PETA Statement re the Death of Medina Spirit

For Immediate Release:
December 6, 2021

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the death of Bob Baffert–trained Medina Spirit:

It’s premature to say that Medina Spirit died of a heart attack or what the true cause of his fatal collapse was, given that many of trainer Bob Baffert’s horses have suddenly dropped dead. Seven of Baffert’s horses died mysteriously during a 16-month period that was suspiciously linked to his reckless and routine habit of administering the powerful hormone thyroxine to horses without thyroid conditions. Baffert has continued to be embroiled in drug controversies since then, including when Medina Spirit tested positive for drugs in the Kentucky Derby. All of Medina Spirit’s veterinary records must be seized, and a thorough investigation must be conducted. Baffert’s attorneys must not be allowed to control the narrative. PETA urges Santa Anita and Del Mar officials to bar Baffert, pending the outcome of an investigation and a necropsy.

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.