HORSE SLAUGHTER
Canada’s Shame
Canada slaughters tens of thousands of horses annually for human consumption. The majority are not raised as food animals, have unknown medical histories, and their meat is tainted with banned substances.
As soon as a horse is sold for slaughter, animal cruelty laws no longer protect them. Horses suffer overcrowding, deprivation of food and water, no shelter from the elements, untreated injuries, inhumane transport, and the terror of a cruel death.
The majority of horses are young and healthy, and most come from the U.S., where horse slaughter has been defunded.
Horses are also exported live by air to be slaughtered in Japan and South Korea. A court case against the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, for failing to enforce their own transport regulations, was heard in Vancouver at the end of October. Unfortunately, the judge ruled that the CFIA was not under obligation to enforce transport laws. An appeal has been filed.
Slaughter has encouraged unchecked breeding, and resulted in a glut of unwanted horses, which ironically, the industry claims to be a solution for.
Those who profit from slaughter insist their motive is to prevent starvation. This story is peddled to a gullible public, who parrot the myth that without slaughter, horses will starve.
Overbreeding is a direct result of supply and demand, and will never stop while a paycheck is being handed out. Neglect will also continue as long as slaughter provides an easy way to dispose of evidence and avoid charges.
Recreational horse owners provide billions to the Canadian economy, and horses are taxed as pets. The slaughter industry profits one man and his family, a handful of kill buyers, and fewer than 100 employees - most whom quit within six months.
Pet horses are stolen and sold to slaughter with no proof of ownership required. Kill buyers masquerade as good homes and prey on trusting sellers. No horse is safe.
Thousands of horse advocates across Canada are distraught over horse slaughter and want it shut down. Meanwhile, our government guards the industry from public scrutiny. Concerns are ignored, and compassionate citizens are forced to helplessly witness the suffering while their voices are silenced.
It’s time for Canada to stop the abuse, of its horses and citizens, and move into the 21st century.
INDEX
•Canadian Slaughter Plants
•Horse Slaughter Videos
•Interview with a Kill Buyer
•Statistics & Export Markets
•Auctions
•Transport
•Border Crossings
•Feedlots
•Live Export
•Drugs & The EID
•Legislation
•Pro-Slaughter Organizations
CANADIAN SLAUGHTER PLANTS
Canada currently has two operating horse slaughter plants.
BOUVRY EXPORTS
Fort Macleod, Alberta
Bouvry Exports is Canada’s main horse slaughter operation, located in Southern Alberta and surrounded by vast feedlots that hold thousands of horses.
RICHELIEU MEATS
Massueville, Quebec
Richileau Meats is located near Montreal, and is owned by Bouvry Exports. Most horses slaughtered here are trucked across the U.S. border directly to the plant.
HORSE SLAUGHTER VIDEOS
WARNING: GRAPHIC!
NOT HUMANE EUTHANASIA
Undercover video investigations have repeatedly shown that it’s impossible to humanely slaughter horses. Their panic combined with quick head movement means the majority of horses cannot be effectively stunned.
In four separate investigations of four different Canadian slaughter plants, over 30% of horses had to be shot multiple times, and many were still conscious when hung by a back leg to be butchered.
“In hidden camera footage we obtained you can actually hear the CFIA vet and workers woo-hooing and yelling, “Look at him go!” at a horse who’s just had his hooves cut off.”
~ Twyla Francois
Canadian Horse Defence Coalition
(Former Director)
Thank you to the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition for the following videos.
Bouvry Videos - Part 1
Blaring music adds to the horses’ stress as they’re pushed towards the stun box, where they sense fear, smell blood and see the remains of other horses. A .22 rifle is used to stun them, and many are not rendered unconscious. This paint horse is shot, thrown back, and then thrashes for 1 1/2 minutes with a bullet lodged in his face.
Richelieu Videos - Part I
In order to humanely stun a horse, the shot must be angled downwards and held 1-2” away. This shooter stands several feet away, below the proper trajectory, and shoots the horse first in one eye, and then the other. He casually takes his time reloading his gun between shots, oblivious to the horse’s suffering. Finally on the third shot the horse goes down.
