The Australian horse racing trainer Mark Sues has to go to court and will be suspended. For not having three of his horses treated by a veterinarian, although it was urgently necessary.
The horse racing trainer Mark Sues is already known to the media. Two years ago he allegedly doped horses and thus made the headlines. Now the next scandal. He has let three horses waste away and denied them veterinary help. The horses in question are “Remodel”, “Speech Therapy” and the foal “Excelebration”.
The horses were in a pitiful condition and were in urgent need of veterinary care. The foal was found to have a Body Condition Score (BSC) of 0.5. The BSC indicates the nutritional status of the horse. Remodel’s score was also 0.5 and Speech Therapy’s BSC was 1.5, although anything less than two is unacceptable. The foal’s condition was said to be so bad that it had already been condemned to die.
Wrong decision
Sues denied most of the allegations. He was nevertheless given a 12-month ban and a probationary period of one year. However, Sues did not want to accept this court verdict and appealed. However, this was the wrong decision, his appeal was rejected and his probation was extended to two years. The reason was that compliance with the rules was more important to him than animal welfare.
“(Mr Sues said) with the same set of circumstances in future, he would call in a vet in order to avoid a charge of contravening the rules,” Mr Billings said.
“He didn’t say that in the same set of circumstances he would call in a vet because he has insight into the need for the horses to be given qualified expert veterinary attention at the earliest point.”
Source: Goulburn Post
