The company that owns the famous American beer Budweiser has announced that it will stop inflicting on their Clydesdale horses the practice of “docking” which is when the tail’s hair is cut short and which can result in parts of the tailbone being shaved off. Animal rights groups such as PETA have long been campaigning for this to stop. However, the company will continue exploiting the horses and forcing them to pull wagons.
In a statement, Anheuser-Busch which owns Budweiser, said “The practice of equine tail docking was discontinued earlier this year.”
A PETA video exposé had shown how Budweiser used to painfully amputate the horses’ tailbones, either with a scalpel or with a tight band that stopped the blood supply to the tail, causing it to die and fall off. Their footage also showed agitated Budweiser Clydesdales uselessly flicking the remnants of their amputated tails incessantly as they tried in vain to brush away biting, disease-spreading insects under the hot sun. Both the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Equine Practitioners condemn cosmetic tailbone amputation. The practice is prohibited in 10 states and several countries, and equine veterinarians have gone on record calling it “despicable,” “disgraceful,” and “abusive.”
PETA said in an email to its supporters, “PETA investigated and found that Budweiser was cruelly amputating the tails of its Clydesdales, but after months of pressure and action by tens of thousands of PETA supporters like you, Anheuser-Busch InBev announced that it has stopped cutting the tailbones off its Clydesdales! Now that’s something worth celebrating! The Budweiser Clydesdales will no longer have their tailbones amputated, which means they’ll be able to protect themselves against biting and disease-spreading insects and maintain their ability to communicate fully with herdmates and others.”
