Hi folks.
Beautiful day, beautiful sunshine. Birds are singing. It’s the day of the Grand National. You know what? Watch the Grand National. And let’s do it together and form our own opinions.
Brian May on The Grand National – 15/04/2023
– https://youtu.be/KfanshQ4uUM
I don’t actually know the people from the Animal Rising movement, who are threatening to disrupt the Grand National today. And I don’t know what the legalities are, I don’t know if they will succeed in stopping the Grand National. But I can only applaud their intent to stop something which is basically animal cruelty performed every year for the gain of a lot of people who are already rich.
For those of you who don’t know, the Grand National is a race where horses are forced to jump over very difficult obstacles. And it’s supposedly very exciting for people to watch. This is the justification, but the real justification, of course, is money. And every year, horses die. Now, I think we all have to make a judgement. This is the 21st century where we’re supposedly becoming more aware of the sensibility of other creatures. How can it be possible to justify a race which is purely for the pleasure of people, which risks the life of even one animal – one unnecessary death. That horse will fail a jump, it will die in terror and agony. Is anything worth that? Is it really worth? Okay, why don’t we have a horse-free, Grand National? Why don’t we have a race where humans run the same course and we can all bet on them. And all the people who make money out of gambling can make money out of that instead, and no horses will suffer? How about that?
Anyway, let’s watch it together and see if we agree. See if we think that the pleasure that can be derived and the money that can be made, justifies torturing these beautiful, beautiful animals. I’ll see you there.
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Should we put an end to the agonies suffered by horses in Grand National ? Tell me honestly. I won’t be blocking anyone who supports the continuation of this race – unless the comments are abusive, of course! For those of you unfamiliar with the Grand National – I’m gonna post some more info following this. It’s a central issue in the fight for the rights of non-human sentient beings to be free of abuse by humans. Tell me what you think.
Time to end the torture of horses in the Grand National ? Tell me.
A chaotic moment in today’s Grand National. All great sporting fun ? Or an unnecessary spectacle ? Protesters today succeeded in seriously disrupting the Grand National, delaying its start and bringing the question of cruelty to the attention of millions of TV viewers. Notice in this clip that the people calling the shots on the TV coverage quickly move away from any scenes where horses fall or injuries happen. And they are never referred to afterwards in the coverage. No announcements have yet been made to my knowledge as to the injuries that took place today. And I heard no mention this afternoon of the fact that two horses had already died at the festival even before the big race began. —
💥💥 BADGERS 💥💥
Somebody in my comments compare this treatment of horses with the culling of badgers. It makes me realise that even among animal lovers there is widespread misinformation about badgers.
After collaborating with a West Country dairy farmer for the last 10 years, we now have very convincing evidence that badgers are NOT the cause of the spread of bovine TB in cattle. I’ll be presenting that evidence shortly. The slaughter of nearly a quarter of a million badgers in a completely FAILED attempt to control the spread of the disease is one of the 21st century’s worst crimes against wildlife – a tragedy of epic proportions.
💥. Update : We later hear that one horse did indeed fall to its death in this race. The media reporting has been scandalously one-sided. There was even a preposterous suggestion that the protest might have been a contributing factor in the tragic death. 💥💥 there ARE some abusive remarks in the comments to this post – but I’ve chosen NOT to delete or block – because if anyone is interested in this discussion I want all points of view to be represented. The vast majority of the comments call for this event to be either made safe or discontinued. If you have strong feelings, please write to your MP and let them know how you want them to speak and vote when the subject comes up. The other thing you can do, if this event sickens you, is follow @animal.rising.
Bri