End Horse Slaughter Canada

Horse Slaughter

With more than 93,000 horses slaughtered in 2009 alone, Canada’s horse slaughter industry is among the largest in the world, and a shameful betrayal against our loyal companions.

Horses are slaughtered in Canada primarily to provide horse meat to European and Asian countries where it is eaten as a delicacy. Horses are brought to slaughter in every possible condition—old, young, sick, healthy, injured, and even pregnant. They are not all unwanted—often, their guardians can no longer afford to keep them, and bring the horses to auction hoping to find them a good home. But horribly, more than 50 percent of horses sold at rural auctions go to slaughter after being bought by “kill buyers”.

A Terrible Journey

Many times, horses are crammed in trailers designed for shorter animals and travel in uncomfortable positions over very long distances. Loading and unloading is extremely stressful and dangerous for horses as they are moved along the relatively steep ramps. Canadian animal transport standards are among the worst in the industrialized world. Current regulations allow horses to be transported for up to 36 hours without food, water or rest.

Inhumane Slaughter—NOT Humane Euthanasia

There have been many reported cases of animal welfare violations in Canadian horse slaughterhouses including failure to provide food and water, illegal unloading of animals, animals left for extended periods in kill pens and sick or injured animals denied veterinary care. Not surprisingly, veterinary experts around the world and leading animal protection groups have denounced horse slaughter as inhumane.

Once the horses are corralled into the slaughterhouse, the end is predictable—violent and bloody. Sometimes injured and emaciated, horses are beaten and electro-shocked in overcrowded pens and must endure the smell of blood and the sights and sounds of other horses in pain and being killed before they, too, are led into a kill chute.

Horse slaughterhouses use the same type of stalls and techniques as cattle slaughterhouses. These stalls are too wide for horses and the captive-bolt stun gun method used with cattle is ill-suited for horses. Horses are an extreme example of a flight animal. The panic and instinctive desire to escape they experience in the slaughterhouse causes them to thrash their heads frantically in the kill chute, making it difficult to effectively stun them prior to slaughter. Witnesses (and video footage) document horses subjected to a sharp blow to the head from the captive-bolt gun three or four times before they are rendered unconscious for exsanguination. In a recent investigation of carcasses discarded by a Canadian slaughterhouse, skulls of many horses processed for meat were found without any holes from a stun gun or rifle whatsoever!

Times Are Changing—Time to ACT

The Canadian horsemeat industry had been in decline in recent years. However, with the closing of the remaining equine slaughter plants in the United States, the number of horses imported to Canada for slaughter has increased by a whopping 49 percent. As a result, several new equine slaughter plants have recently opened in Canada. We need to act now to stop this growing climate of cruelty to horses in Canada!

THIS HAS TO END!!!

My heart is full of pain
My eyes are full of tears
I cried myself to sleep last night
I knew their time was near
I kept on closing my eyes all night
All i saw was their Beautiful faces
Race infront of me
I saw the fear inside their eyes
They knew what was coming for them too
There was no way to escape
Metal gates much taller than their bodies
All the doors and gateways were always shut
They wondered why their beloved humans
Turned so cruel on them now
They wondered why they couldnt run free anymore
They wondered why they were taken away from their Families
Why they couldnt see the blue sky anymore
Why they couldnt taste the sweet grass again
Why there was no more fresh water to drink
Why they couldnt feel the suns warm ray on their bodies

As each stood in the killing shoot today
Their eyes saw the light for the last time
Their Heart took its last beat

They took their last Breath
Still wondering why.......