PETA wants Big Brown castrated

[a kennedy]

By Reid Cherner & Tom Weir

PETA is asking the owners of Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown to take a $50 million cut in pay.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has sent a letter to owners Michael Iavarone and Richard Schiavo begging them to castrate the colt. (Photo by Jamie Squire, Getty Images)

Big Brown, syndicated for the $50 million, was retired on Monday after injuring his foot during a workout for the Breeders' Cup. He will now become a high priced sire at Three Chimneys Farm.

"More than 700 thoroughbreds break down and die every year at tracks across the country, but the horseracing industry is apparently more concerned with speed than the horses' well-being," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "Just because Big Brown's injury didn't cost him his life doesn't mean that his offspring won't crash to the dirt and have to be put out of their misery, just as Eight Belles was at the Kentucky Derby as millions of horrified viewers watched."

http://blogs.usatoday.com/gameon/2008/10/peta-wants-big.html

[TZ]

1. Yeah. Thats really gonna happen.

PETA is so ridiculous. And just because he has bad feet doesn't mean his offspring will crash to the ground either. Note to nitwits: Eight Belles accident was a FREAK accident and not really genetics.

[two gun sid]

2. PETA is doing a disservice by trying to conflate several issues...

Big Browns injury could have and has happened to horses without the hoof issues he has. Horses grab themselves all the time and not just on the racetrack. The do it in the barn, in the paddock, standing out in the field.

Eight Belle's injuries were not caused by the same problems that BB has with his feet. She brokedown when both ankles and feet came unbuckled. Up to the time she brokedown she had never had a foot problem. She was sound.

Native Dancer....Bahwahahaha...that is eugenics, not genetics.

What they do have right is the fact that he will pass on his feet to some of his get. Stop. Don't start talking about horses crashing to the dirt. That's bullshit and not true. It's more likely that his offspring will not stand up to training and the ones who do make it to the races won't make many starts and won't have long careers. And then, some of them will be durable and last for years. It's really a crapshoot.

As a small scale breeder who likes to think about issues concerning the durability of the breed, I too think BB should not get the big stud deal he got. I'm not against breeding to him but, I think he should be at stud in one of the smaller markets and be bred to a limited book. Yep, I'm for limiting all stallions books.

If you're interested, check out Fran Jurga's blog on heel bulb injuries: http://hoofcare.blogspot.com/2008/10/heel-bulb-injuries-101-big-browns.html

I'm interested in what others in this forum think. Talk to me.

[TZ]

3. I think YOU have it right.

PETA once again has proven themselves to be loudmouthed ignorant fools. They aren't accomplishing anything by pissing the people in the industry off with these idiotic tactics.
I have a family member who used to breed purebred dogs..and yes, dogs with defects (known) aren't bred.
Limiting stallion books is good in the long run anyway because it seems to be that the way things are now, its kind of limited the genetic diversity of the breed and I think thats why there are fewer really "great" horses in the US these days. I would love to see more imported stallions into the bloodlines here.

[two gun sid]

4. Bring in some imported bloodstock. Good idea, Sue.

Right now we are losing are most durable horses to the Maktoums and Coolmore. We need to find a way of bringing some of them home.

[jakefrep]

5. I believe that this is the reason the phrase " For fuck's sake" was invented

The next bit of constructive input from PETA on these matters will be the first.

[hughee99]

6. PETA is tough for me, I want to support them

but it seems like every time they open their mouth on some issue from using breast milk in Ben & Jerry's ice cream, to the "got prostate cancer" and "got autism" anti-milk ads, or when they sent a letter urging a mayor to use a laser show instead of fireworks because all of the animals who get freaked out an injured from the noise, I just find myself saying "What the fuck?".

In this case, it sounds like they're suggesting castration as a remedy to an issue that likely isn't even genetic.

