Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s suspension of Bob Baffert and the disqualification of Medina Spirit from the 2021 Kentucky Derby win:
Bob Baffert’s suspension in Kentucky was long time coming, but now his home state must act without delay. PETA calls on the California Horse Racing Board to abide by the statement it issued last May and reciprocate the suspension in California. We urge the board to convene an urgent meeting and make good on its word by suspending Baffert for 90 days, effective March 8 to June 5, in California. It won’t bring Medina Spirit back, but it may protect other horses.
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.
In time for World Whale Day (February 20), PETA has erected a sky-high message near Greenpeace’s headquarters, challenging the environmental group’s new “sustainable seafood” initiative: “Don’t Eat Fish. Fishing Gear Kills 300,000 Whales and Dolphins Annually.” The request follows PETA’s vegan revamp of Greenpeace’s landmark 1975 “Save the Whales” campaign—a new, progressive take that asks everyone to let fish enjoy their aquatic life, undisturbed.
PETA notes that becoming entangled in fishing gear is the single biggest threat to the survival of many of the world’s 86 cetacean species and that eating sea life contributes to the decimation of ocean ecosystems. PETA also points out that in the fishing industry, even endangered whales are callously referred to as “bycatch”—a euphemism for “nontarget” animals who are caught or become entangled in fishing nets or other gear and are then simply discarded and left to die (if they haven’t died already).
“Just as those opposed to whaling would never eat whale meat, true environmentalists shouldn’t eat fish,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA reminds everyone that the only sea animal–friendly, respectful, and sustainable way to eat is vegan.”
Fish are now known to feel pain as acutely as mammals do, have long-term memories, and communicate with each other using squeaks, squeals, and other low-frequency sounds that humans can hear only with special instruments—yet they’re impaled, crushed, suffocated, or cut open and gutted, all while conscious. More fish are killed for food each year—billions in U.S. waters alone—than all other animals combined.
Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding The Jockey Club’s rescindment of the stud book cap rule:
Shame on Kentucky racing and The Jockey Club for caving to horse racing industry greed. Dollar signs are motivating unlimited breeding of stallions to the detriment of the individual horses and the soundness of the breed. Stallions are subjected to a forced and relentless regimen, which takes a physical and psychological toll. PETA has captured undercover footage of elite breeding farms in the U.S. and South Korea showing how unnatural and dangerous this process is for both stallions and mares. Breeding more than 140 mares to one stallion—trying to squeeze out every last drop from these top stallions—also limits the diversity of the gene pool, resulting in increased vulnerability to catastrophic injuries of this already fragile Thoroughbred breed.
Take Charge Indy is shown here in an afternoon breeding session in South Korea with a leg wrap for an injury he had sustained or exacerbated while breeding earlier that day Take Charge Indy is now standing at WinStar Farm in Kentucky.
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.
