Why shooting Wigmore Hall was the kindest thing to do

On Saturday, the Daily Mirror published a front-page photograph of the racehorse Wigmore Hall with a gun to his head, about to be put down, having broken its leg. Unsurprisingly, the paper’s decision was met with dismay and anger from the racing community. But perhaps more surprising is that the RSPCA appears to be on racing’s side.

In February last year, Melissa Kite wrote in this magazine that she feared that the RSPCA might have set their sights on horse racing. But it seems promising – and strangely sensible – of the RSPCA to have spoken out against both the Mirror and the pressure group Animal Aid, which supplied the photographs. David Muir, the RSPCA’s equine consultant, said in a statement: ‘I can’t see that the vet has done anything wrong, or the racecourse either.’

Of course, neither had. Few people are under the illusion that horses are never put down; the screens that are erected around the horse (or jockey) are to allow medics to concentrate on treating their patient, and to keep the horse calm.