A WHIRLWIND of political and legislative events has spun out of control since the inception of this horse slaughter project, including closures of the last remaining slaughterhouses in the United States and the ramifications of that. The horse slaughter industry’s response to these closures is to export our horses to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. Suddenly, upon the end of horse slaughter in the states, the media has spread stories across the land about famine and high costs of feed causing horse owners to abandon, neglect or euthanize their horses in great numbers. What's really going on? Are we truly in a “horse crisis,” or are these stories intended to undermine the anti-slaughter movement's progress? Or both? This warrants further study.
In the meantime, we recommend the following sites that provide the most current information on horse slaughter in North America:
Humane Society of the United States ~
Animal Welfare Institute ~
Our horse slaughter articles:
Other articles of interest:
3/1/08
Canada
Compiled September 2006, last updated 1/10/07
The Farm and the Abattoir
On the vast prairies and provinces of Canada, ranching is the lifeblood of many families. Often, family farms are handed down through the generations, and these farmers take pride in breeding quality livestock, including the horse. (This is most evident in the PMU industry. See our PMU section.)
At the same time, there are three federally licensed abattoirs in Canada, certified for horse slaughter for human consumption. Canada exports about 12,000 tonnes of horsemeat each year, mostly to markets in Europe and Japan. Between 1,000 and 1,200 tonnes of horsemeat are sold through specialty butcher shops in Canada each year.[1]
Agriculture Canada’s statistics show that Canada slaughters an average of 62,000 horses a year, and about 25,000 come from the United States.
Public Opinion
Culturally speaking, you might think Canada is more accepting of horse slaughter for human consumption, given the vast horse industry and involvement in slaughter. In Quebec, with its French influence, you will find cheval at local boucheries and bistros. Yet, according to a poll conducted in 2004 by Ipsos-Reid of Vancouver, British Columbia, two-thirds of Canadians are against slaughtering horses for human consumption. In Alberta, 62% were opposed. And in Quebec, a slight majority of Quebec residents say they “believe” in the slaughter of Canadian horses for human consumption (53% believe vs. 47% do not).
Horse Protection
The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC) launched www.defendhorsescanada.org in 2004. Together with such members as the International Fund for Horses (Texas), the CHDC seeks to get a law passed in Canada similar to The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, to ban horse slaughter and shut down horse exports for slaughter. Sinikka Crosland, CHDC executive director, says the U.S. ban will help the Canadian effort by raising the issue and creating public awareness.
Bouvry Exports Calgary Ltd.
Whether such a ban will have an impact on Bouvry Exports in Calgary — Canada’s largest horse meat supplier — remains to be seen, says owner Claude Bouvry, who has an office in Calgary and owns slaughter plants in Fort Macleod and Quebec, as well as a feedlot in Shelby, Montana.[2]
According to Bouvry, only 20% of horses his plants slaughter come from the United States. And he supplies just half of 1% of all horsemeat consumed worldwide. “I provide 2 million servings a week, compared to 400 million servings in the world.”[2]
Worth More Alive Than Dead
Crosland of CHDC points out that horses are worth more alive than dead, because they contribute millions ofdollars to Canada’s economy through sports, recreational riding, and related industries: tack, pharmaceuticals, veterinarians, outfitters, and hay farmers.[2]
Her view echoes that of horse advocates throughout North America:
"It is the view of The Canadian Horse Defense Coalition that there is no such thing as the "humane" slaughter of an intelligent, sentient mammal such as the horse. This is simply a fallacy perpetuated by an industry that exists for one reason: profit. Numerous credible sources have described the intense psychological trauma experienced by horses approaching the killing box and, further, have revealed the indisputable physical suffering associated with improper stunning and shooting practices. Dying in terror, not with dignity, is the fate of tens of thousands of Canadian horses every year. In addition, the poor handling and management of horses during loading and transport, as well as at auction marts and feedlots, is a serious animal welfare concern."[3]
PMU Industry (PMU = pregnant mares' urine)
.......
References
[1] Equine Canada
[2] Wendy Dudley, Alberta Express, Jan. 31, 2006, online at International Fund for Horses.
