‘A miserable, sickening trade’: calls for a ban as 18,000 horses exported from US to Mexico for slaughter

Thousands of healthy American horses are being “butchered in a secretive, inhumane trade”, welfare campaigners say, as it emerges that almost 18,000 were sent from the US to Mexico for slaughter last year.

US Department of Agriculture figures show that in 2023, “kill buyers” transported 17,997 horses from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to slaughterhouses south of the border.

Welfare organisation Animal Wellness Action is calling on the US Congress to ban live export to Mexico or Canada for slaughter for consumption.

“Not one of these horses was raised for slaughter,” a spokesman for Animal Wellness Action said. “They were, for the most part, raised for pleasure, show, work, or racing and opportunistically collected and redirected to Mexico for slaughter.”

Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, said: “We are sounding the alarm to Congress that healthy American horses are being butchered in a secretive, inhumane trade to Mexico.

“Not one more year of this trafficking of these iconic animals should be tolerated. The animal welfare community and the thoroughbred racing industry are united in demanding an end to this archaic, miserable, sickening trade.”

Last month, New York governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill to ban horse slaughter in New York, and barred the sale, transportation, and export of horses for slaughter. New York joins California, Texas and Illinois – four of the five biggest US states – in banning slaughter of horses for human consumption.

Domestic horse slaughter has been banned in the US since 2007, and there are bills with Congress to codify the ban on slaughter, and to ban live exports.

“If it is wrong to slaughter horses in Dallas or Yuma or DeKalb, it is wrong to slaughter them in Calgary or Quebec City,” Mr Pacelle said.

An investigation a year ago by the Center for a Humane Economy and Animals’ Angels found “immense suffering” of equids transported for slaughter, “with results showing a lack of care, deficient delivery of food or water, and transport in cramped, dangerous, and unsanitary conditions”.

A USDA spokesman told H&H: “The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issues health certifications to ensure horses being exported meet the import requirements of the receiving country. APHIS does track the final destination of the animals in the receiving country.”

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