ROLLING STONES - SERB ANIMAL LOVERS ATTEMPT TO MOVE STONES SHOW AWAY FROM HORSES

Animal lovers in Serbia are hoping to force the promoters of an upcoming ROLLING STONES show in Belgrade to find another venue after learning horses at a nearby stables will have to be sedated for the concert. Horse owners who stable their animals at Belgrade Racecourse fear the Stones show at the Hippodrome will distress the creatures and have agreed the horses, housed just yards from the stage, should be sedated. But officials at Serbian animal rights group, ORCA, insist the concert, planned for 14 July (07), should not go ahead. And if the animal lovers' plea to move the gig fails, ORCA chiefs plan to approach the Stones themselves and ask them to insist the concert is relocated. A spokesman for ORCA says, "I believe we'll succeed since such a reputable band will not allow such a stain on its record." The July concert, which is expected to attract 100,000 Serbs, will be the group's first in the country after a 2003 concert was cancelled following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. A scheduled date there last year (06) was also cancelled when guitarist Keith Richards suffered a head injury after falling from a tree while on vacation.