Animal Aid

Below is a suggested letter to the editor on which you could base your own letter to your local newspaper

Dear Editor

Behind horse racing‘s glamorous façade lies a catalogue of suffering and death. The national campaign group, Animal Aid, has found that around 420 horses are raced to death every year. Some 38 per cent of these fatalities occur during, or immediately after a race, and result from a broken leg, back, neck or pelvis; fatal spinal injuries; exhaustion; heart attack; or burst blood vessels. The other victims perish from training injuries or are killed after being assessed by their owners as no-hopers.

The punishing Grand National is Britain's longest horse race – covering a distance of four miles and 856 yards. The horses are required to jump 30 formidable obstacles, some of which include perilous drops, ditches and sharp turns. Forty horses usually take part – an excessively crowded field, which adds to the risk of collisions and falls.

Thirty horses were killed at the three-day Aintree event between 1999 and 2009.

This ‘sport’ is kept alive through betting income and course attendance fees. Please don’t back the cruelty – for you it’s only a harmless flutter, but horses could pay with their lives.

For more information, and to view Animal Aid’s powerful 90-second film, please visit the Animal Aid website, www.animalaid.org.uk.

Yours faithfully

your name here