[3] Sinikka Corland, online at the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition.
The Farm and the Abattoir
On the vast prairies and provinces of Canada, ranching is the lifeblood of many families. Often, family farms are handed down through the generations, and these farmers take pride in breeding quality livestock, including the horse. (This is most evident in the PMU industry. See our PMU section.)
At the same time, there are three federally licensed abattoirs in Canada, certified for horse slaughter for human consumption. Canada exports about 12,000 tonnes of horsemeat each year, mostly to markets in Europe and Japan. Between 1,000 and 1,200 tonnes of horsemeat are sold through specialty butcher shops in Canada each year.[1]
Agriculture Canada’s statistics show that Canada slaughters an average of 62,000 horses a year, and about 25,000 come from the United States.
Public Opinion
Culturally speaking, you might think Canada is more accepting of horse slaughter for human consumption, given the vast horse industry and involvement in slaughter. In Quebec, with its French influence, you will find cheval at local boucheries and bistros. Yet, according to a poll conducted in 2004 by Ipsos-Reid of Vancouver, British Columbia, two-thirds of Canadians are against slaughtering horses for human consumption. In Alberta, 62% were opposed. And in Quebec, a slight majority of Quebec residents say they “believe” in the slaughter of Canadian horses for human consumption (53% believe vs. 47% do not).
Horse Protection
The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC) launched www.defendhorsescanada.org in 2004. Together with such members as the International Fund for Horses (Texas), the CHDC seeks to get a law passed in Canada similar to The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, to ban horse slaughter and shut down horse exports for slaughter. Sinikka Crosland, CHDC executive director, says the U.S. ban will help the Canadian effort by raising the issue and creating public awareness.
Bouvry Exports Calgary Ltd.
Whether such a ban will have an impact on Bouvry Exports in Calgary — Canada’s largest horse meat supplier — remains to be seen, says owner Claude Bouvry, who has an office in Calgary and owns slaughter plants in Fort Macleod and Quebec, as well as a feedlot in Shelby, Montana.[2]
According to Bouvry, only 20% of horses his plants slaughter come from the United States. And he supplies just half of 1% of all horsemeat consumed worldwide. “I provide 2 million servings a week, compared to 400 million servings in the world.”[2]
Worth More Alive Than Dead
Crosland of CHDC points out that horses are worth more alive than dead, because they contribute millions ofdollars to Canada’s economy through sports, recreational riding, and related industries: tack, pharmaceuticals, veterinarians, outfitters, and hay farmers.[2]
Her view echoes that of horse advocates throughout North America:
"It is the view of The Canadian Horse Defense Coalition that there is no such thing as the "humane" slaughter of an intelligent, sentient mammal such as the horse. This is simply a fallacy perpetuated by an industry that exists for one reason: profit. Numerous credible sources have described the intense psychological trauma experienced by horses approaching the killing box and, further, have revealed the indisputable physical suffering associated with improper stunning and shooting practices. Dying in terror, not with dignity, is the fate of tens of thousands of Canadian horses every year. In addition, the poor handling and management of horses during loading and transport, as well as at auction marts and feedlots, is a serious animal welfare concern."[3]
PMU Industry (PMU = pregnant mares' urine)
.......
References
[1] Equine Canada
[2] Wendy Dudley, Alberta Express, Jan. 31, 2006, online at International Fund for Horses.
[3] Sinikka Corland, online at the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition.
Europe
Compiled July 2006, last updated 1/25/07
Horse on the Menu
In northern Europe in pre-Christian times, horses were eaten as part of the Teutonic religious ceremonies associated with Odin. France has relished horsemeat since 1807, when Napoleon’s surgeon-in-chief directed the starving troops at the Battle of Eylau to eat the flesh of horses fallen on the battlefield. Horsemeat also supplemented the French diet during the hardships of the Siege of Paris (1870-71) and eventually became a staple in European cuisine.
