Animal welfare group wants chuckwagon races stopped after three horse deaths
July 13, 2012 - 12:06 PM
CALGARY - An animal welfare group wants the chuckwagon races at the Calgary Stampede suspended after a crash that killed three horses and injured another.
Peter Fricker with the Vancover Humane Society says there should be a full safety review to find out why the accident happened.
He says it's clear that changes the Stampede has made in an attempt to make the races safer haven't worked.
All horses are now inspected by veterinarians when the animals arrive at the Stampede and before and after every race.
The number of outriders that accompany each chuckwagon as it thunders around a dirt track was reduced to two from four to try to avoid congestion.
Thursday night, the lead horse for a team driven by Chad Harden suddenly went down, taking two others horses with it and sending Harden and an outrider flying through the air.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012