4 days ago
Animal rights group calls to cancel Sark sheep race
An animal rights group has called for an end to Sark's annual sheep races, which have been running for almost 30 a letter to the Sark Carnival Committee, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group (Peta) wrote "using animals as exhibits has no place in modern entertainment".It urged members to "hold a carnival involving only willing human participants" instead of animals at the Sark Sheep Racing organising committee and the tourism committee have met to discuss the matter and have been approached for comment.
The race takes place annually in July and sees sheep race with teddy jockeys tied to their often sees almost 2,000 people travel to the island to proceeds from the event go to the Professor Charles Saint Sark Medical Trust, which helped subsidise medical care in the the past upwards of £30,000 has been raised.
'Willing human participants'
Jennifer White, associate director of media and communications at Peta UK, said "just because something is called a 'tradition' certainly does not make it right" and that visitors could still enjoy the other aspects of the festival."We know that sheep are incredibly sensitive, often timid animals and being forced to race in front of noisy crowds would likely be very stressful for them," she White said: "It's 2025, we do not need to be treating animals like wind-up toys."The best things is for the event to be cancelled, for the sheep to be taken out and for it to be replaced with willing human participants instead."Paul Armorgie, former owner of Stocks Hotel, has attended the races over the years and said it would be a "tragedy" if the event was ever to added that as an animal lover, if he thought there was risk, he would be the "first to shout about it".
