At 9:30, around 100 people, with more expected, began to take peaceful action outside Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool ahead of the Grand National later today.
The group has publicly claimed it plans to disrupt the race. This comes after a Mail on Sunday headline earlier this month.
The group says that disrupting the Grand National is the first of many actions this summer, including rescuing animals from factory farms, aiming to create a national conversation on our relationship with animals and nature.
Animal Rising claims that fixing this relationship, transitioning to a plant-based food system, and rewilding is critical to tackling the climate and ecological crises.
Claudia Penna Rojas, Animal Rising spokesperson and one of those outside Aintree said:
“We’re here today to stop harm coming to horses at The Grand National and to really create a conversation about our broken relationship with other animals and nature. Half of all horses in slaughterhouses have a racing passport, alongside the billion animals that die in our food system each year, and we need to find ways of loving these animals that doesn’t harm them.
This summer Animal Rising will be taking action to protect animals from harm by openly rescuing them from factory farms and putting ourselves between these beautiful creatures and harm.”
A horse dies every 2-to-3 days in racing in the UK, with over 2000 dying since the figure began to be tracked . Animal Rising claims that this is unacceptable, with the need to reconsider how we treat all animals being key to addressing our nature and climate emergencies.
According to a University of York study, over half of those under 40 would not consider attending horse races due to welfare issues. The same study stated that attendance declined by over 500,000 from 2015 to 2019 .
Animal Rising is a social movement to create a new relationship with all beings and give us a chance for a safe ecological future. The group was formerly known as ‘Animal Rebellion,’ relaunching on Monday under a new name and direction.
