PETA Statement: Deaths of 28th and 29th Horses at Santa Anita

For Immediate Release:
June 9, 2019

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

Please see the statement below from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the announcement today that two more horses have died at Santa Anita racetrack: Formal Dude, who is the 28^th horse, and reportedly Truffalino, who is the 29^th horse, to die at the track since December:

Either the rules aren’t strong enough or the rules aren’t being followed, but whatever the reason for the deaths of two more horses, Santa Anita needs to listen to the California Horse Racing Board and shut down. It should not re-open until full-leg scan equipment is in place, since most pelvis injuries also show lesions in the legs; the dirt track has been replaced with a safer synthetic surface; and the district attorney’s investigation into trainers and veterinarians is complete.

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 view of the world.