To this day, Europe and Asia consider the meat a delicacy superior to beef and pork, pay a higher price per pound, and readily purchase it fresh from the local butcher shop. For example, in France you will find the quaint little boucherie de cheval dedicated solely to selling horsemeat. This is not to say there are no opponents to horsemeat consumption in France and elsewhere in Europe.[1]
You’ll find horse on the menu in countries throughout Eastern and Western Europe. Various meat directories reveal there are horse abattoirs and butcheries in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain and Switzerland. Europe also imports a tremendous amount of processed horse to meet the demand, primarily from the United States which produces the Europeans’ favorite choice: American Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred, the most prevalent breeds in America, if not the world. (Oddly, the fact that all horses are given medications throughout their lives that are known to be harmful to humans does not seem to concern the horse connoisseur.)
Import/Export
European meatpackers capitalize on North America’s vast horse population and practice of overbreeding that perpetuates a huge surplus of unwanted horses who go to slaughter. Packers import the carcasses and meat cuts from slaughterhouses for distribution throughout Europe. The American equine commodity must be inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prior to exportation. In 2005, a total of 91,757 horses were inspected for export.[2] And as of this writing, 47,654 equines have been inspected so far in 2006 (January 7 through June 24), an average of 1,906 equines per week[3] for human consumption abroad.
It is important to note that the three remaining U.S. slaughterhouses are owned by European companies, operating against the majority will of Americans and Congress. For example, Dallas Crown in Texas is owned by parent company Chevideco of Belgium.[4] Beltex Corp. in Texas and Cavel International in Illinois are also Belgian-owned. [Note: These slaughterhouses have now closed.]
Europe supplies its own horses for consumption as well. As in other countries, blood horses and draft horses are used, including used-up or injured racehorses, poorly performing sport horses, unwanted foals and aged horses. These animals are often acquired by the abattoirs via live export.
Animex (Poland) and Smithfield Foods (USA)
Ironically, Poland, a verdant agricultural country known for its prized Arabian horses — and where horsemeat is not eaten — is Europe’s largest supplier of live horses to abattoirs, especially to Italy, according to various animal welfare organizations across the Internet. Poland’s largest pork producer, Animex S.A. (Warsaw)[5] was founded in 1951 and has always been a major sponsor of that country’s historic annual horse auction, Polish Prestige.[6]
In January 2000, Animex was acquired by the American conglomerate Smithfield Foods, a diversified meat producer specializing in pork, beef, and poultry.[7] Having no desire to operate a horsemeat business, Smithfield/Animex subsequently sold Jasan the following year to Investment Partners Sp z.o.o. When Investment Partners defaulted on their loans, the lenders foreclosed, and Polish food and beverage company Duda S.A. then purchased Jasan out of foreclosure in 2003.[8] According to Duda’s 2006 annual report, Jasan is Poland’s largest horsemeat producer, with output capacity of approximately 22,000 horses per year, with 90% of the meat exported chiefly to Italy and Japan.[9]
Horses are herded together on trucks and transported long distances to abattoirs throughout Europe — as far south as the Island of Sardinia, Italy, via ferry — with many horses injured or dying en route.
.......
References
[1] One Voice, Nantes, France | www.onevoice-ear.org/campagnes/chevaux/viande.html
[2] Society of Animal Protective Legislation, USA | www.saplonline.org/horses_stats.htm
[3] United States Department of Agriculture, Data and Statistics | www.nass.usda.gov/index.asp
[4] Chevideco, Rekkem, Belgium | www.chevideco.be/en/index.htm
[5] Animex S.A., Warsaw, Poland | www.animex.com.pl
[6] Polish Prestige: www.polishprestige.pl | Pride of Poland: www.prideofpoland.pl/en/sale/index.php?
d=history
[7] Smithfield Foods, Smithfield, Virginia, USA | www.smithfieldfoods.com/home.asp
[8] [in progress]
[9] Personal communication with Smithfield Foods representative.
Horse on the Menu
In northern Europe in pre-Christian times, horses were eaten as part of the Teutonic religious ceremonies associated with Odin. France has relished horsemeat since 1807, when Napoleon’s surgeon-in-chief directed the starving troops at the Battle of Eylau to eat the flesh of horses fallen on the battlefield. Horsemeat also supplemented the French diet during the hardships of the Siege of Paris (1870-71) and eventually became a staple in European cuisine.
