Animal Wellness Action (AWA) executive director Marty Irby said this week that key leaders within the Thoroughbred racing industry are the leading voices within the horse racing industry for animal welfare issues, including ending race-day doping to enhancing performance on the track to halting horse slaughter for human consumption.
Last week, during the annual August meet at Saratoga Racetrack leading up to Travers Day, Irby joined leaders in the U.S. horse racing industry from the Coalition for Horse Racing Integrity, The Jockey Club, National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., co-chair of the Congressional Horse Caucus, and others in Saratoga, New York, for The Jockey Club’s annual events and Roundtable.
“We applaud the Thoroughbred racing industry for their commitment to ending doping, slaughter, and other practices that persist, and appreciate their inclusion of AWA at the events in Saratoga last week,” said Marty Irby, executive director at Animal Wellness Action who was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, II last August for his work to protect horses.
AWA and its leadership team long-lobbied and advocated for passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) and continues to work with the industry on the issue of horse slaughter, the use of the whip, and other equine protection issues. Irby testified in 2020 in support of the HISA that was signed into law in December and banned race-day medication in the sport.
Animal Wellness Action (Action) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) organization with a mission of helping animals by promoting legal standards forbidding cruelty. We champion causes that alleviate the suffering of companion animals, farm animals, and wildlife. We advocate for policies to stop dogfighting and cockfighting and other forms of malicious cruelty and to confront factory farming and other systemic forms of animal exploitation. To prevent cruelty, we promote enacting good public policies and we work to enforce those policies. To enact good laws, we must elect good lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidates care about our issues and which ones don’t. We believe helping animals helps us all.
The Center for a Humane Economy (“the Center”) is a non-profit organization that focuses on influencing the conduct of corporations to forge a humane economic order. The first organization of its kind in the animal protection movement, the Center encourages businesses to honor their social responsibilities in a culture where consumers, investors, and other key stakeholders abhor cruelty and the degradation of the environment and embrace innovation as a means of eliminating both.
The Animal Wellness Foundation (Foundation) is a Los Angeles-based private charitable organization with a mission of helping animals by making veterinary care available to everyone with a pet, regardless of economic ability. We organize rescue efforts and medical services for dogs and cats in need and help homeless pets find a loving caregiver. We are advocates for getting veterinarians to the front lines of the animal welfare movement; promoting responsible pet ownership; and vaccinating animals against infectious diseases such as distemper. We also support policies that prevent animal cruelty and that alleviate suffering. We believe helping animals helps us all.
Contact: Marty Irby at 202-821-5686 or marty@animalwellnessaction.org