The Battle Over Horse Racing

The current issue of The Jewish Week features an article about attempts to establish a horse racing industry in Israel. Concern for Helping Animals in Israel (CHAI) has waged a campaign to stop those efforts dead in their "tracks." Whenever industry relegates G-d’s creatures to economic units, undue suffering and abuse ensue.

Race horses start running when their skeletal systems have yet to fully develop. Like the Steroids-pumping baseball players who are widely decried, many are drugged up to become stronger and faster. These neglected animals are often forced to spend up to 23 hours a day in narrow stalls, isolated from freedom or herd contact. Demanding training regimens and lightning-speed races cause bleeding in the lungs, fractured limbs, and chronic gastric ulcers. In the U.S., horses deemed inadequate for running and breeding are slaughtered for their flesh – which is exported to other countries for consumption – and to make glue.

Make no mistake about it: Introducing horse racing to Israel would inevitably cause tsa'ar ba'alei chayim (unnecessary suffering to animals).