More than 5,000 South Australians have signed a petition calling for an end to jumps racing, a protest group says.The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses presented the petition to Greens MP Mark Parnell at parliament house in Adelaide on Tuesday.It comes after Victoria last week said jumps racing would end in that state by 2011.At the same time South Australian racing authorities said they would allow it to continue.The decision left SA as the only state to persist in running hurdle and s
More than 5,000 South Australians have signed a petition calling for an end to jumps racing, a protest group says.
The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses presented the petition to Greens MP Mark Parnell at parliament house in Adelaide on Tuesday.
It comes after Victoria last week said jumps racing would end in that state by 2011.
At the same time South Australian racing authorities said they would allow it to continue.
The decision left SA as the only state to persist in running hurdle and steeplechase events.
Coalition spokesman Colin Thomas said the petition should send a clear message to the South Australian government and Racing Minister Michael Wright.
He said the minister should be ashamed and embarrassed that his government provided financial support to an industry that sent horses to their deaths in the name of entertainment.
"Horses that will suffer intolerable pain and suffering due to broken shoulders, broken necks and fractured spines," he said.
The coalition said that while it welcomed Victoria's move, it would continue to campaign to have jumps racing banned across the country and expected the industry to become unviable once SA was forced to go it alone.
It said so far this year 13 horses had died after falling in jumps events in SA and Victoria.