PETA Asks Donald Trump, a Budweiser Shareholder, to Help End Clydesdale Mutilations

For Immediate Release:
May 9, 2023

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

In 1993, former President Donald Trump canceled a diving mule act at the Steel Pier, a property he owned in Atlantic City, following an appeal from PETA. Now the group is asking him to use his shareholder clout to help equines again—this time those whose tailbones are severed to help Budweiser sell beer.

Today, PETA sent a letter to Mr. Trump—who owns nearly $5 million in stock in Budweiser parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev—asking him to urge it to stop amputating the Clydesdales’ tails, which is a harmful procedure. Horses need their tails for balance and to protect themselves from biting and disease-spreading insects. PETA’s recently released video exposé shows Budweiser has been secretly severing the famous horses’ tailbones either with a scalpel or with a tight band that stops the blood supply to the tail, causing it to die and fall off. This practice is illegal in 10 states and several countries, including Belgium, where InBev is based.

“Budweiser presents the Clydesdales as symbols of traditional American values, yet harming horses is the antithesis of what Americans hold dear,” writes PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “Will you, as a shareholder in the company, speak with AB InBev executives and urge them to end this heinous tailbone severing?”

PETA—which recently purchased its own stock in AB InBev to push the company to end the amputations—notes that the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Equine Practitioners condemn cosmetic tailbone amputation.

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

PETA’s letter to Trump follows.

May 9, 2023

Dear Mr. Trump:

I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally—to ask for your help. You were a hero for equines back in 1993, when you ended the Atlantic City diving mule show, and we hope you will step in and save the day for horses again.

We understand that you own stock in the Anheuser-Busch InBev corporation. PETA has documented that the company is cruelly amputating the tailbones of its famous Budweiser Clydesdales just so they’ll look a certain way.

This is done either by severing the tailbone or putting a tight band around the tail to cut off blood flow so that the tail will die and fall off. It’s an unnecessary and permanent disfigurement that causes immense pain, affects the horses’ balance, and leaves them without natural protection from flies or other biting insects. Horses also depend on their tails to communicate with herdmates and humans.

Both the American Association of Equine Practitioners and the American Veterinary Medical Association condemn severing horses’ tails unless it’s medically necessary. Many European countries, including Belgium, where Anheuser-Busch is headquartered, have banned this practice, as have 10 U.S. states. If Budweiser is concerned that tail hair might become entangled in a wagon’s hitch equipment, simple braiding and wrapping of the tails would prevent this possibility.

Budweiser presents the iconic Clydesdales as symbols of traditional American values, but harming horses is the antithesis of what Americans hold dear. Will you, as a shareholder in the company, speak with AB InBev executives and urge them to discontinue tailbone severing?

Thank you very much for your consideration. I am available to answer any questions you may have.

Respectfully,

Kathy Guillermo

Senior Vice President

Equine Matters Department