- Microchips show at least 5 racehorses amongst the 30+ corpses of horses who have starved to death at a property near Toowoomba
- 8 horses remain at the property, in a serious condition, including ex-racehorse ‘Flagflamenco’
Joint Media Release - Animal Liberation Queensland & Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses
Despite public outrage and nearly 2500 emails to the Minister of Agriculture, there still appears to be very little action from Biosecurity Queensland to protect the remaining 8 horses at a property near Toowoomba, where over 30 horses have already starved to death.
Amongst the deceased horses are ex-racehorses Onya Sonya - still listed as ‘active’ by Racing Australia, Miss Voli & Sarah's Joy listed as ‘retired’, and Oorawan & Aah who are both listed as deceased as of the 20th January 2020.
Flagflamenco is one of the severely emaciated horses whom neighbours and the public are trying to save from the same fate. She is also still listed as active by Racing Australia.
Since the horses were discovered almost 2 weeks ago, concerned neighbours have been doing their best to supplement the small amount of low quality food that has been given to the horses by their carer only once per day.
“Kind neighbours have been giving the horses small amounts of extra food over the last week or so, as they have been monitoring the feeding routine by the owner, who has only been attending once per day. The food being supplied by the owner has been low quality, wet straw. The action by these neighbours has meant that no further horses have died” said Chay Neal, Executive Director at Animal Liberation Queensland.
“Neighbours had been providing high-quality horse feed until they were instructed by Biosecurity Queensland on Monday to stop feeding them. We are extremely concerned about the fate of the remaining horses and have questions regarding the feeding regime and monitoring by the Department.”
“Waiting for more horses to die before taking action and prosecuting the owner is gross negligence by the Department.
“We reiterate our previous calls for Mark Furner, Minister of Agriculture, to instruct Biosecurity Queensland to prosecute the owner, seize ownership of these horses, and prevent any further suffering.” said Mr Neal.
Campaign Director from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR), Elio Celotto added of the ex-racehorses “This is one of many horrific examples of what happens to horses once they are no longer wanted by the racing industry. Their outcomes are most commonly this or the slaughterhouse. Yet breeders continue to breed and buyers continue to buy, with no regards as to where these magnificent individuals will end up.”
“This multi-billion dollar industry is openly allowing those only bred into the world because of them, to starve to death. It is abhorrent” Mr Celotto said.
Related: Authorities fail starving horses