To this day, Europe and Asia consider the meat a delicacy superior to beef and pork, pay a higher price per pound, and readily purchase it fresh from the local butcher shop. For example, in France you will find the quaint little boucherie de cheval dedicated solely to selling horsemeat. This is not to say there are no opponents to horsemeat consumption in France and elsewhere in Europe.[1]
You’ll find horse on the menu in countries throughout Eastern and Western Europe. Various meat directories reveal there are horse abattoirs and butcheries in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain and Switzerland. Europe also imports a tremendous amount of processed horse to meet the demand, primarily from the United States which produces the Europeans’ favorite choice: American Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred, the most prevalent breeds in America, if not the world. (Oddly, the fact that all horses are given medications throughout their lives that are known to be harmful to humans does not seem to concern the horse connoisseur.)
Import/Export
European meatpackers capitalize on North America’s vast horse population and practice of overbreeding that perpetuates a huge surplus of unwanted horses who go to slaughter. Packers import the carcasses and meat cuts from slaughterhouses for distribution throughout Europe. The American equine commodity must be inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prior to exportation. In 2005, a total of 91,757 horses were inspected for export.[2] And as of this writing, 47,654 equines have been inspected so far in 2006 (January 7 through June 24), an average of 1,906 equines per week[3] for human consumption abroad.
It is important to note that the three remaining U.S. slaughterhouses are owned by European companies, operating against the majority will of Americans and Congress. For example, Dallas Crown in Texas is owned by parent company Chevideco of Belgium.[4] Beltex Corp. in Texas and Cavel International in Illinois are also Belgian-owned. [Note: These slaughterhouses have now closed.]
Europe supplies its own horses for consumption as well. As in other countries, blood horses and draft horses are used, including used-up or injured racehorses, poorly performing sport horses, unwanted foals and aged horses. These animals are often acquired by the abattoirs via live export.
Animex (Poland) and Smithfield Foods (USA)
Ironically, Poland, a verdant agricultural country known for its prized Arabian horses — and where horsemeat is not eaten — is Europe’s largest supplier of live horses to abattoirs, especially to Italy, according to various animal welfare organizations across the Internet. Poland’s largest pork producer, Animex S.A. (Warsaw)[5] was founded in 1951 and has always been a major sponsor of that country’s historic annual horse auction, Polish Prestige.[6]
In January 2000, Animex was acquired by the American conglomerate Smithfield Foods, a diversified meat producer specializing in pork, beef, and poultry.[7] Having no desire to operate a horsemeat business, Smithfield/Animex subsequently sold Jasan the following year to Investment Partners Sp z.o.o. When Investment Partners defaulted on their loans, the lenders foreclosed, and Polish food and beverage company Duda S.A. then purchased Jasan out of foreclosure in 2003.[8] According to Duda’s 2006 annual report, Jasan is Poland’s largest horsemeat producer, with output capacity of approximately 22,000 horses per year, with 90% of the meat exported chiefly to Italy and Japan.[9]
Horses are herded together on trucks and transported long distances to abattoirs throughout Europe — as far south as the Island of Sardinia, Italy, via ferry — with many horses injured or dying en route.
.......
References
[1] One Voice, Nantes, France | www.onevoice-ear.org/campagnes/chevaux/viande.html
[2] Society of Animal Protective Legislation, USA | www.saplonline.org/horses_stats.htm
[3] United States Department of Agriculture, Data and Statistics | www.nass.usda.gov/index.asp
[4] Chevideco, Rekkem, Belgium | www.chevideco.be/en/index.htm
[5] Animex S.A., Warsaw, Poland | www.animex.com.pl
[6] Polish Prestige: www.polishprestige.pl | Pride of Poland: www.prideofpoland.pl/en/sale/index.php?
d=history
[7] Smithfield Foods, Smithfield, Virginia, USA | www.smithfieldfoods.com/home.asp
[8] [in progress]
[9] Personal communication with Smithfield Foods representative.
