Somehow, I managed to miss this year’s Epsom Derby, despite the telly being on ITV. Having little interest in horse racing apart from concerns about how many horses die, I still tuned in, if only to see whether the threatened protests turned into anything significant. But I left the sound off, concentrating as I was on listening to the Huey Show on BBC 6 Music on catch-up, and missed everything. Anyway, happy to report that no horses died in this year’s race but 31 members of Animal Rising were nicked at Epsom and it remains to be seen if they will be charged with anything. But whether they do or not, things may just be getting little hot for the protestors in general and Animal Rising supremo Dan Kidby in particular, as the Jockey Club considers taking civil action again the organisation and Kidby.
My first thought is simple. Take action against the bugger, go after him for all the damages they can get. What these people are doing is plainly illegal and they were stopped, courtesy of Inspector Knacker’s intelligence-led work, from doing any more damage. Putting on my Daily Mail reader’s angry head String Them Up, especially when you read the “How we achieve change” section of their website. “Supermarket sit-ins, restaurant sit-ins“? Grr. Don’t you dare get in my way if I’m buying my half pound of minced beef (5% fat) or my gourmet burger. And yet, despite hating the way they do things, there is some merit in some of the things they say.
The horse racing they abhor, I abhor too. There’s nothing I hate more, when I am stuffing my face with Nandos or McDonalds, to see horses die during a race. And since 1st May 2023, an incredible 26 horses have lost their lives on the race tracks of Britain. It’s disgusting. These beautiful animals, who almost certainly have no idea they’re competing in sport at all, dying or being euthanised in their prime. At least it saves them a premature visit to the Knackers Yard when they’re no longer of any use to race horse owners. Ban horse racing now. Except, except…
Here I am stuffing my face with things that used to be alive, animals bred for my consumption. Am I any better than the racehorse owners, the Jockey Club and all the other people who earn a living thanks to horses racing? There’s the dilemma. I can see your average Vegan and Veggie saying, “You absolute hypocrite. You’re against horse racing which is cruel and disgusting but you are more than happy to eat other animals.” I’m not doing anything illegal and I’m not some kind of anarchist disrupting people’s lives, but am I really on the moral high ground or even the lower slopes?
I’m not into this direct action full stop. Not when it’s Animal Rising, Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion or any of the other 57 varieties of anarchist groups, but maybe it’s because the rest of us either don’t care or we just don’t care enough and these people are filling in the gaps?
Around 30 million farm animals are killed for food every year in the UK, so perhaps losing 26 race horses is no big deal. Maybe we’re all a bit wrong in our attitudes, or most of us anyway. I’ll still avoid horse racing, not least because it’s so boring. But it’s also cruel, just like my Sunday dinner.
