The seven deadly sins of Cup Fever People have long argued that the fall of humanity is a consequence of vice overcoming virtue; the insatiable aims of self-interests being raised above caring and compassionate tendencies to destroy a life of grace and charity. A capital vice or deadly sin engenders other sins and is thought to invoke a person’s eternal damnation. Wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony; take your pick and the Melbourne Cup is your one stop shop to sin town, baby. WRATH: Horse racing is a blood sport; make no mistake about it. While the average compassionate person will condemn dog fighting, cockfighting and bullfighting unflinchingly, there are a number of blood sports that are still widely accepted culturally, such as fishing and sadly horse racing. In its most basic definition, a blood sport is a category of sports or entertainment that causes bloodshed. According to Bailey, (Bailey et al.1999) it is estimated that only 300 out of every 1,000 foals produced will ever start in a race. This means that of the 15,000 thoroughbred foals born each year in Australia alone, an approximate 10,000 will be ruthlessly discarded and mostly end up at “the doggers” in an industry practice known as wastage. One Australian Study (More 1999) found that approximately 40% earned no money at all and only 13% earned enough money to cover costs. Dr Paul O’Callahan, Chief Veterinary Steward of the Victorian Racing Club states that approximately less than 2% of horses actually earn their keep. While some ex-racehorses horses are sent for breeding, the number of horses involved in breeding has been on a steady decline and most horses that leave the stud will be killed for meat. Younger horses will generally be killed for human consumption in one of Australia’s 2 horse abattoirs located in Caboolture, Queensland and Peterborough, South Australia. Older horses generally end up as dog meat. The wrath on horses isn’t just seen at the end of the tunnel for the thousands that are taken to the knackeries, but mostly during their careers. Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage (EIPH) is a condition with high prevalence in racing thoroughbreds. Horses with EIPH bleed into the lungs and airways, usually as a result of burst capillaries. The tiny blood vessels are ruptured by the sheer pressure of blood pumping around the body during strenuous exercise. Researchers at the University of Melbourne have shown that 56 per cent of racehorses have blood in their windpipe, and 90 per cent have blood deeper in their lungs. Only about 1 per cent of horses show outward signs of bleeding, with blood at the nose. The rest are more difficult to diagnose because they bleed into their lungs without it being obvious. A study in the Equine Veterinary Journal found haemorrhaging in the lungs in 95 per cent of horses checked during two post-race examinations (Source: Birks EK, Shuler KM, Soma LR, Martin BB, Marconato L, Del Piero F., Teleis DC, Schar D., Hessinger AE, Uboh CE, “EIPH: postrace endoscopic evaluation of Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds,” Department of Clnical Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Equine Veterinary Journal Supplement, September 2002.) An article in the same journal states that haemorrhaging in the lungs is “a condition affecting virtually all horses during intense exercise worldwide…there is no treatment that is considered a solution, and the currently allowed treatments have not proven to be effective in preventing EIPH.” In Australia, the first time a horse suffers from EIPH in a race, it is banned from racing for three months, the second time it is banned for life. High concentrations of hydrochloric acid in the stomach are thought to be a major factor in the production of gastric ulcers. Horses secrete gastric acid continuously since they have evolved as forage feeders, grazing continuously over a 24-hour period in the natural state. In some horse stables, there are periods of time when acid levels in the stomach of horses are high. This is because grain tends to be fed two to three times per day while the amount of hay between some of these meals is limited. Exercising while gastric acid concentration is high is thought to contribute to ulcer formation. Instead of having continuous access to fibrous food, which would promote the release of bicarbonate-rich saliva to buffer the production of stomach acid, racehorse are confined to a stable and fed to a timetable, so there is nothing to neutralise the acid that will damage the stomach lining. A study of racehorses at Randwick in NSW found that 86 per cent had stomach ulcers. Many had deep, bleeding ulcers within eight weeks of starting race preparation. The prevalence of gastric ulceration in thoroughbred racehorses is reported to be between 66 and 93 per cent, increasing to 80 to 100 per cent as training duration increases and racing commences. (Source: The prevalence and distribution of gastric ulceration in 345 racehorses Aust Vet J Vol 81, No 4, April 2003 LM Begg and CB O’Sullivan.)In the wild, horses are vulnerable to predators if they show weakness, so will not show any sign of being in pain. However, we do know that stomach ulcers are extremely painful. It is unconscionable with the knowledge we currently have that any horse is allowed to be placed in circumstances in which it is likely to suffer from this condition. Inflammatory respiratory disease continues to be a serious cause of wastage to the performance horse industries in Australia and overseas. Up to 33 per cent of young racehorses in training can have lower airway inflammation without demonstrating any clinical signs of respiratory disease, emphasising the serious welfare implications of this disorder (Source: Inflammatory Airway Disease in Young Thoroughbred Racehorses. RIRDC Publication No 03/089 Oct 2003) It is a fact that whips have been involved in 86% of racing accidents. Paul McGreevy, Associate Professor, Faculty of Veterinary Science at Sydney University stated “If flogging a dead horse is futile, flogging a tired horse is worse still since such animals feel the pain while unable to respond.” A recent study carried out by Dr. Paul McGreevy and Dr. David Evans in January 2011 found that whipping a horse in the final stages of a race does not make the horse run faster than he would if he wasn’t whipped. “This study has found that jockeys use whips just as people would expect – to try to make their slowing horse recover speed in the closing stages of a race in the hope they will get a place. That’s not surprising. What is surprising is the finding that whipping doesn’t make any difference. Jockeys may as well save their energy, keep their hands on the reins, and head straight for home. Their horses will be so much better off for it,” Dr David Jones. If an animal experiences pain—for example from constant spurring and whipping—and finds that no response results in relief, it may gradually habituate to the pain. This phenomenon is known as “learned helplessness”. Learned helplessness results in chronic conflict and gastric