United States
Horse Slaughter in American Culture
Unwanted — the overarching word associated with the U.S. horse slaughter industry. That is, unwanted horses are sent to slaughter in droves, yet horse slaughter itself is unwanted by the majority of Americans who know about it. Nowhere else is the fight to ban horse slaughter for human consumption so fierce, yet nowhere else are there so many horses processed as horsemeat — 90,000 to 100,000 horses a year[1] — at just three remaining horse slaughterhouses.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, U.S. horse abattoirs were more prevalent — at one time there were 15 — and the equine death toll reached an estimated 350,000 horses per year. In 1995, Sue Coe, artist and author of Dead Meat (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1995), visited many feedlots and slaughterhouses across the United States to research her book. Her illustrations depict the shocking scenes she witnessed inside these facilities, including the horse section of the Armour stockyards in Minnesota. Here she witnessed a worker flogging a downed horse "as if the sheer labor of beating will miraculously transform a near corpse into a dollar on the hoof."
Horse slaughter plants closed over time. Selling horses for human consumption is banned in some states, including California. (But, ironically, Texas, land of the cowboy, is a last hold-out.) In fact, horsemeat consumption was never embraced by American culture, which highly esteems equines as companion animals and co-contributors to the nation’s development. Horse-welfare advocates believe public sentiment helped drive the horse slaughter industry under. In summer 2006, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, H.R. 503, which would permanently ban horse slaughter, passed in the House of Representatives, but soon stalled in the Senate due to other priorities.
Horsemeat Exports
Meanwhile, the horsemeat industry thrives on American soil, because the carcasses and cuts are exported primarily to Europe and Asia, where the meat is in great demand. In the early 2000s, about half of the 60,000 U.S. slaughtered horses were exported to Canada as well.[2]
The tainted-meat scare in Europe, related to mad cow and foot-and-mouth diseases, boosted European demand for cheval as a substitute for beef and lamb, increasing demand in North America for export horsemeat. Consequently, horsemeat prices rose by up to 30%[1a]. Buyers at New Holland Sales & Stables in Lancaster, Pa. (the largest horse auction east of the Mississippi River), estimated 30% to 40% of horses were bought by killer buyers. Rising prices also affected horse-rescue efforts. "It's costing a lot more to save a horse," said Kelly Young of Lost and Found Rescue in York, Pa.[3]
But, except for the slaughter workers themselves, Americans are not the benefactors of this lucrative industry. Rather, a few corporations based in horsemeat-eating Belgium own and operate the slaughter plants, which translates into horsemeat distribution overseas at about $20-$25 USD per pound in their butcher shops. Chevideco (Rekkem, Belgium) is the parent company of Dallas Crown, Texas. You can view the proud faces of the men behind this operation here. Beltex Corp., Texas, and Cavel International, Illinois, are Belgian-owned. These companies have tapped into the vast renewable resource that is the surplus of American horses, capitalizing on the horse industry’s habit of overbreeding that helps perpetuate that surplus and slaughter. To the Belgians the horse is a profitable commodity, like all livestock; and, unknown to most U.S. citizens, their enterprise is instrumental in making the United States the world’s largest supplier of quality horsemeat.
Live Horse Imports
An e-newsletter (November 2006) we received from United Animal Nations (UAN) makes the argument that slaughter is "obviously not an outlet for 'unwanted horses' since we [the United States] are importing horses to slaughter them." According to UAN, 4% of horses slaughtered from January to July 2006 were imported from Canada; i.e, about 2,534 of the nearly 70,000 horses slaughtered (2,238 slaughtered in Illinois and 296 in Texas). (Sources for these statistics were not cited.) UAN also argues against the notion that a ban on horse slaughter would mean the horse rescue and retirement communities would not have the resources to absorb the unwanted horse population, stating: "Because it is profitable to breed horses specifically for slaughter, a ban on horse slaughter would actually reduce the number of horses born."
Breeding for Horsemeat
(to come)
Racing Industry
Sharing responsibility for the surplus and slaughter is the U.S. horseracing industry. Though statistics are hard to pinpoint, it’s no secret that a large number of racehorses per year are sold to killer buyers as a convenient and economical way to dispose of the used-up and unwanted. Various sources, including the Contra Costa Times online[2], estimate that of the 90,000 horses slaughtered per year in the United States, about 16 percent are Thoroughbreds.
