SPCA fume at Oscar's horse race

Cape Town - The Cape of Good Hope SPCA has expressed its unhappiness following SA Olympic and Paralympian star Oscar Pistorius' victory against an Arab horse - Maserati - in a "Run like the Wind" race on Wednesday in Doha.

Since news of the above challenge broke, the CoGH SPCA has been inundated with complaints regarding the manner in which the horse was ridden.

If one view’s the video one can understand why the general South African Public is so outraged and disappointed with the participation of one of our local hero’s in this event. The horse it would appear was excessively, unnecessarily and cruelly whipped from start to finish (in fact even before the race started) whilst being held back by the jockey who clearly showed absolutely no consideration for the horses welfare or wellbeing.

Allan Perrins, CoGH SPCA CEO, commented: ”In our opinion, this incident has defeated the purpose of Oscar’s message and tarnished his otherwise wholesome image and I am almost sure that when he examines the footage he too will be horrified by the rider’s apparent indifference and would want to disassociate himself from the riders misbehaviour. If this incident where to have happened in South Africa, the rider, organisers and all participants including Oscar would have been charged with cruelty to animals and if found guilty have faced some very serious consequences - not least of all reputational damage.“

The CoGH SPCA presented Oscar’s office with an official Animal Welfare complaint on Thursday morning and Oscar promptly replied with the following: “I participated in the race in good faith as it was to promote abilities across sport and I was totally unaware of any alleged excessive force being used on the horse. I don’t condone any ill-treatment of animals and would always hope that a horse would be ridden in the correct way. Those who know me well are very aware of my well-publicised care and love of animals.”

The Cape of Good SPCA still would like assurances that the horse will be examined by an equine veterinarian to ensure that it suffered no lasting injuries.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Can Oscar Pistorius be blamed in any way for how the jockey treated his horse? Should Oscar rather have elected not to have taken part? Send your thoughts to Sport24.

Video of the Race

How is this Oscars fault SPCA ....:S

the jock does not even have a whip in his hand !

Solotrama Wrote:

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> the jock does not even have a whip in his hand !


I think there is a whip there

yep there is a whip,and the horse was butchered (td)

There definitely was a whip and the horse looked like he did not know what he was doing as the "jockey" just hit him and expected him to run. Looked confused. Not Oscars fault at all but the jockey should have been the one getting the hiding with the stick!:X

ok i see te whip at the very begining .

in the slo mo at the end it does not look visible , probably due to the lights in the picture .

Was it a handicap ?

yes it was the horses rider was handicapped

Why is Oscar doing these things? Is it for the money?

PeeKay Wrote:

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> Why is Oscar doing these things? Is it for the
> money?

No. If its for money its for Charity. Go check his website. He does alot.

Oscar Pistorius Website

Oscar Pistorius is an ambassador for the Mineseeker Foundation. This initiative is dedicated to the detection,identification and removal of land-mines. It seeks to help those people who have been affected by land-mines. By rehabilitating the land and ensuring that the the communities affected have sustainable futures.

We have launched the Sole of Africa campaign to help communities affected by land-mine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) You can help us by joining the Sole of Africa campaign.

There are over 100 million land mines buried beneath the surface of this Earth. Someone steps on a mine every 19 minutes, usually women and children. Whole communities live in constant fear and terror. We can stop this with new technology, developed by the British Ministry of Defence and licensed to Mineseeker. It detects all mines in an instant. The system was tested and deployed in Kosovo and featured in the BBC documentary Mineseekers which you may have seen (a copy is available if required.) It represents a major man made disaster, bigger than the Tsunami and Pakistan earthquake combined. The point is we can fix this problem quickly.

The Mineseeker Foundation is a non-profit organisation, allied with the British Ministry of Defence and endorsed by the United Nations. Together, these powers have developed and tested a breakthrough technology that will revolutionize the international quest to rid the world of land-mines. Mineseeker will work to detect and map land-mines utilizing airships and the foremost ground-penetrating radar system. The system is sponsored by Virgin Atlantic and the British Ministry of Defence and has been successfully tested in Kosovo.

In support of its mine detection programme, Mineseeker has drawn up an Empowerment Blueprint. This programme will be initiated through agricultural sustainability, and will be implemented first in Mozambique. Complimenting foundations, businesses and humanity leaders are now working together to achieve these aims, and a preliminary schedule of events and action for 2009/10 has been arranged.

I'm not saying he doesn't do a lot, but what has running against a horse (that has unfortunately been butchered) have to do with identifying and removing land mines?