AMERICAN HORSES SLAUGHTERED SINCE JANUARY 2019

Approximately 36,885 American horses were exported for slaughter in 2020. According to data collected by the Equine Welfare Database Collective, there is daily rescue capacity for 47,000 horses in rescue facilities. Note this data does not include all rescues in the U.S. or any individuals who are looking to adopt. With slaughter numbers on the decline, trends and data suggest there are enough homes for at-risk horses in the slaughter pipeline each year. 

Horse slaughter is demand-driven. Companies do not slaughter horses to control the horse population. Let's shift the conversation to access and accountability. Develop a network and infrastructure for horse surrender and rehoming. Create a centralized tracking system for data capture and analysis. Establish euthansia and carcass disposal criteria, access, and guidelines. Work with private donors, as well as local, state, and federal budget offices to define funding needs and parameters. Champion responsible breeding and ownership.

No. It is impossible to humanely slaughter horses due to their physiology. Without the use of sedatives, it often takes several blows of a penetrating captive bolt gun to render a horse unconscious before the slaughter process. As a result, horses are often still conscious when slaughtered and/or experience horrific suffering and fear prior to being slaughtered. The American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Equine Practitioners recommend using a sedative on horses prior to administering a penetrating captive bolt gun, but slaughter facilities are unable to do so because it would be inefficient and sedatives would contaminate the meat. 

No. When horse slaughter was regulated in the U.S., the USDA documented horrific horse welfare violations at the three main slaughterhouses—Dallas Crown (Kaufman, TX), Beltex (Ft. Worth, TX), and Cavel (DeKalb, IL). Beltex owns Empacadora de Carnes de Fresnillo, and former Dallas Crown stakeholders are affiliated with Canicos de Jerez. Jerez and Fresnillo are the two largest horse slaughter plants in Mexico and located in Zacatecas; they slaughter the majority of the American horses exported for slaughter. These plants were approved to supply the EU with horse meat for human consumption, but the EU stopped importing horse meat from Mexico due to horse welfare and traceability concerns. The same welfare concerns that were cited by the EU, were also cited by the USDA in its Beltex and Dallas Crown inspections. 

The USDA also documented significant transportation violations when horse slaughter was regulated in the U.S. The same kill buyers who shipped to the U.S. slaughterhouses are now shipping to Mexico. And since the plants were located in Texas and Illinois, some horses were traveling just as far.

Unfortunately, the USDA did not have the funding needed to appropriately oversee slaughter operations in the U.S., and there is little indication that Congress would allocate the needed funding if horse slaughter were to return domestically. This puts aside the fact that horses can’t be humanely slaughtered without the use of sedatives. The funding needed to appropriately oversee horse slaughter operations in the U.S. could instead be funneled into not only championing responsible breeding and ownership, but also developing a network and infrastructure for horse surrender and rehoming, creating a centralized tracking system for data capture and analysis, and establishing euthansia and carcass disposal criteria, access, and guidelines.

In the U.S., horses are considered livestock for legal and tax purposes. Most Americans consider horses as pets and companion animals, not as products and/or food. They are our partners in sport and in work. 

Horses are very intelligent, intuitive, and social animals. Emerging studies indicate horses have similar behavioral and cognitive abilities to dogs, and they are similar to dogs in the bonds they form with humans. They are able to read facial expressions, remember humans, understand many situations, change their behavior based on human emotion, as well as point to and identify symbols.