Fortunate for the foreign-owned slaughterhouses (but unfortunate for the horses), racehorses are Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds, the most abundant breeds in the United States — and also the favorite choice of the horsemeat connoisseur.
As her horse's recovery from catastrophic injuries remained uncertain, Gretchen Jackson, owner of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, pondered what happens to less fortunate horses and joined the fight against horse slaughter: "Putting a horse down for anything other than a painful condition has never entered my mind," said Jackson. "I can't believe this exists, and it's hard for me to accept it."[4]
Unlike the Barbaros of the world, horses who are injured, ill, aged, tired, used up, or poor performers, especially the low-ranking claimers, are often sent to auction (or sold directly to the killer buyer), a mere way station for the slaughter-bound if no one wants or rescues them. (Horses who die or are otherwise unfit for human consumption go to the rendering plants to be used for myriad consumer products.)
Journalist Jay Heater makes an interesting point: "The horse racing industry's sometimes callous attitude toward its own featured attraction might be one reason legislation to stop horse slaughter has been stalled since 2002 and why H.R. 503 now is sitting in the House Energy and Commerce Committee."[5]
PMU Industry
Another major horsemeat contributor is the PMU (pregnant mare urine) industry, or “equine ranching,” in Canada and the northern United States. Mares are kept pregnant to continually produce the estrogen-rich urine needed for Wyeth-Ayerst's hormone replacement drug, Premarin (a $1-billion-per-year business for Wyeth, according to various sources). With approximately 36,000 mares on "pee lines" at over 400 equine ranches at the height of this industry (according to the National Equine Ranching Council, there are only 7,000 mares in production in 2006; see our Canada PMU section), offloading the byproduct, the foals, becomes a burden for farmers to find homes or disperse them through private sales, auctions and/or killer buyers. Many PMU horses filter down into the United States through acquisitions by buyers and rescuers, adding to the equine population explosion previously mentioned. Mares and foals who do not find homes may face the auction in their new country. more >>
Federal Responsibility
The United States government shares responsibility for the slaughter situation as well, for no horse can be slaughtered or exported for human consumption without the approval of the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture). USDA inspectors must certify all types of meat. The taxpayer funds these inspections in that tax dollars pay the salaries of these federal employees.
In early 2006, Congress passed a bill that would prevent the use of tax dollars to fund horsemeat inspections, so the inspections would stop. This would have saved countless horses from slaughter, beginning in March 2006, thereby putting the abattoirs out of business. But, the three plants immediately petitioned the USDA and were successful in circumventing the law with their plan to pay the inspection fees themselves! Consequently, the horse slaughter continues at the usual pace (47,654 equines, Jan. 7 through June 24, 2006).
Animal welfare groups, horse advocates and industry associations, veterinarians, Congress and concerned citizens are now pushing for a permanent ban on horse slaughter via The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (currently held up in Congressional committees). This would close the last three slaughterhouses. But would it solve the problem of the unwanted horse?
Individual Choice
Controversy surrounds the horse slaughter issue because influencers in the horse industry believe slaughter is a necessary evil for controlling the unwanted-horse population. They argue that it is more humane to slaughter horses than to subject them to the worse cruelties of abuse, neglect and starvation at the hands of those who can no longer care for them.
The unwanted horse is a moral dilemma that is tearing at the horse culture in America. To a great extent, the problem is hidden from view, and we still meet people who have never heard that horses are slaughtered, let alone for food. Horse-lovers and advocates are vigilant to bring more awareness to the general public. While rescue organizations continue to sprout up across the states to help the horses, they strain under the overwhelming burden of limited resources, too many horses, and too few homes for them. And the horse circles back to the ranks of the unwanted.
.......
References
[1] The Humane Society of the United States, "Horse Slaughter Facts"
[2] Amy Worden, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 25, 2001, online at www.purefood.org.
