Animal Person
Mary Martin, Ph.D., deconstructs the language, ethics and economics of our relationship with nonhuman animals.
May 06, 2008
On Reactions to Eight Belles

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered a massive stroke and was left with a condition called Locked-In syndrome, where he was fully conscious and aware of everything around him, but was almost completely paralyzed and couldn't speak. He realizes in the first scene of the film that he thinks he is talking, but no one can hear him. It's like one of those dreams where you're screaming as loud as you can yet no one reacts at all.

This is how I've been feeling about Eight Belles, and about animal rights in general. There are these people from an organization called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who have become the voice of animal rights on Planet Earth, yet they don't represent animal rights as I understand it and live it. And the world is listening to them and judging me according to what they say.

Furthermore, people who have chosen livelihoods that center on the exploitation of nonhuman animals for profit, like Eight Belles' owner, Rick Porter, are not stopped in their tracks when they say things like:

“I support horse racing 1,000 percent. There are some ugly parts of it, obviously. There are also some spectacular parts of it. There are ugly parts of every sport. There are people who get paralyzed in football. This is a tragedy that happens in horse racing. It’s hard to put the blame any particular way. It’s part of horse racing.”

First, "1,000 percent" is a pet peeve of mine, but I'll concentrate on something more important, like the absurdity of comparing people who choose to play football and end up paralyzed, with horses who in no way give their consent to race, and then are raced to their death. In addition, to say "it's hard to put the blame any particular way," is inaccurate. It's easy. Mr. Porter bought (or bred) Eight Belles with the hope of winning money from her body and her running. He put her in the race, and she was killed. He owned her, dominated her, controlled her and exploited her, and her blood is on his hands. If she had won the race, I bet Mr. Porter wouldn't find it so difficult placing credit or glory somewhere--like in his own hands.

Now, without a society where nonhuman animals are commodities and most people blithely go through their days giving no thought to the realities of the enslavement and slaughter of sentient nonhumans for no good reason, Eight Belles wouldn't exist to be killed. But we do live in that kind of society, and it's up to each individual, each day, at each meal and with each purchase or donation, to change the way our society views nonhuman animals.

It's also necessary that we're honest about what we want. PeTA states:

Eight Belles' death is yet another reminder that these horses are raced when they are so young that their bones have not properly formed, and they are often raced on surfaces that are too hard for their bones—like the hard track at Churchill Downs. Eight Belles' jockey whipped her mercilessly as she came down the final stretch. This is no great surprise, since trainers, owners, and jockeys are all driven by the desire to make money, leaving the horses to suffer terribly.

Though I don't disagree with any of that, that is not an animal-rights argument. And the litmus test is: What are they proposing? What do they want to see?

"PETA is calling on the racing industry to suspend the jockey and trainer, to bar the owner from racing at the track, and, at the very least, to stop using young horses who are so susceptible to these types of horrific injuries. We're also demanding that the industry stop racing horses on hard tracks and switch to softer, synthetic surfaces, which would spare horses' bones and joints, in addition to calling for a permanent ban on the use of whips. Help PETA call for an end to cruelty masquerading as sport by using the form below to take action today.

Although Eight Belles' death, like Barbaro's before hers, made headlines, countless lesser-known horses suffer similar fates—their broken legs and battered bodies are simply hidden from public view. Most racehorses end up broken down or cast off or are sent to Europe for slaughter.

Please use the form below to join PETA in demanding that the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority institute sweeping reforms that would stop needless, preventable suffering and cruelty in the racing industry."

Please use this form to . . . institute sweeping reforms that would stop needless, preventable suffering and cruelty in the racing industry. This is a classic welfarist strategy: use the horses differently so only the suffering and cruelty that are necessary remain--like breeding, training, drugging and racing them against their will. Oh, and their ultimate slaughter.

I'm feeling like Jean-Dominique Bauby, yelling "No, no, that's not what I want! That's not animal rights! The Humane Society of the United States would probably ask for the same thing, and they don't even pretend to care about animal rights! I want to see an end to the breeding of horses for use by humans. Period. That's the only way to prevent all suffering and cruelty at our hands."

If I want to maintain my integrity, I must propose what I want. Even if no one can hear me.