How can I rescue a horse from slaughter?
If you are a horse owner, please geld your colts and stallions and DO NOT breed from your mare. There is a simple equation of many times more horses being bred than there are homes for them to go to. You might like the idea of having a foal, but would you like that foal to be end up being killed? If you really want a foal, go and rescue a pregnant mare or foal from a knackery.
If you would like to rescue a horse from a sale yard or knackery, please email us at charlies-angels@live.com.au and we might be able to give you a date and place near your area.
It appears that the majority of Australians are unaware of the fact thousands of horses are being sent to slaughter houses every year. What do you think are the reason/s for this?
Yes, most people are definitely unaware. It’s a topic that no one wants to hear about and that, combined with the secrecy around the abattoirs, means that it’s off people’s radars. Abattoirs don’t tend to advertise their business with huge signs at the front of the property. Unfortunately, the industry makes money for the people involved so they naturally want to minimise any bad press.
How many horses are slaughtered each year and where are these abbatoirs?
The official figures quoted say 40,000 horses in Australia each year. You will find other figures that say 90,000 to 100,000. There is a difference between a ‘knackery’ (of which there are several in Australia, and these horses go into pet food) and a ’slaughterhouse’, which is licensed to export horse meat for human consumption. There are two slaughterhouses, Peterborough in South Australia and Caboolture in Queensland. It is illegal to consume horsemeat in Australia. We recommend this site for more of these types of details.
A large number of horse welfare groups criticise the horse racing industry for the large numbers of horses that end up in knackeries and abattoirs? Do you think this criticism is justified, and why?
Absolutely. Australia exports horse meat to dinner plates in Europe and Japan and it’s not the old and sick horses that are sold for human consumption, it’s those that are fit and healthy and in the prime of their lives: race horses. Thoroughbreds are pumped out in vast quantities each year, destined for the racetrack, but a horse’s racing career can only be for around seven years or so. A horse can live to over thirty years of age. That’s a long life to be responsible for. It’s irresponsible to intentionally breed that many horses when there simply aren’t enough homes to care for them for their whole life. You can visit this site for more info on the racing industry.
What are the reasons horses end up in knackeries and abattoirs in the first place, and can anything be done to prevent this from happening?
This is a very complex question, made more difficult to answer because of the secrecy surrounding horse slaughter. From our personal experience, and that of other horse rescue groups that we have contact with, there are two consistent groups of horses. Firstly, abattoirs are full of colts and stallions, pregnant mares and starving foals–in short, horses that are the result of unregulated ‘backyard’ breeding. People can’t be bothered paying the fee to get their colt gelded and let it grow up into an unhandled stallion. Once a horse is over a certain age, if you haven’t put the work into training, there are very few people in the country who would take them on to break them in. The stallions go on to mate with the mares, the mares become pregnant, people suddenly realise that now they’ll have to support an additional horse, and off they go. Same with the foals. It’s too hard for them to catch and train a foal so they just don’t bother. Secondly, the other big group are thoroughbreds. At our recent saleyard rescue, we picked up four random horses and three of those were thoroughbreds. That’s indicative of how many end up in the sale yards. The drought is often quoted as a reason for horses ending up in saleyards but, again, they’re not the horses that were being fed and groomed and ridden. People go and round up a herd of horses at a time and ship them off. Critics will often say, “oh, there’s a reason why those horses are at the knackery”. There is, but the reason is not the horse’s fault, it’s the person’s. Lastly, some people actually intentionally breed horses to sell as horse meat.
In the U.S there was a ban on the slaughter of horses for human consumption. Critics of this ban claim that horses will suffer as a result of this ban because there will be no “humane” way to dispose of unwanted horses in the U.S, which can reach tens of thousands annually. Do you share this view, and why?
Definitely not. There are always alternatives. You wouldn’t send your dog or cat to the knackery, so why is it okay to send a horse? There is never a justifiable reason to send an animal through that sort of trauma.
Horses can be buried or cremated. Euthanasia by a veterinarian is the only form of assisted death that we agree with. There might be some adjustments to be made in the US and, sadly, there could be some temporary worsening of horses’ welfare (as some people could leave their horse to starve to death etc.). However, change provides the country with an opportunity to make a difference on many levels, such as registering horses and regulating breeding, which is what we would like to see Australia do. They need to take responsibility for the number of horses in the first place rather than worrying about ‘all the bodies’ at the other end.
Update: The result of the ban of horse slaughter in the US has simply led to horses being shipped over the border to Mexico or to Canada.
Isn’t slaughter done in a humane way?
People focus on the killing itself and say that it’s “humane”… okay, let’s assume that is true. What about the days and weeks leading up to that that the poor horse spends being trucked around in extreme heat and cold, without food, barely any water, being shoved into holding yards where the horses fight with each other because they’re starving and stressed (it’s not pretty to watch a horse pin another into the corner of a yard and kick it repeatedly because neither of them can get away). There is nothing humane about this. We see horses that are so hungry they are eating the wood off the rails in the yards, eating manure, eating plastic wrappers, anything at all just to keep eating, as a horse is designed to eat for up to 22 hours a day. A day without food for a horse can shut its entire digestive system down and is literal torture.
What are your opinions of the horse meat industry, and horse meat consumption?
We feel that it’s particularly wrong to slaughter and eat an animal that has done nothing but be in service to humankind, working for them, winning them money and making them a living. It is not a respectful end to their life. The racing industry is not about horses. It’s about people and money. The other thing to consider is that it’s not like this meat is being exported to countries where there are starving people with few options. These are wealthy countries that consider horse meat to be a “delicacy”. They’re making a choice similar to wearing fur coats.
People say, “what’s the difference between slaughtering a horse and a cow?”. The short answer is “nothing”. But we feel there are added complexities with horses because they have formed close relationships with people and have emotional attachments to people. For us, it is the ultimate betrayal of this human-animal bond.
As an organisation that cares for rescued horses, do you feel that the demand for re-homing unwanted horses exceeds the places available for these horses in your organisation? How does this make you feel?
Yes, undoubtedly, right now there are more horses that need homes than there are places to care for them. Sometimes, we feel very overwhelmed and sickened by that and we shed a lot of tears. But we also have to focus on the ones that we can help and find lovely homes for, and we truly believe that it is better to strike a match than curse the darkness, and that what we are doing really does make a difference. It certainly makes a difference to those horses. And watching a horse turn around from the brink of death and find a loving home is an amazingly emotional and rewarding experience.
I have tried in vain to get some information from the abattoirs and knackeries about the horse meat industry but they do not want to discuss this topic with me. Is the secretive nature of this industry typical?
Very! A lot of information comes via word of mouth.
