How many horses are slaughtered in the United States each year?

Each year, thousands of horses are slaughtered. In 2003, according to USDA records 50,564 horses were killed in the US alone for human consumption. In addition, many thousands of live horses were transported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. National Agricultural Statistics Service/USDA

Is there a demand for horsemeat?

There is no demand for horsemeat in the US. The largest markets for horsemeat are Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Mexico, and Japan.

What happens to unwanted horses?

Horses and ponies of all breeds and ages are slaughtered, from draft types to miniatures. Horses that are unsuccessful at racing; lame, ill, or surplus riding school and camp horses; mares whose foals aren't economically valuable; and foals that are "byproducts" of the Pregnant Mare Urine (PMU) or Premarin© industry. Their flesh is then shipped to Europe, Japan, and Mexico for human consumption. Thousands of additional horses are shipped live to Canada, Mexico and even Japan for slaughter. Their owners are often unaware of the pain and suffering the horses endure before being slaughtered.

The cruelty of horse slaughter is not limited to the actual procedure of killing. Often, terrified horses are crammed together and driven to slaughter in double-decker trucks designed for cattle and pigs. The truck ceilings are so low that the horses are unable to hold their heads in a normal, balanced position. Stallions, mares, and foals are unnaturally forced together, making fighting and injury common. Some horses arrive at the slaughter plant seriously injured or even dead.

How are they killed?

According to federal law, horses must be rendered unconscious prior to slaughter, usually with a captive bolt pistol. However, some are improperly stunned and still conscious when shackled, hoisted by a rear leg, and have their throats cut.

Slaughter is NOT an alternative to humane euthanasia by a qualified veterinarian as some would like you to believe. Euthanasia, according to an article written by Dr. Sean Bowman in the February 22, 2003 issue of Blood Horse, "is an induction to anesthesia, just like for surgery, but the veterinarian continues to overdose. The horses are not afraid; there is no fear of anticipation."

Are there any federal or state laws protecting them from these cruelties?

A few states - California, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and Vermont - have laws that were intended to prevent some of these abuses. Unfortunately, even in these states enforcement is inadequate, as evidenced by the continuing use of double-decker trailers even where they are illegal. Texas currently has a law prohibiting the sale of horsemeat for human consumption even though two of the three remaining slaughterhouses reside in Texas.

http://www.law/utexas.edu/dawson/cruelty/cruelty.htm

What alternatives exist to slaughtering horses for human consumption?

Several alternatives exist. Many equine rescue organizations will take horses that are unwanted and find them homes. Horses that can no longer live comfortably due to age or illness should be humanely euthanized with the assistance of a veterinarian.

EUTHANASIA

Isn’t it inhumane to allow horses to be euthanized by gunshot?

The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act contains a provision under which horses may be humanely euthanized in very specific circumstances (when the horse is suffering so greatly that euthanasia is the only humane option, or in the rare circumstance that permanent placement of the horse at a sanctuary or other suitable facility is not possible. However, euthanasia must be performed in accordance with methods approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association in its “2000 Report of the AVMA Panel on Euthanasia,” with the exception of electrocution and captive bolt. Acceptable methods include the use of lethal injection with various approved chemical agents.

Physical methods such as a gunshot are considered conditionally acceptable in an emergency situation. While aesthetically displeasing, a gunshot can be humane and effective. According to the AVMA’s report, “A properly placed gunshot can cause immediate insensibility and humane death. In some circumstances, a gunshot may be the only practical method of euthanasia. Shooting should only be performed by highly skilled personnel trained in the use of firearms and only in the jurisdictions that allow for legal firearm use.”

While euthanasia of horses under this provision is likely to be rare indeed, the majority of any horses euthanized under this provision are likely to be treated with a chemical agent. However, physical methods may be required in extreme circumstances where an arresting officer determines that a horse is suffering to such an extent that immediate euthanasia is the only humane option, and is unable to secure immediate veterinary care in order to have the horse euthanized via chemical injection. In such rare circumstances, euthanasia by gunshot, if administered properly, would be both humane and effective.

