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January 30, 2024
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David Perle 202-483-7382
Pine Bush, N.Y. – These days, New York State Police knowledgeable PETA that they’ve arrested a harness racing instructor for allegedly beating a horse so violently that the animal needed to be euthanized. Instructor Frederick Bourgault was once reportedly offended on the horse, End Line, for by accident stepping on his foot. Bourgault has been charged with interference with or harm to positive home animals and legal mischief in the second one stage, each felonies.
The incident came about in mid-July of ultimate yr at Pine Bush Coaching Facility. PETA was once knowledgeable of the alleged beating via a whistleblower and instantly contacted the police.
Bourgault, who has raced at Tioga Downs and Monticello Raceway, was once suspended via the Alcohol and Gaming Fee of Ontario in 2020 for beating a horse who positioned 5th in a race. He has an extended historical past of violations in New York state and has been fined and/or suspended for kicking horses and for over the top use of the whip. In 2022, the New York State Gaming Fee fined Bourgault for whipping a horse after a race and directed him to take an anger control route. However in April 2023, Bourgault was once once more fined for over the top whipping.
PETA desires to understand why the gaming fee and tracks have nonetheless allowed Bourgault, together with his documented historical past of violence and violations, to proceed racing and why New Yorkers are pressured to strengthen the harness racing business with $100 million in subsidies yearly.
“Bourgault is a repeat wrongdoer who will have to were booted from racing years in the past and banned the primary time he whipped a horse after a race was once over,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA is thankful to the New York State Police for taking swift motion however to not the gaming fee for permitting this guy to stay racing.”
PETA—whose motto reads, partially, that “animals aren’t ours to make use of for leisure or abuse whatsoever”—issues out that Each and every Animal Is Any individual and provides loose Empathy Kits for individuals who want a lesson in kindness. For more info, please consult with PETA.org or apply the crowd on X (previously Twitter), Fb, or Instagram.