About the Cruelty of Horse
Slaughter
At-risk Horses
Most at-risk horses come
from auctions where "killers-buyers" gather to buy as many
horses as they can for as cheap as possible. The buyers then
haul them back to Mexico or Canada to be slaughtered
for human consumption abroad. Horses end up at
auctions for a variety of reasons, such as they were
thought to be too wild to tame, they were part of a wild
herd, or their owners sent them to auction to get rid of
them as quickly as possible for a little cash. Uninformed
horse owners often have no idea that many horses
sold in auctions go directly to slaughter. For these
reasons, all types of horses end up at auctions, not just old
and sick ones. According to a study conducted in 2001 by
Temple Grandin, 70% of all horses at the slaughter plant were
in good, fat, or obese condition, 72% were considered to be
“sound” of limb, 84% were of average age, and 96% had no
behavioral issues (Habitat for Horses website).
Stolen Horses
No one
really knows how many horses are stolen per year and sent to
slaughter houses. It is extremely hard to track and recover
stolen horses because slaughter houses usually kill horses
within 24 hours of arrival. Groups such as Stolen Horse
International are working to recover stolen horses before they
meet their death at slaughter plants.
Transportation to Slaughter
Houses
The
majority of horses are transported in trailers
that are not equipped for safe travel, and the horses frequently suffer
broken bones, wounds, bruises, and even
death because of this. They are often transported in low
double-decked cattle trailers, and, due to the low ceiling,
head injuries often occur. The mares and foals are
often not separated from the stallions, which makes for
lots of fighting in a crowded space. The horses are left in
the trailer for over 24 hours without food, water, or rest.
Legally, the killer-buyer doesn't have to give the horses
food, water, or rest within a day's time.
At
the Slaughter Houses
Once they arrive at the
slaughter house, the horses are forced out of the trailer
by employees who beat them with fiberglass rods and electric
prods and force them into crowded holding pens. One
by one, the horses are shot repetedly in the head
with a captive bolt stunner--a device designed
to knock the horses out, not to kill them
completely. The captive bolt
gun was designed for shorter necked animals like cattle and
pigs. Because horses have a much longer neck and a greater
range of motion, it is more difficult to accurately shoot them
with the captive bolt. The horses are then hung
upsidedown by one leg and have their throats slit to release
the blood from their bodies. The horse's
heart must still be beating to be effectively
bled out.
The horses are still alive at this
point, and die slowly sometime during this process.
Lastly, the horse carcasses are butchered, processed,
packaged, and shipped overseas for human consumption.
Horse Meat
Horse meat is exported to other
countires, especially those in Europe and Asia, such as Japan,
where it is a delicacy. Horse meat is not eaten by humans
in the United States. Unlike
cattle, pigs, chickens, etc., horses in the United
States are ot bred and raised for the purpose of
slaughter for human consumption.
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