Grand National Letter to the Editor of your local paper

Please send the letter about a week or ten days before the Grand National, and remember to include your name and address in full, along with a contact phone number at the end of your letter, or it may not be considered for publication.

(suggested text)

Dear Editor

The Grand National course still presents the kind of perversely hazardous challenge to which no horse should be subjected. Despite Aintree’s most recent highly publicised safety improvements, six horses were killed during the 2016 three-day Aintree meeting.

The Grand National race itself features a dangerously overcrowded field of 40 horses, who are forced to confront 30 jumps, many of which are extraordinarily demanding and treacherous, over a gruelling distance of nearly four-and-a-half miles. Fewer than half complete the course.

For anyone who does not want to finance a ‘sport’ in which animals routinely lose their lives, there is an alternative: Sanctuary Not Cruelty. Rather than having a ‘flutter’ on the notorious Aintree race, you can donate the money to a specialist horse sanctuary and make a real difference to horse welfare.

For more details of how to help, or to order a free information pack, visit Animal Aid’s website at www.stopkillinghorses.com.

Thank you.

(If you are having difficulty locating the email address for your local newspaper, please email info@animalaid.org.uk)