Published on June 19, 2012
in the New York Times is this story, Latest
Illegal Drug for Racehorses: ‘Frog Juice’. Recently, more than 30 racehorses have conditionally tested positive for
dermorphin, a powerful performance-enhancing potion drawn from the skin of a
frog, native to South America, called Phyllomedusa sauvagei. For months postrace testing could not find the substance, a
painkiller far more powerful than morphine. “We hear about some pretty exotic
stuff,” said Dr. Steven Barker, who directs the testing laboratory at Louisiana
State University. “Frog juice — this is exotic.” 
Many people observe
horse racing as an innocent sport in which the animals are willing participants
who thoroughly enjoy the adventure. The hidden truth is that, behind the
scenes, lays a story of immense suffering. Through my
research, aapproximately 50%
of foals born actually go on to become a racing horse. The horses that do not
make the grade may be slaughtered for meat or repeatedly change hands and may
become a case of neglect. Many of the horses, who do go on to race, are raced
to death every year.
Behind its alluring mask, commercial horse racing is a
ruthless industry motivated by financial gain and prestige. Animal cruelty - you
can bet on it! Betting
on a race became so much easier as all you needed to do was get online and get
betting.
The horse racing
industry has made some efforts to provide for the horses and horse athletes,
but not enough. Changes need to be made to protect the horses in the industry
and they need to happen much quicker than they have been or currently are. When
will “they” take their blinders off? For documentaries on "horse stories", watch these videos:
Disarray at the Race Track, Part I
Disarray at the Race Track, Part II
I find it amazing that in our seemingly ‘politically correct’ nation where we have celebrities in the news begging the average American to donate in order to stop animal cruelty and neglect when they are being paid as much for their appearance as it would take to care for such animals till they die, that we can allow such cruelty to take place for entertainment purposes. We all know that horse racing is nothing but legal gambling driven not by being able to see these beautiful animals, but instead by greed. I’m sure there are some who enjoy the “sport” who do not gamble, but let’s be honest, not many.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that horses are being pumped full of performance-enhancing potions that come from frogs is just beyond my comprehension. Is there ever going to be more regulations put on these types of sports? These animals rely on humans to care for them when they are domesticated and this is how they are treated? What an awful reality for them.
As with many other forms of entertainment (gambling, major league baseball etc…) it all comes down to the money. Horseracing is one of oldest sports and along with being entertaining to watch, it also allows people the opportunity to get something for nothing. In a world where the chances to get rich on a horse are legal, it does not seem surprising that people would want a little more surety when betting their money on a horse than the word of a bookie. As with other illegal practices such as drug dealing and human trafficking, it was only a matter of time before this practice came to light, and now it is up to us to see that something gets done about it.
ReplyDeleteWow!! Is my response to this, I have participated in a lot of sporting activities, be it indoor or outdoor. The one thing I haven't yet done is to ride a horse because I think it would be so cool. I have always seen horse racing on TV with big bets going down in the background but as much as I love animals, I never saw past the betting to think about what these animals are going through. I appreciate you bringing this out and getting me to think about the animals for a second. Thanks for the awesome post.
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