put the heat on SA to end jumps racing! There will be a peaceful protest happening on the steps of Parliament House to coincide with the submission of a petition, signed by 4,000 SA residents, calling for an end to jumps racing. Here are the details:

Where: Steps of Parliament House North Terrace Adelaide
When: Tuesday December 1 from 12.30pm to 1.30pm
Wear: Smart/casual (preferably black/dark colour)

Hope you can make it along!

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