[3] [4] [5] ContraCostaOnline.com, "Slaughtering not food for thought" (June 16, 2006) (archived)
Unwanted — the overarching word associated with the U.S. horse slaughter industry. That is, unwanted horses are sent to slaughter in droves, yet horse slaughter itself is unwanted by the majority of Americans who know about it. Nowhere else is the fight to ban horse slaughter for human consumption so fierce, yet nowhere else are there so many horses processed as horsemeat — 90,000 to 100,000 horses a year[1] — at just three remaining horse slaughterhouses.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, U.S. horse abattoirs were more prevalent — at one time there were 15 — and the equine death toll reached an estimated 350,000 horses per year. In 1995, Sue Coe, artist and author of Dead Meat (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1995), visited many feedlots and slaughterhouses across the United States to research her book. Her illustrations depict the shocking scenes she witnessed inside these facilities, including the horse section of the Armour stockyards in Minnesota. Here she witnessed a worker flogging a downed horse "as if the sheer labor of beating will miraculously transform a near corpse into a dollar on the hoof."
Horse slaughter plants closed over time. Selling horses for human consumption is banned in some states, including California. (But, ironically, Texas, land of the cowboy, is a last hold-out.) In fact, horsemeat consumption was never embraced by American culture, which highly esteems equines as companion animals and co-contributors to the nation’s development. Horse-welfare advocates believe public sentiment helped drive the horse slaughter industry under. In summer 2006, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, H.R. 503, which would permanently ban horse slaughter, passed in the House of Representatives, but soon stalled in the Senate due to other priorities.
Horsemeat Exports
Meanwhile, the horsemeat industry thrives on American soil, because the carcasses and cuts are exported primarily to Europe and Asia, where the meat is in great demand. In the early 2000s, about half of the 60,000 U.S. slaughtered horses were exported to Canada as well.[2]
The tainted-meat scare in Europe, related to mad cow and foot-and-mouth diseases, boosted European demand for cheval as a substitute for beef and lamb, increasing demand in North America for export horsemeat. Consequently, horsemeat prices rose by up to 30%[1a]. Buyers at New Holland Sales & Stables in Lancaster, Pa. (the largest horse auction east of the Mississippi River), estimated 30% to 40% of horses were bought by killer buyers. Rising prices also affected horse-rescue efforts. "It's costing a lot more to save a horse," said Kelly Young of Lost and Found Rescue in York, Pa.[3]
But, except for the slaughter workers themselves, Americans are not the benefactors of this lucrative industry. Rather, a few corporations based in horsemeat-eating Belgium own and operate the slaughter plants, which translates into horsemeat distribution overseas at about $20-$25 USD per pound in their butcher shops. Chevideco (Rekkem, Belgium) is the parent company of Dallas Crown, Texas. You can view the proud faces of the men behind this operation here. Beltex Corp., Texas, and Cavel International, Illinois, are Belgian-owned. These companies have tapped into the vast renewable resource that is the surplus of American horses, capitalizing on the horse industry’s habit of overbreeding that helps perpetuate that surplus and slaughter. To the Belgians the horse is a profitable commodity, like all livestock; and, unknown to most U.S. citizens, their enterprise is instrumental in making the United States the world’s largest supplier of quality horsemeat.
Live Horse Imports
An e-newsletter (November 2006) we received from United Animal Nations (UAN) makes the argument that slaughter is "obviously not an outlet for 'unwanted horses' since we [the United States] are importing horses to slaughter them." According to UAN, 4% of horses slaughtered from January to July 2006 were imported from Canada; i.e, about 2,534 of the nearly 70,000 horses slaughtered (2,238 slaughtered in Illinois and 296 in Texas). (Sources for these statistics were not cited.) UAN also argues against the notion that a ban on horse slaughter would mean the horse rescue and retirement communities would not have the resources to absorb the unwanted horse population, stating: "Because it is profitable to breed horses specifically for slaughter, a ban on horse slaughter would actually reduce the number of horses born."
Breeding for Horsemeat
(to come)
Racing Industry
Sharing responsibility for the surplus and slaughter is the U.S. horseracing industry. Though statistics are hard to pinpoint, it’s no secret that a large number of racehorses per year are sold to killer buyers as a convenient and economical way to dispose of the used-up and unwanted. Various sources, including the Contra Costa Times online[2], estimate that of the 90,000 horses slaughtered per year in the United States, about 16 percent are Thoroughbreds.