Slaughter is not a form of humane euthanasia

Opponents of the AHSPA portray horse slaughter as a form of humane euthanasia, citing the American Veterinary Medical Association's classification of the captive-bolt as acceptable for euthanizing equines. This simplistic presentation of the facts fails to acknowledge the vast difference between efficient administration of the captive-bolt by a highly trained veterinarian with appropriate restraint of the horse’s head (the AVMA specifies that the captive-bolt is acceptable “with appropriate restraint”) and its improper use by low-skilled slaughterhouse employees without proper head restraint. Improper use of the captive-bolt during slaughter means that horses may often endure repeated blows with the device, and may be improperly stunned as they proceed through slaughter.

Further, this misrepresentation of the facts fails to recognize the immense suffering that horses endure before they ever arrive at the slaughterhouse. Federal regulations currently allow horses to be transported for more than 24 hours at a time without food, water or rest, on double-deck cattle trailers, with broken limbs, with eyes missing. These permitted conditions contrast sharply with generally-accepted practices for moving horses in a humane manner. Euthanasia of a horse by a licensed veterinarian is a far cry from the suffering faced by horses sent to slaughter, and it is disingenuous to suggest that the two are comparable simply because the mechanism by which horses are stunned at the slaughterhouse can, in theory, be humane.

Opponents of the AHSPA claim that horse slaughter is necessary, as there is no other way to deal with the disposal of so many unwanted horses. Is there any truth to this claim?

As many as 690,000 horses (10% of the total estimated population of 6.9 million) are believed to die of natural causes or are euthanized annually. The carcasses of these horses are buried, rendered or otherwise disposed of without resorting to slaughter. 50,564 horses were slaughtered in the US last year. If slaughter were no longer an option and these horses were rendered or buried instead, this would represent an increase of less than 1% in the number of horses being disposed of in this manner - an increase that the current infrastructure can certainly sustain. However, it is anticipated that many of the horses previously slaughtered would instead be kept by their owners or placed at sanctuaries, thereby reducing any impact on the current infrastructure even further.

PLACEMENT OF “UNWANTED” HORSES

If horses can’t be slaughtered, where will the thousands of horses now being slaughtered go? What kind of infrastructure is in place to absorb these “unwanted” animals?

In the early 1990s, over 300,000 horses were slaughtered annually in the US. Due to a decreasing demand for horsemeat in Europe, that number dropped to 50,564 in 2003. No special infrastructure was created to absorb the thousands of “unwanted” horses that were not slaughtered during this time. Instead, horses were kept longer, were sold to another owner or, in some cases, were humanely euthanized and buried or rendered.

The number of horses that went to slaughter in the US last year (50,564) represents less than 1% (.6%) of the total horse population in the US. “Unwanted” horses who are not humanely euthanized can continue to be kept by their owners, can be sold to a new home, or placed in one of the many horse sanctuaries springing up across the country. Education within the horse community about these humane alternatives to slaughter is already occurring, and will continue to do so.

ABUSE AND NEGLECT OF “UNWANTED” HORSES

Won’t a ban on horse slaughter mean that there will be a rise in the number of horse neglect and abuse cases?

No, in 1998 California passed a law banning the slaughter of horses and the sale of horses for slaughter. Since then, there has been no discernible increase in cruelty and neglect cases in the state. Opponents of the AHSPA claim that the only option for some people who are unable/unwilling to keep their horse and who can’t afford to have their horse euthanized by a veterinarian is to sell their horse to slaughter, or to turn him/her out into the field to starve to death. While prices vary across the country, it costs on average between $50 and $150 to have a horse humanely euthanized and disposed of – a tiny fraction of the cost involved in keeping a horse as a companion or work animal. Further, it is illegal to neglect and starve a horse, and animal control agents and humane officers across the country are charged with enforcing our humane laws.

Carolyn Stull, Ph.D., animal welfare specialist at the Veterinary Medical Extension at the University of California, Davis, noted that there has been no increase in the number of horses being neglected in California as a result of the law. "One concern when the law passed was that there might be an increase in neglected or starved horses," she says. "This has not been the case."

Furthermore, figures from Illinois show that the number of abuse cases leveled off and dropped in Illinois after the state’s only horse slaughtering facility was destroyed by fire in 2002. They had been increasing by about 100 new cases a year until the facility was destroyed when they then leveled off. During 2002, the Illinois based Hooved Animal Humane Society (HAHS) , the received 262 complaints of potential hooved animal (primarily equine) abuse and neglect in the state of Illinois. As of December 23, 2003, The Society has received 165 complaints according to Lydia F. Gray, DVM, MA, HAHS Executive Director.