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Loading...6 Thoroughbreds Killed After Motorist’s Cigarette Sets Trailer on Fire
A cigarette tossed by a North Carolina motorist landed in a trailer carrying six racehorses on Friday night. A bundle of hay was ignited and the young horses trapped as fire quickly engulfed the trailer. The driver of the Loraine Course Transport tractor-trailer stopped on seeing smoke and another driver suffered burns while trying to pull out the horses, all of whom were killed.
As the New York Daily News reports, one of the racehorses belonged to former New York Racing Association President Barry Schwartz. Raised in a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, Schwartz helped fashion designer Calvin Klein build his multi-million dollar empire.
The two-year-old horses were to begin training for their first starts and had begun their journey in Florida. They were en route to Belmont Park in Long Island, NY, to begin training. They were traveling on Interstate-95 in Rocky Mount just before 10 p.m. Friday, as North Carolina Highway Patrol officials told WRAL-TV.
A Daily Mail article reports that, so far, the officers have no leads about who may have tossed the cigarette.
With the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby just around the corner on May 7th, the death of the young thoroughbreds starts the 2011 racing season on a terrible and tragic note.
Read more: animal welfare, belmont, cigarette, fire, horses, thoroughbreds
Photo of a horse at Belmont Park by nakashi.
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332 comments
+ add your ownAnnmari L., thank you for being thoughtful and considerate as a smoker. The problem is that the majority of smokers are not. I see drivers throwing butts out their windows every day on my commute. I still see idiot smokers throwing burning cigarettes down in horse barns with hay and saw dust everywhere. I've worked in places where smokers (mostly men) get furious when they hear news about laws preventing smoking in vehicles carrying children are brought up. It is one thing if someone chooses to engage in an activity that endangers his/her own health. I guess those of us who are non-smokers get furious when someone continues to smoke while endangering the health of others. My father nearly burned down the family home THREE times because of dropping a cigarette after falling asleep. Then there was the 2nd hand smoke issue that causes serious health issues for non-smokers like asthma, constant sinus infections and cancer. I need to include other species along with the human victims because most forget about our pets. I agree with many commenters here that banning things won't solve the problem. It's like trying to keep drunk drivers off of the road. We've got laws but people keep dying due to repeat offenders. I hope some other driver got the car plate number of the jerk that threw the butt.
I hope this careless jerk was found and punished. Poor horses died a horrible death.
I wish the could find this person and put him in prison. Why are people so stupid. This is the same cause for so many brush and forest fires that are ignited by some careless idiot.
If the smoker wants to commit suicide that's his business but why endanger and kill animals with his stupidity
Such a tragedy for these magnificent horses. Discarding cigarette butts out of the car window is dangerous & downright LAZY. In Australia the EPA (Environment Protection Authority) has online reporting where you can give details of littering, licence plate & car description etc., and the offender is fined. I have reported many a cigarette tossing moron, but I'm happy to say that I have not had to put in a report for some time...so the message must be getting through :) Something for the US to consider perhaps?
I feel sorry for these animals in dying such gruesome deaths, but the horse racing industry is a cruel and exploitive industry and should be reconciled to the history books.
Very sad indeed, an unpardonable careless act!
I agree with William Y. I'm also an ex-smoker, and can't stand being around cigarette smokers or the smoke anymore, but "banning" anything never works. Remember PROHIBITION, folks? That worked great, didn't it? The only logical way to approach these things when they affect other people is to pass laws to prevent those people from doing their self-destructive things where they CAN affect others. I'm all for the prohibition of allowing smoking in any public place, and it absolutely cracks me up when I see some BIMBO driving down the road with her hand hanging out the driver's window with a cigarette in it, and kids in the car. Where in the HELL does she think the smoke she exhales is going? Drinking alcohol, all those things are destructive, but we can't BAN people from doing whatever they want to do that affects just themselves. By all means, pass stricter D.U.I. laws, and enforce them, but don't tell ME I can't have a drink in my own house.
I wish there was a way to catch the idiots who discard their cigarette butts as well, but unless somebody photographs them doing it, all we can do is publicize stuff like this story and hope they get the message. Jerks!
@ Niki B, yes and while were at it ban other things that cause unnecessary deaths, alcohol, fast-food, automobiles, guns, knifes,
electrical outlets, 3d rails on subways & els, cliffs, lakes, rivers oceans, wild animals, the weather. The point yes some smokers are inconsiderate ass-holes, whereas the rest of us smokers, try to avoid contaminating others.
It is about time smoking was banned don't you think. I am also a reformed smoker, and now can not believe I was so stupid. Mind you it was cool to smoke when I was young, but it certainly isn't cool any more is it. I expect smokers feel like lepers, except their health problems are of their own making. It is a shame the non smokers have to foot the bill too.
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