[SteveM]

9. And can we forget the PETA employees who gassed puppies & kittens? (nt)

[hughee99]

10. No I didn't forget that...

but the reason I didn't mention it was because all the shit I did point out was stuff that PETA really thought about, that they were PROUD of. It's sad that even when they put what they feel is their "best foot forward" people who support animal rights causes are still saying "Are you fuckin' kidding me?".

[SteveM]

11. It's Ingrid's cult, so her personality becomes a Creature from the Id (nt)

[comtec]

7. CASTRATION IS NOT CRUEL!>?!?!?!?!?!?

OMFG!!!
DUDES!!!!
*grabs his balls in sympathy*

I don't understand peta, I really don't.

On the one hand, yeah horse racing is brutal, and possibly cruel to horses in general. But horses run, that's what that species does!

but cutting off this horse's balls.. WTF, he WINS a bunch of derbies and races, and his reward is going out to stud... it's crazy, he DID HIS JOB WELL AND HE SHOULD BE REWARDED!!!

On the one hand peta claims they want equal rights for animals (sadly I'm NOT joking, look at their complete mission statement... omfg) and on the other they say something BS like THIS!?

mating, and breeding a a right of all organisms, how dare they want to take that right AWAY from a living creature! THEM.. People for the ETHICAL Treatment of Animals!!!

SHAME ON peta!

[SteveM]

12. Why should it be cruel for someone named Ingrid? (nt)

[Justpat]

14. In the horse world, castration is not cruel.

Colts that are not stallion material live lives of complete isolation from their own kind.

Colts stop being turned out with one another when they approach their two year old year
or earlier depending on their level of aggression. If you geld them they can be
turned out with other geldings or mares with no problem.

Not castrating colts is, in my opinion, way more cruel than cutting them. A gelding has
a more social life. A horse with great racing ability and/or great genes lives a nice
life breeding mares - but the rest of the horse population is better of gelded.

Don't forget that in the wild, horse society is structured so that only the strongest
and fastest colts get to their own mares. The rest of the colts live by themselves off
to the side of the herd. Even in the wild, the weedy, weak individuals do not breed.

[jakefrep]

20. I beleive the owner of Northern Dancer once said...

...that if he had gelded every male horse he ever owned, he would have made only one mistake.

[trumad]

8. Tooo bad Ingrid's Dad didn't get castrated before she was born...

[WilliamPitt]

13. Insane

[Forkboy]

15. For a group that I rarely agree with, I sure do like them for some reason.

I think it's just my sick desire to see people's sacred ox getting gored, and they do that a lot. Sure they're batshit crazy 3/4 of the time, but that just adds to the fun. :P

Of course, if people really want to help animals then they should ignore PETA and just give to the Humane Society, or better yet, local shelters where there's tons of animals that need help now, not in a year or two down the line after Big Brown has shot his future wad.

[chelsea0011]

16. Is Big Brown a convicted sex offender?

[4lbs]

18. Well... the plan is to make money off him having forced sex with hundreds of females.

n/t ;)

[KamaAina]

17. Shane Victorino better watch his back!

So far, PETA is only after the Maui native's Spam musubi...

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20081015_PETA_plays_hardball_with_Victorino_over_Spam.html

An animal rights group yesterday asked Shane Victorino, the Philadelphia Phillies centerfielder, to strike Spam from his diet because of alleged pig abuse at a farm that supplies meat to the makers of the canned food.

"While Spam might be a popular foodstuff in your native Hawaii, before you take another cholesterol-packed bite, let me tell you about the horrific abuse of animals at the hands of Spam's pork suppliers," he wrote....

In an interview, Shannon said he decided to write Victorino a letter after learning the player had listed Spam musubi - featuring a slice of meat wrapped with seaweed on top of rice - as one of his favorite dishes in a TV sports show....

But now with PETA coming out in favor of castration, one wonders what will happen next time Shane is "back home" and is spotted leaving a convenience store with the dreaded Spam musubi... :scared:

[Awsi Dooger]

19. Well then get it over with

I don't want a picture, like his hoof