Anti-Slaughter

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Sadly, horses have been slaughtered for human consumption overseas, for many years in the U.S.A., and in Canada and Mexico. Last year 135,000 American horses were slaughtered, and the meat was shipped to France, Belgium, and Japan. The meat is also consumed in French Canadian restaurants. Considered a delicacy, the meat fetches high prices and is in demand. The three-horse slaughterhouses that were in operation in America were Belgian owned. Facing tremendous opposition for years, two in Texas were finally closed in early 2007, and the remaining Cavel International, operating in DeKalb, Illinois, was closed a year later.

The closure of Cavel International is another step forward in seeing an end to the slaughter in the U.S.A. The problem is far from solved, though, as the horses face a long and grueling journey to Canada or, worse still, Mexico.

The slaughter of horses is the most inhumane practice imaginable. Horses are purchased at auction by “kill buyers”(KB). Horses are badly treated right from the moment they arrive at auction. Food and water are not always available to them in the holding pens. Weather may be extremely hot or extremely cold, and no shelter provided. Kill buyers buy the horses per pound for their meat. Sadly, many of these are healthy riding horses and have been someone’s pet. Some owners do not know the horses will end up at slaughter, and some do know but do not seem to care. Other horses arrive at auction sick, emaciated, injured, and worse.

No horse deserves the pain and torture of the transportation to the slaughterhouses and the act of slaughter itself. Horses are crammed into cattle trucks. Stallions, mares, some heavily pregnant, young horses, old horses, sick, lame, and even blind. A recipe for disaster, many horses, do not make the journey alive. They become weak from the journey fall and are trampled to death. They are on the road for as long as 24 hours with no food or water. Transportation laws are broken daily by this industry, as is the 1958 Humane Slaughter Law. These laws, consistently broken, are proof enough that this industry should be abolished. Horses are being transported to Mexico and Canada. Animals Angels have conducted investigative reports on the transportation of horses. They have observed the lack of interest in these horses at the border by both the USDA inspectors and the Canadian CFIA. Horses must be checked en route every few hours and are routinely not. Horses arrive at the slaughterhouse very weak; some are even dead or die soon after arrival. No food or water is offered to them at the slaughterhouse, no shelter from the weather, and the conditions at slaughter are unbelievably inhumane. It is cruelty at its worst. Read about the investigation at Richelieu Meat, Inc and the investigation into the transport of American horses to Canada for slaughter. WARNING THESE INVESTIGATIONS ARE TRULY DISTURBING.

This is an excellent account of the journey from auction to slaughter by PETA. WARNING. This video contains graphic footage of the suffering inflicted on horses at the slaughterhouse. Only your knowledge of what happens to these horses and your subsequent action contacting your legislators will change this. Please act now.

HSUS End Horse slaughter.

http://video.humanesociety.org/index.php?id=PLCCF0F14147B53DC3 

Animals Angel's investigative reports reveal the horrors of the auction and the transportation of horses to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada. WARNING! GRAPHIC!

http://www.animalsangels.org/issues/horse-slaughter/investigative-reports 

In 1998 Proposition 6 passed in California, banning the sale of horses for slaughter for human consumption. Sadly, funding was not put in place for the enforcement of these new laws, making it illegal for anyone to knowingly sell or purchase a horse for slaughter. Kill Buyers still attend auctions in California, purchasing horses for transportation out of state. Horses from California are passed on to other auctions out of state or driven directly to slaughter in Mexico or Canada. There is no enforcement of the law. Hopefully, when federal laws are passed, there will be funding and enforcement.

The Humane Society has put the abolition of horse slaughter among their top priorities. Lobbying hard along with The Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL), with Bo Derek as a spokesperson, both Congress and the Senate have been hit hard this year with the brutal facts about the horse slaughter industry, the grossly inhumane treatment of the horses, and the laws that are broken on a daily basis at auction, transportation, and the slaughterhouses. The legislation pending in Congress HR503 and the Senate S727 is worded exactly the same and will ban the transportation of American horses across the border for slaughter in Mexico and Canada. As part of their campaign, HSUS has an undercover video exposing the inhumanity of horse slaughter in Mexico, where 20% of American slaughter-bound horses end up. The method of slaughter used in Mexico, “pithing,” is illegal in the U.S.A. and in Europe, yet the American government permits our horses to be murdered in this manner across the border. There is a holding station in El Paso, Texas, where hundreds of horses await the Mexican slaughter trucks to pick them up and drive them to their death. Many are transported in double-deck trucks, which is illegal in the U.S.A.

The SAFE Act will ban the transportation of horses across the border to Canada and Mexico for slaughter for human consumption. Horse meat is not safe for humans to eat as it is carcinogenic due to the drugs given to horses during their lifetime.

For more information on the legislation and how you can help, visit:

Get The Facts on Horse Slaughter
American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act
Society for Animal Protective Legislation

Contact your local legislators and tell them you want to see an end to horse slaughter.

Watch Bo Derrek on Horse Slaughter. WARNING Other horse slaughter videos on YouTube may be graphic!

For more information on slaughter, horse tripping, rodeos, horse “bleeding” and other cruelties against horses visit the Int'l Fund for Horses and American Horse Meat websites.

Every week, across the USA, horses are rescued from going to slaughter in Mexico and Canada. They are rescued off feedlots, or at auction. Saving Horses, inc has saved many from this terrible fate, including Lucky Girl, Second Chance, Gracie, Keelhauled, El Nuki, Daddy, Macy, to mention only a few. By making a donation you will be enabling Saving Horses, Inc., to sustain the horses rescued and make it possible for us to conduct further rescues in the future.

For more information on slaughter and transportation records please visit http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/horsemeat/