Fortunate for the foreign-owned slaughterhouses (but unfortunate for the horses), racehorses are Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds, the most abundant breeds in the United States — and also the favorite choice of the horsemeat connoisseur.
As her horse's recovery from catastrophic injuries remained uncertain, Gretchen Jackson, owner of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, pondered what happens to less fortunate horses and joined the fight against horse slaughter: "Putting a horse down for anything other than a painful condition has never entered my mind," said Jackson. "I can't believe this exists, and it's hard for me to accept it."[4]
Unlike the Barbaros of the world, horses who are injured, ill, aged, tired, used up, or poor performers, especially the low-ranking claimers, are often sent to auction (or sold directly to the killer buyer), a mere way station for the slaughter-bound if no one wants or rescues them. (Horses who die or are otherwise unfit for human consumption go to the rendering plants to be used for myriad consumer products.)
Journalist Jay Heater makes an interesting point: "The horse racing industry's sometimes callous attitude toward its own featured attraction might be one reason legislation to stop horse slaughter has been stalled since 2002 and why H.R. 503 now is sitting in the House Energy and Commerce Committee."[5]
PMU Industry
Another major horsemeat contributor is the PMU (pregnant mare urine) industry, or “equine ranching,” in Canada and the northern United States. Mares are kept pregnant to continually produce the estrogen-rich urine needed for Wyeth-Ayerst's hormone replacement drug, Premarin (a $1-billion-per-year business for Wyeth, according to various sources). With approximately 36,000 mares on "pee lines" at over 400 equine ranches at the height of this industry (according to the National Equine Ranching Council, there are only 7,000 mares in production in 2006; see our Canada PMU section), offloading the byproduct, the foals, becomes a burden for farmers to find homes or disperse them through private sales, auctions and/or killer buyers. Many PMU horses filter down into the United States through acquisitions by buyers and rescuers, adding to the equine population explosion previously mentioned. Mares and foals who do not find homes may face the auction in their new country. more >>
Federal Responsibility
The United States government shares responsibility for the slaughter situation as well, for no horse can be slaughtered or exported for human consumption without the approval of the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture). USDA inspectors must certify all types of meat. The taxpayer funds these inspections in that tax dollars pay the salaries of these federal employees.
In early 2006, Congress passed a bill that would prevent the use of tax dollars to fund horsemeat inspections, so the inspections would stop. This would have saved countless horses from slaughter, beginning in March 2006, thereby putting the abattoirs out of business. But, the three plants immediately petitioned the USDA and were successful in circumventing the law with their plan to pay the inspection fees themselves! Consequently, the horse slaughter continues at the usual pace (47,654 equines, Jan. 7 through June 24, 2006).
Animal welfare groups, horse advocates and industry associations, veterinarians, Congress and concerned citizens are now pushing for a permanent ban on horse slaughter via The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (currently held up in Congressional committees). This would close the last three slaughterhouses. But would it solve the problem of the unwanted horse?
Individual Choice
Controversy surrounds the horse slaughter issue because influencers in the horse industry believe slaughter is a necessary evil for controlling the unwanted-horse population. They argue that it is more humane to slaughter horses than to subject them to the worse cruelties of abuse, neglect and starvation at the hands of those who can no longer care for them.
The unwanted horse is a moral dilemma that is tearing at the horse culture in America. To a great extent, the problem is hidden from view, and we still meet people who have never heard that horses are slaughtered, let alone for food. Horse-lovers and advocates are vigilant to bring more awareness to the general public. While rescue organizations continue to sprout up across the states to help the horses, they strain under the overwhelming burden of limited resources, too many horses, and too few homes for them. And the horse circles back to the ranks of the unwanted.
.......
References
[1] The Humane Society of the United States, "Horse Slaughter Facts"
[2] Amy Worden, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 25, 2001, online at www.purefood.org.
[3] [4] [5] ContraCostaOnline.com, "Slaughtering not food for thought" (June 16, 2006) (archived)
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