Hi this is Chris here...got a message yesterday from a friend in the scootering scene saying that the feral cat that lives in his shed (who has 2 youngsters with it) had just given birth to 2 more wee kittens but had run outside & was refusing to go near them. The mate (Paul) was in a panic in case they died of cold, hunger or even worse-the mother cat killing them as she is still looking after the first litter of 2, so he left a wee message on our scooter club website asking for my help....well, I eventually managed to get his phone number & found out the full story, so I then contacted SARAH (animal cruelty) from A.R.N.I who has connections with a cat sanctuary over here & she made phone calls & tried to get the wee ones sorted.
Got a message last night/ early hours of this morning, that Sarah had come up trumps & had managed to find the wee ones a foster mother to rear them....just a wee distance away from my mate Paul's house so now they are at least guaranteed a chance of life whereas they were most certainly doomed if they had of remained in Paul's shed, so a big THANKYOU to my wee sis Sarah & all her "cat friends" that helped out..now isn't that a nice wee story for a crappy, rainy, miserable Tuesday morning?
WELL DONE SARAH .....XXX

Well the anti-greyhound racing demo has been & gone with a couple of slight hiccups, but we made our point to those going into the stadium (& to the people living opposite lol)
As I say, a couple of things beyond our control caused our small but dedicated contingent to be later than intended but we made it there eventually & stood outside the main gates with our anti-racing posters & flyers that we gave out to those in cars that actually stopped for us!
We had wanted to go through the gates to protest but were advised by the police that we were staying within the law by standing outside with our literature & not obstructing or hindering anyone entering the grounds of the race track, so that is what we done.
A big THANKYOU to those that attended our very first demo & for bearing with us despite the time of our arrival!
Lisa, Julie & Chris.

Each year in the U.K & Ireland about 5,000 horses qualify to become racing horses. That sounds a lot but in reality another 10,000 don't make the standards set out for them & so they are either killed by unscrupulous breeders or sold off to the highest bidder with many becoming "meat" in France & other European countries or even shipped as far away as Asia where they too become food for people or turned into dog food & eventually shipped back across the ocean to where they once came from, only this time in tins for your pets!
The majority of horses that do make it onto the race track do so as 2 year olds but a horse doesn't reach full maturity until around the 5 year old mark & so these young horses are pushed way beyond their physical limits due to the greed of their owners who simply don't care about their welfare as long as the money is coming in!
There are 2 sorts of racing, flat racing & of course racing where the horses have to jump over fences, or hurdles as they are also known. Flat racing is where the horses are pushed to their physical limits running for all they're worth while a jockey sits on their backs using a whip to beat them into running faster. Some horses actually die from blood loss as their lungs start to bleed with the pressure of running & infact 55% of flat race horses suffer from this condition going up to a massive 82% in horses over 4 years old.
"Jump" horses are horses that not only are made to run continuously but have the added stress of being made to jump over fences actually bigger than themselves sometimes, the Grand National being a prime example of this.
In nature, these horses certainly would not attempt to jump anything never mind something as big as a Grand National fence with water on the other side so what is the reason for them doing so? Fear & pain, that is the reason...just think, would you attempt it out of "fun"...no I didn't think so!
Many horses have a racing lifespan of up to 11 years (if they manage to race up to 12+ races each year without falling prey to injury) & after their 13th-14th birthday they are deemed too old to be of any use to their owners unless they were extremely successful & are put out to stud. The ones that don't make stud horses are "retired".....yes they spend the rest of their days frollicking in sun-kissed meadows in a life of luxury that they have so richly deserved by making thousands of pounds or euros for their grateful owners who acknowledge all that the horses have done for them.......NO THEY DON'T....they are retired to the nearest abbattoir where their fate is the same as the ones that didn't make the grade all of those years ago & people wonder why The Horse Racing Industry is despised by people in the Animal Rights Movement!
So, just think the next time you are heading to the "bookies" for a " wee flutter on the gee-gees" just what YOU are financing with your £2 each way etc....YOU are directly sponsoring MISERY, INJURY & DEATH....can you really live with THAT on your conscience because I for one certainly couldn't!
On a finishing note, once the stud horses are of no use any more, what do you think happens to them? Yep, you got it in one.......retired to the abbattoir.....how's that for gratitude?