Image used under Flickr CCLi. Photo by Flickr user Rennett Stowe

I believe that there are pet people and then there are non-pet people. Pet people love animals in general and and a few in particular. Non-pet people have no feel for animals. It does not mean that they are cruel to them, but that they don’t quite have the same feel for them.

Over time, I have come to terms with the fact that I am a non-pet person. I have never had a pet and in general find the idea of petting someone’s cat or dog irritating and discomforting. Of course, at the same time I have extremely strong feelings against animal abuse of any kind. (Non-pet people are fully capable of having such feelings.)

NYTimes has a detailed two-part story about the business of horse racing around the United States. It is by far one of the most tragic things I have read all year. Not very many legitimate businesses and institutions qualify for the “animal abuse” label, but certainly it seems that horse racing may be one of them. The entire horse-racing industry seems to do nothing but pump horses full of illegal drugs to mask their pain and then kill them off once they have been injured beyond hope. The animal–and human, cost is enormous.

The NYTimes series consists of two main stories and numerous accompanying infographics, pictures and videos. Below is a sample photo and caption from the article:

The body of Teller All Gone was dumped in a junkyard next to an old toilet at Ruidoso, a short walk from where he had been sold at auction the previous year. Photo by Jakob Schiller of New York Times. (Caption text and photo © New York Times.)

Yes, indeed, the picture and caption may be upsetting to some. And that is the point;  no one should be ok with this kind of treatment of animals

These people at the NYTimes deserve some kind of an award for this series.

Read the entire series here.