Yesterday a dozen Derby campaigners (and one activist dog!) took part in peaceful demonstrations outside of betting shops in Derby city centre to raise awareness about the danger to horses lives in the Grand National, and what happens in the wider horse and greyhound racing industries. They were out campaigning from 11am until after the race started at 4:15pm.

Every year the dangerous Grand National course at Aintree causes fatalities. This year two horses tragically died in the run-up to the big race, Battlefront and Little Josh, despite changes that were meant to improve the safety of the course. Aside from the Grand National, hundreds of beautiful animals are raced to death on British tracks each year, die in training, or are killed because they are no longer profitable. Thousands more are killed on top of this because they don't make the grade. There is an awful lot of needless suffering and exploitation going on just for human entertainment

The response from the public walking past the demos was overwhelmingly positive. Around two hundred stopped to sign a copy of Animal Aid's 'Ban the Grand National' petition and to offer support to campaigners. The presence of someone lying on the floor in a dead horse costume definitely packed a punch and added a powerful visual element to the demo. Many people were discussing it as they walked past.

Unsurprisingly, bookies were not happy with campaigners bringing negative publicity to their shops and tried to state that they were breaking the law by standing outside and blocking window advertising with their posters. They were very rude about it as well. Happily there is a legal right to peaceful protest on a public right of way, and the bookies were informed of this fact.

William Hill sent out someone with a stand to give out betting slips and block the demo, but as you can see from one of the photos, a campaigner simply stood in front of him with a poster. He was attempting to give betting slips to members of the pubic but they responded with comments like, 'don't give me that, I'm going to sign their petition!' The stand went back inside pretty quickly.

It was a very encourgaing day and lots of great conversations were had with members of the public. Some stopped by to say that they had betted on the Grand National in previous years but after the high-profile death of the horse Synchronicity in 2012, they had pledged never to bet on horse racing again. The awareness of the needless suffering inherent in the animal racing industries is definitely growing.

You can find out lots of information about the dark side of the horse racing industry over on Animal Aid's website:
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/horse/

They also run a race horse death watch page, detailing the fatalities on British racetracks since 2007:

http://www.horsedeathwatch.com/

If you'd like to join Derby Animal Rights in their regular campaigns against animal suffering then the next fortnightly meeting is on Wednesday 17th April from 8pm upstairs at the Brewery Tap pub in Derby