disorders leading to colic, which can be fatal. (McLean 2003) GREED: Greed can be defined as “the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for ones self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort. It is applied to a markedly high desire for and pursuit of wealth, status, and power.” The gambling element of the cup is so apparent that I barely need to comment on it. Personally, I don’t care if you gamble, in fact I can see the fun and excitement of gambling when performed healthily by people without an addiction, and who are responsible. The problem is that gambling on the Melbourne Cup feeds the cruelty. You can gamble on any number of events from sports, to casinos; you can even gamble on what names celebrities will give their children. You can gamble on almost anything these days; so why subsidize an industry centered on unnecessarily hurting innocent beings that have caused you no harm. It is the pinnacle of greed and selfishness. SLOTH: Sloth as a sin is defined as spiritual or emotional apathy, and being physically and emotionally inactive. For the most part, I would argue that people are unaware of the harm of the racing industry; it largely happens behind closed doors (as with most almost all animal suffering), because if people were made aware of the truth, then they would have a stronger aversion to the acts of harm they had been unknowingly supporting. Sloth can also be either an outright refusal or merely a carelessness in the performance of ones obligations, especially spiritual, moral or legal obligations. If you are going to go to the races or place a bet, you have a moral obligation to understand the harm that you are a party towards. While advocating veganism to people, the common rebuttals come from either historical logical fallacies that “we evolved eating meat” or naturalistic fallacies such as “biologically we can be omnivores, therefore we ought to be omnivores”, and these arguments generally teeter around the notion of necessity. Gambling on horses is not a necessity, there is no logical or rational argument that can be put forward that we need to gamble and subjugate these innocent animals to violence, and by doing so, you endow yourself with the moral obligations of 1) understanding the facts about how horses are treated and 2) removing your support. Finally, sloth can also indicate a wasting due to lack of use, concerning a person, place, thing, skill, or intangible ideal that would require maintenance, refinement, or support to continue to exist. There is nothing more wasteful than having 15,000 innocent beings slaughtered because they no longer serve any value in racing or generating a profit. PRIDE: Pride is an inwardly directed emotion referring to an inflated sense of ones personal status or accomplishments, often used synonymously with hubris. There is nothing more hubristic than thinking you are so far above another being that you can neglect the value of its life and suffering, and asserting that it is equitable with a $20 bet each way. LUST: Lust is an emotion or feeling of intense desire in the body. Lust can be seen at the races in the dolled-up, fanciful, masturbation of wealth dresses, hats, shoes and suits flurrying around on cup day. Like greed, as a sin, I have no problem with people that think spending in excess of $1,000 on an outfit is more important than the range of social, health and education problems plaguing billions of people worldwide. To each their own. But what irks me is that this is done in the face of immense suffering. Could you imagine a fashion parade being held directly in front of jews being marched into Auschwitz, Bruce McAvaveny commenting on how gorgeous everybody looks while innocent souls meander in the background full of fear. You might think that this comparison is sick, disgusting and unfair, but think of things from the horse’s perspective. More than 100,000 horses are killed in slaughterhouses each year, most coming from the racing industry. The definition of a holocaust is slaughter on a mass scale. Is 100,000 lives a holocaust to you? Regardless of whether you agree with me on this point, people can get dressed up and pontificate their beauty and validate their paychecks in any number of places that are not the face of unnecessary cruelty. In other words, go be beautiful cake-faces somewhere else. ENVY: Envy is an emotion that occurs when a person lacks anothers superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it. We see envy at the races in the jockeys, trainers and owners competing with one another. After all envy is a core driving force behind most elite sports. We see envy in the people competing on who can wear the most attractive, stylish, avant-garde, outrageous, or even ugliest outfit. We see envy in the gamblers desperately trying to get more than they have. The saddest envy is the envy of horses that want to live a life in which they have autonomy and are not forced into overexertion and health problems. GLUTTONY: Gluttony, means over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, or wealth items to the point of extravagance or waste. As with greed and lust, gluttony can be achieved anywhere without the need to surround yourself with unnecessary harm to others. The core of the problem is social conditioning and programming. Horse racing is barbaric, and unbecoming of a species that claims to know right from wrong. As children we are raised into a set of values and beliefs that were given to us through our parents, friends, educators, the media and the wider world around us. The races personify a cultural identity in our part of the world, which is perceived as the pinnacle of class, fashion and a buzzing social scene; but more importantly, definitely not an animal welfare concern. The issue is that all of the things we collectively yearn for on cup day, the fashion, the food and drinks, the socialization, the gambling, all of these things can take place in any arena devoid of animal use. It is such a strong example of the blatant arrogance and moral anachronisms of our times, that we find it necessary to have a public holiday celebrating and reinforcing animal exploitation that feeds the termination of countless lives. It’s an issue that non-vegans ought to understand just as strongly as vegans do. It irritates me that the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses had their “Is the party really worth it?” billboard taken down after several days. People can’t face the reality of the harm they cause. The truth hurts, and the truth of horse racing is a very sad one. If you are against unnecessary suffering and harm, then don’t support the races. By all means, have fun on Cup Day, get dressed up if you want to, have a party, eat and drink, mingle with your friends, go gamble on something not related to animal use if that’s what tickles your pickle. Just wake up, be aware and stop being selfish, none of these things are worth more than an innocent beings life.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 00:59:49 +0000
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