PETA Statement re Settlement Agreement Over Laoban’s Death

For Immediate Release:
March 30, 2023

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Kathy Guillermo on the Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners’ settlement agreement with veterinarian Heather Wharton concerning her injection of the stallion Laoban with unapproved substances in an effort to force him to breed, resulting in his death. PETA had filed a complaint with the board last year.

Veterinarian Heather Wharton’s license should be revoked, as PETA’s complaint requested, because her reckless behavior killed Laoban. He lost his life forever, but at least for three months, horses will be safe from this greedy woman. We hope the suspension and the $30,000 fine are enough to persuade her to see horses as the wonderful, vulnerable beings they are, not just something to use.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.