Human Interest

@FranJurga writes: The British military obviously has a policy for evaluating sick or injured horses and a decision process for deciding which ones are rehabilitated and which are euthanized. This report in a British newspaper suggests that the number of horses in the latter category is deemed too high by "animal rights campaigners"--although only one group is quoted.

No comparison is made with the percentage of working horses euthanized in other public service jobs, such as police horses, or for sport, race or recreational horses. It would be interesting to know before jumping to a conclusion about these statistics.

British military horses perform ceremonial duties and entertain the public in demonstrations at events. They work very hard and most live in cramped city conditions with little turnout or vacation time, thanks to military traditions and busy performance schedules.

Perhaps the thing to protest is whether or not the military horses enjoy the same standard of health as other British horses. Hopefully, they do. If not, we should all protest on their behalf.