PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) known as on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday to remove equestrian occasions from future Olympics citing cruelty to horses in the course of the latest Tokyo Summer Games.
In an incident that went viral on social media, Germany’s Annika Schleu was filmed whipping her horse Saint Boy after he refused to leap in the course of the fashionable pentathlon competitors.
German coach and coach Kim Raisner was additionally proven hitting the horse.
The Modern Pentathlon federation (UIPM) rapidly disqualified Raisner from involvement within the males’s occasion for her actions.
“The world was shocked when a visibly upset German pentathlon competitor, Annika Schleu, was filmed spurring and whipping the horse Saint Boy after he refused to enter the course,” mentioned PETA in a letter to IOC president Thomas Bach.
“Schleu’s trainer, Kim Raisner, was then shown hitting the horse. Raisner was rightfully expelled from the Olympics, but fines and suspensions aren’t enough to protect other horses from trainers who might commit similar offenses.”
The IOC couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
PETA additionally famous two incidents within the equestrian eventing competitors.
In one Jet Set, a horse ridden by a Swiss competitor Robin Godel, was injured so badly throughout a cross-country occasion that he needed to be euthanized whereas the one other noticed Irish rider Cian O’Connor pressure his mount Kilkenny to complete the course regardless of blood pouring from his nostrils.
“The Olympic Games showcase human athletes, not the ability to terrify and injure horses who don’t choose to compete yet are doing all the work, sometimes at the cost of their very lives,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk.
“Just as the games have evolved to include modern sports like skateboarding, PETA is calling on the International Olympic Committee to relegate abusive equestrian events to the history books.”