Horse Slaughter: The Endurance and Cruelty of ‘America’s Dirty Secret’ | Episode 52

Australia has its kangaroos. China, its beloved pandas. In the United States, we have horses. We love them. We revere them. Children delight in seeing them. We cheer them on when they race around tracks from sea to shining sea.

But there’s a rancid underbelly to our treatment of horses, and a new investigative report, “U.S. Live Exports Fade as Foreign Demand Abates | An Investigative Report on Horses and Other Equines Sent to Slaughter in Canada and Mexico,” looks into it. It was published by Animal Wellness Action, the Center for a Humane Economy and Animals’ Angels. The results are by turns stomach-churning and heart-breaking.

The dark side is this: While it is illegal to slaughter horses in the U.S., it remains legal–and profitable–to sell horses for transport into Canada and Mexico for that purpose. Yes, as foreign demand dries up, fewer horses are so destined. But with about 20,000 horses a year still sent to the kill plants, we have a long way to go.

Retired race horses. Spent carriage horses. Unwanted companion horses. Any one of them may end up thrust into an overcrowded and often uncovered holding pen, shoved into an overcrowded and sweltering truck, and finally corralled through a maze of gates until the end finally comes.

“We documented that cruelty goes hand-in-hand with horse slaughter. Every step along the way,” said report co-author Sonja Meadows of Animals’ Angels. “It's really like somebody flips a switch. The minute a horse is unloaded at the loading dock of an auction and labeled a kill horse, the minute that determination is made, everything that horse experiences from then on will be dramatically different and completely inhumane.”

Meadows is joined in this podcast by Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, and Scott Beckstead, director of campaigns for the organizations. They review the findings of the report with host Joseph Grove. Shown are some images from it as well as some video that was captured along the way. Notice: they are not pleasant to view.

Marty Irby, executive director of Animal Wellness Action, provides a legislative update at the conclusion of the interview.

You can watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/QsQhaMMlmMA

 

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