Horse Slaughter

Horse Slaughter - an American Disgrace

Horse slaughter is the way by which irresponsible people get rid of their unwanted horses quickly and for a profit. Every year, well over 170,000 equines from the United States are slaughtered for human consumption to satisfy the taste for horsemeat in Europe and Japan where it is considered a delicacy. Due to an ongoing movement by small, but powerful special interest groups that have successfully blocked passage of Federal legislation banning horse slaughter for nearly a decade, our equines continue to be transported across the Canadian and Mexican borders where they are brutally slaughtered and their meat is then exported overseas selling for between $15 and $25 per pound.

"I believe there is one catch phrase which is contributing greatly to the confusion surrounding horse slaughter. That phrase is 'unwanted horses.' They wanted them when they bought them, didn't they? Horses are the responsibility of their owners who owe them kindly treatment through life and a peaceful death administered by caring hands. Period! Enabling a callous and irresponsible person to walk away from a problem, pocket a few hundred dollars and feel good about it, is a disservice to our industry and the animal they profess to care about. In this they are helped by the enablers who refer to '‘processing' rather than slaughter and 'plants' rather than slaughterhouses."

John Hettinger

Content below is VERY GRAPHIC!!!

Rendering Horses Unconscious for Slaughter

United States

The penetrating captive bolt is the most commonly used "stunning method" for horse slaughter in the U.S.

The penetrating captive bolt uses a pointed bolt which is propelled by pressurized air or a blank cartridge. The bolt itself is a heavy rod made of non-rusting alloys, such as stainless steel.

The bolt penetrates the skull, enters the cranium, and catastrophically damages the cerebrum and part of the cerebellum.

Due to concussion, destruction of vital centers of the brain, and an increase of intra-cranial pressure, the horses loses consciousness.

This method physically destroys brain matter (increasing probability of a successful stun), while also leaving the brain stem intact, thus ensuring the heart continues to beat, facilitating a successful bleed out.

The captive bolt was designed for cattle and other food animals and not intended for horses.

Production lines must continue to move in order to meet quotas, workers regularly do not have time to strike the horses accurately enough to stun them.

Terrified horses have longer necks than cattle, and throw their heads around wildly, trying to avoid being struck by the captive bolt, causing workers to make hurried and repeated blows.

Severed heads recovered from slaughter plants butchering horses have shown as many as 8 to 10 blows in areas of the head, neck and even the shoulder, from the captive bolt.

Studies have shown that properly stunned horses often regain consciousness within minutes, able to feel pain and terror but little or not motor skills to respond physically.

Horses have not been slaughtered on U.S. soil since 2007. The remaining horse slaughter plants -- two in Texas and one in Illinois -- were shut down according to State law.

This occurred without mandatory supervision of slaughterhouse inspectors.

Mexico

Neither the captive bolt or gunship is always used in Mexico.

A 2007 investigation by The San Antonio News-Express revealed that slaughterhouses in Mexico use a "puntilla" knife to severe the spines of horses prior to slaughter.

Footage obtained by the paper shows horses being stabbed repeatedly in the neck with these knives.

This barbaric practice simply paralyzes the animal. The horse is still fully conscious during the slaughter process until he is bled out.

There are a number of plants slaughtering horses in Mexico, only two of which are EU regulated.The horse meat is processed, frozen and pressure sealed before it is sent to Canada for inspection and export.

Other Countries

The prevailing method in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, Japan and Latin America to render horses unconscious prior to slaughter is the gunshot, although the captive bolt has gained some popularity as it speeds up production.

Kill Chute

Once horses have been rendered unconscious (if done properly), they are dropped or lowered onto the kill floor through a kill chute.

Stunned horses can regain consciousness, and go through the bleeding out process fully aware and experiencing excruciating pain.

Kill Floor

Horses arriving on the kill floor from the kill chute, they are hoisted by a chain attached to a hind leg, their throats slit and bled out.

Dismemberment

Once a horse is bled out, his hooves are sawed off or removed with cutters, decapitated, skinned, dismembered, and butchered.

Fear, Cruelty and Terror are Inherent to Horse Slaughter

As you can see, the argument that slaughtering horses is done "better" or more humanely in some countries than others has no foundation.The slaughter process shown and described here is the final act of betrayal of innocent horses by irresponsible owners and this cruel and predatory industry.

The "horse slaughter pipeline" begins at auction and continues during transport. All have their own horrors.Horse slaughter is a brutal and terrifying end to a horse's life everywhere it occurs.Horse slaughter is not humane, and clearly not euthanasia, as the pro-horse slaughter faction continues to claim.Yes, there are alternatives.

Images Below Are Graphic & HORRIBLE!!

BUT..it is reality!!