A group of a few dozen animal rights activists succeeded in preventing some human people from getting their COVID vaccines in the East Bay today.

About 30 protesters arrived at Golden Gate Fields Thursday around noon, the racetrack that sits beside I-80 at edge of Berkeley and Albany, some of them holding a large banner that read "Shut Down Golden Gate Fields." The protest comes after a fifth horse has died at the track since the beginning of the year — and following two years in which dozens of horses have died there.

As KPIX reports via Berkeley spokesperson Matthai Chakko, five protesters chained themselves to a fence outside the racetrack, and some protesters also moved into the parking area where a mass-vaccination site has been open for two weeks.

Four protesters, identified as being with the group Direct Action Everywhere, made their way onto the track itself, as the East Bay Times reports, chaining themselves together and lying down on the track. A press release from the group also shows purple smoke flares burning near them on the track.

Officers from both the Albany and Berkeley police departments as well as Berkeley Fire Department personnel reportedly arrived on the scene, and officers could be seen turning away cars that were arriving for vaccine appointments. Chakko told Berkeleyside that at least 100 vaccination appointments had to be canceled due to the disruption.

Officials said that they were working to get the vaccine site back open.

"Initially, we had to shut the site down for safety," Berkeley Fire Department spokesman Assistant Chief of Special Operations Keith May told the East Bay Times. "Since it wasn’t the protesters’ mission to shut down the vaccine site, we’re in the process of trying to get it open. It’s because of those four individual protesters that we had to close it. You don’t know the intent of the protesters until they’re out there."

38 racehorses died at Golden Gate fields in 2019, and over 22 horses died there in 2020. The Berkeley City Council penned a letter in November asking the state's Horse Racing Board chairman Gregory Ferraro to launch an investigation into the Stronach Group, which owns Golden Gate Fields as well as Santa Anita Park in Arcadia.

"What is causing the deaths of these horses? What measures can be done to prevent such deaths from occurring? The City of Berkeley has long supported the wellbeing of animals, so hearing of these reports of multiple deaths is alarming," the council wrote.

Direct Action Everywhere, aware that this vaccine situation might be slightly bad PR for them, posted a video at 2:30 p.m. apparently showing cars being let back into the vaccine site. They say they "fully support" the vaccine site being reopened.

The group posted a press release coinciding with the protest, which focused on the fact that their demonstration caused racing at the track today to be delayed or canceled.

"These beautiful animals live lives of exploitation and abuse for the sake of profit, then they’re killed for the same reason," said Chau. "The public is increasingly aware of the reality of this barbaric industry, and is demanding that we leave it in the past."

Direct Action Everywhere was sued in 2018 by the California arm of Whole Foods following several years in which its members occupied and protested at Whole Foods stores over the company's sale of meat and eggs that it says come from inhumane farms.

25-year-old horse enthusiast and budding entrepreneur with a social justice bent Brianna Noble knew exactly what she was doing when she drove her horse trailer to downtown Oakland last week. She slung a Black Lives Matter sign, painted on cardboard, behind her saddle, and she rode into the protest looking regal, mighty, and she knows pretty unique.

"Horses bring attention," she said on Friday when she was one of the first protesters reporters and photographers gravitated toward. And in a subsequent interview with the Chronicle this week she says, "It’s not too often you see a black woman on a horse in Oakland. "I’m huge on a horse. I decided I’m going to give them something to look at."

Noble's image, complete with a cowboy-style bandanna for a face mask, has bounced across the globe as the international press — and Twitter — have covered the unrest across America. And with good reason — she upends iconic Hollywood stereotypes of usually white Americans riding into a conflict on horseback.

While black cowboys are nothing new — the Oakland Black Cowboy Association is 46 years old this year, and in Houston, a similar organization has made for viral video fodder at protests in recent days — a young black woman on a horse is a rarer sight, even for Americans.

Noble tells the Chronicle that she grew up among privileged white kids at an equestrian center in Pinole, even though she was not privileged herself. She followed her older sister into the horse world, and acknowledges, "It’s a very white world. It can be a hostile, racist place to be." Brianna is no stranger to other equestrians looking at her strangely and questioning how she got into horse riding.

But these days, she's using her unique knowledge for good, and two years ago she founded Mulatto Meadows, which trains and sells horses, and also seeks to provide horseback riding lessons to people of color and low-income kids.

"Horses change lives and inspire futures," says the organization website. "Our vision is to change the face of equine culture and inspire positive futures through horses."

Interestingly, as the Chronicle reveals, Noble's older sister, whom she followed into horse riding, is an officer in the SFPD. And Brianna says she didn't see her and her sister as being on opposite sides of the current unrest.

"To me it’s furthering the movement to have a black woman who wants to see change happen and things done correctly in the system,” Noble tells the paper. “I think that might be a big reason she’s a police officer."

Giddyup! Horses got loose from a stable in Golden Gate Park this morning. https://t.co/bq7ykbEngs pic.twitter.com/KskVbswgNJ

— Lisa Fernandez (@ljfernandez) June 7, 2017

More than two dozen horses got loose from a stable in Golden Gate Park early Wednesday morning, and park rangers and SFPD officers had to scramble like actual cowboys to wrangle and corral them all. As KTVU reports, "How they got loose was not immediately clear. But when KTVU arrived on scene about 7 a.m., rangers and wranglers had already found all of the missing animals and were walking them back home. At least some of the horses had found their way into a nearby dog park."

ABC 7 got some video which you can see above, and below you can see another video of some horses trotting around in the fenced-in dog park.

It's unclear what led to this morning's jailbreak, or who all the horses belong to. We know that as of the last couple months, the Recreation and Parks Department was offering trail rides from the Bercut Equestrian Field, and presumably some extra horses were brought in for that. And the department has not yet tweeted about this incident. Stay tuned.

Related: California Has A Serious Wild Horse Problem

There are thousands of wild horses roaming California, and, unlike in all your Disney-inspired fantasies, this is a problem. The New York Times reports that the wild horse and burro population has grown so large across the American West that the Bureau of Land Management's National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board voted to recommend the BLM euthanize the current population in holding facilities. According to the BLM, as of August 2016 there are 46,000 horses/burros being held in captivity, with even more roaming free on federal lands. Fortunately for the horses, that recommendation will be ignored — however, that doesn't change the fact that California currently has 3.8 times the sustainable number of equines roaming our great state.

BLM officials were forced to publicly reject the recommendation after the Humane Society got wind of it and totally freaked — calling it "a prescription for mass slaughter on an almost unimaginable scale" that "would perhaps make the United States the biggest horse killing enterprise in the world."

The Humane Society blames the out-of-control population on the BLM itself, alleging the agency has squandered limited resources in rounding up and holding the animals instead of launching a wide-scale birth-control effort. "The agency would not be in this situation but for their long-term mis-management," Humane Society of the United States Senior Vice President of Programs & Innovations Holly Hazard said in a statement. "Alternatives to this proposal have been ignored for over 20 years. The HSUS stands ready to implement these alternatives at any time.”

California isn't the only state with a surfeit of the wild animals, of course, however a recent BLM report makes it clear that we are the worst off. The maximum sustainable number is believed to be 2,200, to reduce other environmental impacts. We have 4,925 wild horses and 3,391 wild burros.

And, with mass-slaughter off the table, BLM officials will have to determine another route to handle the horses. "What we need is a deus ex machina," BLM spokesman Tom Gorey told the Times, making it clear that his agency's plan is to wait for someone else to magically solve the issue for them.

Related: Adorable Newborn Foal Found Abandoned And Injured In Fremont

An injured and alone 6-day-old horse was found Sunday in Fremont's Morrison Canyon, and Fremont Police have launched an investigation to determine how he ended up there. The horse, which Animal Control officers named "Valentine," has a broken pelvis and requires costly surgery if he is to live (see update below).

According to a post on the Fremont Police Facebook page, the colt is believed to have been in the ravine for two days before he was discovered. He is presently being bottle fed by Animal Control staff, note the police.

"The baby colt has a broken pelvis which is very close to an artery," reads the post. "We are hoping to have him seen at UC Davis on Tuesday or Wednesday at which point we'll have a better idea of our next steps. The surgery is expected to be in the range of about $10,000."

A gofundme has been set up with the goal of funding the horse's surgery.

As to how the baby horse ended up in the ravine, Fremont Police think this is likely a case of accidental separation.

Update: After a CT scan, it was determined that Valentine is not as badly injured as initially feared, and does not need surgery — rather a "long recovery."

Related: Possibly Drunk Horses Attempt To Take The Freeway

The above photo came to us via email, with the simple caption "Found at Green & Scott. Presented without comment." The sender's name was not included.

The Muppet Godfather? The remnants of some Pac Heights Eyes Wide Shut evening (on a Monday?!?)? Seabiscuit? Readers, you decide. We're out of ideas.

There's something about police horses, that just, well, it gets to us. Maybe it's their plodding dedication and kind eyes. Perhaps it's for the humanizing effect they give the law enforcement officers in the saddle. Or maybe it's their righteously pornographic names.

On Monday morning, police horses Hammer, Rebel and Magnum will be honored in an SFPD retirement ceremony outside Lefty O'Doul's, which we're assuming is a favorite watering hole for off-duty horses (?). Hammer, who served for 1 years, and Rebel, who served for two and a half years, will be put out to pasture at a Davis farm. There they'll enjoy rural life and a generous hay pension after braving hard pavement, ceremonial flag bearing and whatever else these hard-working animals put up with.

Magnum passed away earlier this month after 5 years of service. He will forever be remembered for his gigantic heart and rock-hard dedication to keeping the city safe.

The ceremony will also welcome Quin and Strider, two horses new to the Mounted Unit, which also includes Fritz, Rusty, Braveheart, Gunny, Deuce and Dually.

To show our support for the SFPD horsey division, we'd like to respectfully open up a forum for the naming of future equine members of the force, starting with the obvious choice: Harry Nethers.

Previously: Video: Prancercise, Failed '80s Fitness Craze, Rediscovered

Two loose horses were found on an Interstate 680 freeway onramp outside of Martinez, California after last call Sunday night.

The horses were rounded up around 2 a.m. on the Pachecho off-ramp of Northbound I-680. They were apparently "just hanging out," but authorities shut down the off-ramp while CHP, animal control and the sheriff's department could help get them out of the way.

No word yet on what, if anything, these horses could have been drinking (or how they got free even), but Martinez is the ancestral home of the Martini, which have been known to cause questionable behavior. Anyway, it's not nearly as weird as a sea lion on the freeway.

[ABC7]

The San Francsico Police Department announced yesterday that the SFPD Mounted Unit will hold a retirement ceremony for two of its horses on Saturday, May 28. Hawk, a 25-year-old American Quarter Horse who started with SFPD in 1998, and Hunter, an 18-year-old American Quarter Horse who came to SFPD in 2004, will spend their golden years at SF SPCA's 40-acre Police Horse Retirement Ranch in Sonoma County amidst lush pastures and refreshing cooling ponds.

The retirement ceremony begins at 9 a.m. on the 28th and will be held at the SFPD Horse Stables on James Bloesch Road (located near 36th Avenue and JFK Road) in Golden Gate Park.

Thanks for all your hard work, Hawk and Hunter, and enjoy those greener pastures.

Deborah Butterfield's horse sculptures will be on display at 425 Market until September 14. Check them out if you're in the neighborhood.

Also, there will be a show of her work through Saturday, August 29, at Gallery Paule Anglim.

For more shots of Butterfield's equine renderings, check out Steve Rhodes' image gallery of her work.

On one hand, we hate the idea or horses being used as engines to carry tourists around city streets; on the other hand, these bitches are batshit. See, it seems Peta (AKA: the National Organization of Helping Pamela Anderson's Breasts Put a Stop to KFC's Savoriness) sent an "urgent letter" to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supes, asking them them to ban horse-drawn carriages throughout San Francisco. This comes on the heels of a spooked carriage horse running amok this past weekend, injuring several passersby. According to PETA director Debbie Leahy, "Forcing horses to pull heavy loads through busy city streets is cruel, and it's an accident waiting to happen ... This incident should be a wake-up call for the city, and we urge officials to ban these rides before the next accident occurs." UPDATE: SFist asked Newsom's office what they thought of PETA's request. Newsom spokesperson Nathan Ballard (brilliantly) told us, "Next they’ll be asking us to ban cobblestones, monocles, hoop skirts, top hats and gas lamps!" (Well said, Nathan.)

We’re all for citizenship and all—we would even consider ourselves to be citizenship geeks. We love voting (of course) and jury duty (jury opportunity, we like to call it). We love the Post Office and even the DMV (especially those the traces of the Eisenhower era that remain here and there in those temples of citizenship… call it a fetish).

But in perusing our Voter Information Pamphlet today, we realized that the system is broken. We had to spend nearly three minutes thinking about whether or not there should help pay for stables in Golden Gate Park, and people, that is just plain wrong.

So just to clarify:
1. Yes, we only looked at the ballot today. Citizenship may be our hobby, but procrastination is a way of life.
2. What’s wrong again? The fact that we had to spend almost two hundred precious seconds of our short lives thinking about this ballot measure.

What to do? After the jump.