INTERVIEW WITH A KILL BUYER
STATISTICS & EXPORT MARKETS
New EU regulations came into effect in 2017, requiring horses to be residents of Canada for six months prior to slaughter. This resulted in the closure of Quebec’s second slaughter plant, and a significant decrease in total numbers slaughtered, down to 33,494.
Since the two remaining plants are both owned by Bouvry Exports, the Canadian gov’t will no longer be releasing slaughter statistics, citing “confidentiality.” The last statistics were released in 2017.
Prior to this, 50,000-113,000 horses were slaughtered annually. The majority were from the U.S.
Year: Total Slaughtered / % from U.S.
2006: 50,242 / 43%
2007: 79,613, 40%
2008: 113,064 / 37%
2009: 93,946 / 56%
2010: 89,030 / 60%
2011: 89,399 / 67%
2012: 82,199 / 68%
2013: 71,961 / 59%
2014: 66,785 / 60%
2015: 57,995 / 60%
2016: 54,100 / 54%
2017: 33,494 / 37%
5,000-6,000 horses a year are also live exported to Japan, and these numbers are rising.
Thank you to the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition for providing slaughter statistics.
AUCTIONS
The Gateway to Slaughter
Auctions are where a horse becomes “livestock” and the hell begins.
Up to 95% of horses at Canadian auctions are sold to slaughter. Sick or severely injured horses are regularly dumped at sales and shipped for meat, as well as wild horses and full term pregnant mares.
Ranch horses, racehorses, rodeo horses, former children’s camp horses, show horses, foals, yearlings, old horses, registered horses, family pets, and especially young, fat, healthy horses are all at risk. Heart-rending signs often seen pinned to pens, describing the horse, do nothing to protect them.
Price per pound is all that matters in the sale ring. Kill buyers compete with private homes and rescues in attempt to get as many horses as possible to fill their trucks.
Breeders depend on auctions to offload their excess stock, with zero risk of accountability. Overbreeding is rewarded with profit no matter how many unwanted horses are produced.
“For far too long, the availability of horse slaughter has allowed unscrupulous horse owners and breeders to use slaughter auctions as a dumping ground for their 'excess' horses. It is time for the horse industry to take responsibility for its horses (for their entire lives) instead of hiding behind a foreign-owned industry that preys on our companion animals.”
~Keith Dane
Humane Society of the United States
Horses purchased at auctions are gathered in kill pens, often packed together with no regard for their compatibility, where they’re held until shipped to slaughter.
Pregnant mares have been documented giving birth in the pens, their young foals then loaded with them on the slaughter truck.
This mare foaled in the kill pen at an auction in Kamloops, B.C., and a few hours later was loaded on a semi to Bouvry Exports.
Her foal didn’t survive and was left behind.
The Dawson Creek Auction in Northern B.C. is one of the largest slaughter sales in Canada. Sales of over 700 horses have been recorded, where over 600 sold for meat. Private buyers were ignored as horses were rushed through and sold to regular slaughter customers.
Horses with untreated wounds, broken bones, missing eyes, founder, severe lameness, and foals with crooked legs are all accepted and sold to kill buyers.
This relieves owners of vet or euthanasia bills and instead provides a few hundred dollars in profit. The horse’s suffering is dismissed, since it’s “going to be slaughtered anyway.”
Auctions go to great lengths to remain hidden. In most cases, if anyone is caught taking photos or exposing what’s happening at an auction, they’re immediately kicked out.
People tiptoe around auctions, claiming sales are a horse’s last chance. The silence of witnesses only perpetuates the unchecked cruelty, irresponsibility and suffering that slaughter has enabled in the horse industry.
TRANSPORT
Section under construction.
BORDER CROSSINGS
There are two categories of horses coming from the U.S. into Canada for slaughter: “Slaughter Horses” and “Feeder Horses.”
