Hannah from London Animal Rights reports:
On Saturday 6th April there were two demonstrations in London against the Grand National.
The first demonstration took place at a branch of William Hill and was to urge people not to place bets on the Grand National, as many people who wouldn’t normally bet on horseracing have a ‘harmless flutter’ on this event. This in turn would help to stop bookmakers from making money out of this race. It was a lively demo with the chanting of slogans such as “Grand National, What a disgrace – How many horses die in the race?” “William Hill – You Kill” and “You Bet – They Die”. The protestors held placards and handed out leaflets to passers-by outlining the cruelty involved in the Grand National and horse racing in general.
The next demonstration took place outside Channel 4. Channel 4 is the main TV station covering the Grand National and as such promotes and condones the cruelty involved in this race, a race in which horses are routinely injured and killed. This protest was to urge Channel 4 to drop its coverage of the three day Grand National meet and to fully report all injuries and deaths of horses. The demo was very well attended and started in a lively way with the chanting of slogans such as “Grand National, What a disgrace – How many horses die in the race,” and “Shame, Shame, Shame on Channel 4.” A representative of Animal Aid then made a short speech urging Channel 4 to drop the coverage of the Grand National and a London Animal Rights activist said how she hoped the Grand National would stop completely. Another LAR activist read out the names of the 40 horses who have died in the Grand National since 1990, including the two who died this year. This was followed by a minute’s silence to remember these horses. The lively protest was then resumed and again activists handed out leaflets to members of the public, outlining the cruelty involved in the Grand National and the wider horseracing industry.
There was quite a lot of press interest in this event and this protest was covered in the Guardian online, see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/apr/06/grand-national-protest-channel-4
For more information about London Animal Rights go to:
https://en-gb.facebook.com/londonanimalrights or www.londonanimal rights.org.uk
For more information about the horse racing industry go to:
www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/horse/ALL
To see a list of all the horses killed at Aintree since 2007 go to: