Riesenbeck/Münster (dpa/lnw) – Show jumper Ludger Beerbaum does not have to fear any criminal consequences after being charged with animal cruelty. The public prosecutor’s office in Münster has discontinued the investigation against the four-time Olympic champion “due to the allegation of a criminal offense under the Animal Welfare Act due to a lack of sufficient suspicion,” according to a press release on Tuesday.
The animal protection organization Peta had reported against Beerbaum based on a contribution in the “RTL Extra” program. In the article, Beerbaum was accused of using the forbidden parallel bars training method on his show jumpers. Beerbaum had denied using the method.
The rider had already rejected the allegations after the RTL report had been broadcast and wrote: “The report from ‘RTL extra’ is demonstrably wrong, defamatory and defamatory in many respects.” Beerbaum had also “sent a comprehensive statement to the German Equestrian Federation”. He is confident that after examining these statements, the association will agree with his “opinion that the recordings are rule-compliant touching, which is a permissible training method”.
FN Secretary General Soenke Lauterbach, on the other hand, said “that parts of the documented processes clearly do not correspond to our description of the touching”. The light touching of the horse’s legs with objects is allowed as a touch when jumping, but the stronger parallel bars are not. Association proceedings are still ongoing.
