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.
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. But we call it “Australia’s dirty little secret”.
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.
It’s not too difficult to realise that the facts and figures out there on horse slaughter simply don’t add up.
The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) says that “between 30,000 and 40,000 horses are processed for human and pet consumption annually” (2009). And, “some horses are exported live for human and pet consumption”. They also say that there are “33 licensed knackeries in Australia that produce pet food from horsemeat” and two abattoirs (slaughterhouses) that kill for human consumption (Caboolture, Qld, and Peterborough, SA).
But, in 2009, a British website reported horse meat production levels around the world, with Australia exporting 24, 000 tons per year (beaten only by Mexico, Argentina, Kazakstan, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan).
Some simple maths will help here. Let’s assume the average horse slaughtered weighed 500 kilograms (and that would be at the top end), then 48,000 horses would have been killed to meet that production level. Now, let’s not forget that not all of the horse is exported as meat, so that number is actually higher. And, more importantly, there are only two licensed slaughter houses in Australia set for export for human consumption, while there are 33 knackeries killing for pet food. Is the real figure of horses slaughter 15 times this? Is is more like 720,000? Not likely. But it’s clear it’s much higher than 40,000.
It’s not too hard to extrapolate these figures to come to a number very, very high indeed.
So how many horses are actually dying? Unfortunately, there is still so much silence around this practice that we may never know the real truth. This is Australia’s “dirty little secret” and it’s why we’re so passionate about investigating and digging for the truth and why we continue to campaign for changes to laws in this country to protect our equine friends.
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.
However, it’s not just racing. Breeding of any kind contributes to the total number of horses in Australia that outnumbers homes for them to go to.
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. Horses go because they are injured and the person has chosen to send them through the slaughter system rather than treat the injury. It’s not uncommon to see horses with melanomas who’ve been sent to slaughter rather than humanely euthanased. And they certainly go because they have ‘behavioural issues’, which are most likely the result of someone’s ignorance. Lastly, some people actually intentionally breed horses to sell as horse meat.
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 well, cows are normally sent to slaughter when they’re in the prime of their condition (obviously, as that will fetch the highest price). Horses, on the other hand, are often killed in knackeries when they are at their LOWEST condition and so the hardships they face in the weeks leading up to their slaughter is very, very hard on them. It’s not uncommon for horses to die in yards while waiting to be killed. Horses are often transported large distances in cattle trucks, which are called that for a reason: they are designed for cattle, not horses. Horses will fight and attack each other in cattle trucks, where they are mostly unconfined and able to roam and move about on slippery floors. They are also ‘top heavy’ and so their balance in a moving cattle truck is seriously compromised. Cattle trucks are also too short for horses and they fling their heads up (or rear) and smack themselves on the metal rails above. Falls are not uncommon. It is a terrible sight to see a fully loaded cattle truck taking horses to slaughter. Their stress, panic and conflict is obvious to anyone who watches.
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.