All horses must cross the border at designated ports of entry, during CFIA hours.
“Slaughter horses” are heading directly to a plant and must be slaughtered within four days. They require a border appointment 24 hours in advance and inspection by a CFIA veterinarian. The truck is then sealed and can only be opened by CFIA at the plant. Horses do not require a Coggins test.
Under no circumstances can drivers assist or unload the horses. In one case, horses remained on the truck without food or water for an entire long weekend when a driver arrived after closing time Friday.
“Feeder horses” are heading to a feedlot to be fattened for slaughter. They may or may not be inspected at the border and the trucks are not sealed.
All horses designated for the EU market must be held six months at a feedlot before slaughter, and are required to have a negative Coggins test. In this video a kill buyer admits to using forged Coggins papers that don’t match the horses he’s hauling.
There are eight legal ports of entry for horses:
•Kingsgate, British Columbia
8 AM - 4 PM
•Coutts, Alberta
8 AM - 4 PM
•North Portal, Saskatchewan
8 AM - 4 PM
•Sarnia (Point Edward), Ontario
8 AM - 4 PM
•Windsor, Ontario
8 AM - 4 PM
•Niagara Falls (Queenston), Ont
8 AM - 4 PM
•Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec
8:15 AM - 4:30 PM
•Woodstock, New Brunswick
8 AM - 4:30 PM
FEEDLOTS
Bouvry Exports owns over 2000 acres in Southern Alberta, where thousands of horses are warehoused in crowded feedlots and fattened for slaughter. Horses have no shelter from the elements, injured or sick horses receive no treatment, mares give birth, and horses that die can remain days before being removed.
This young foal lies beneath its mother at the “Prime” feedlot near Granum, just north of the slaughter plant. This is Bouvry’s largest feedlot. It used to hold 10,000 horses at any given time, but in recent years hasn’t been as full.
Many horses are large draft breeds being fattened to produce marbled meat, preferred by the Japanese market.
Bouvry’s “U” brand is visible on many feedlot horses, as well as huge numbers branded onto their sides. Any painkiller administered after branding would make the horses ineligible for slaughter.
In 2012, Animals’ Angels documented suffering horses at Bouvry’s Range Road feedlots, including a dying mare with a dead foal stuck in her birth canal.
Law enforcement was called and SPCA eventually showed up, but after a friendly chat with a Bouvry worker, nothing was done to help the mare. AA investigators were told they were trespassing, and a Bouvry worker began recording their vehicle plates.
Photo credit: Animals’ Angels
Bouvry Exports also owns the “Bar S” feedlot in Shelby, Montana. This was the main collecting station for horses gathered at auctions across the U.S. So many horses came off the trailers dead or injured, that there used to be a large disposal pit filled with their bodies.
Fewer horses are held here since regulations came into effect in 2017, requiring horses slaughtered for the EU market to be held in Canada for six months.
Photo of Bar S Feedlot in 2013, by Animals’ Angels.
LIVE EXPORT
Section under construction.
DRUGS & THE EID
Section under construction.
BILL C-544
June 2010
Introduced by British Columbia Member of Parliament, Alex Atamenenko.
An act to amend the Health of Animals Act and the Meat Inspection Act, to prohibit the importation or exportation
(a) of horses for slaughter for human consumption; and
(b) of horse-meat products for human consumption.
Due to a federal election, C-544 didn’t proceed.
BILL C-571
January 2014
An act to amend the Meat Inspection Act and the Safe Food for Canadians Act (slaughter of equines for human consumption), sponsored by Alex Atamanenko.
This would have ensured that any horse slaughtered for human consumption had a lifetime medical record and was raised from birth specifically for slaughter.
The Bill was unanimously supported by the Liberals and most of the NDP. It was defeated in May 2014 by a then majority Conservative government.
RECORDED VOTES
102 yeas:
Conservative 2
Liberal 30
NDP 66
Other 4
155 nays:
Conservative 142
Liberal 0
NDP 10
Other 3
PRO-SLAUGHTER ORGANIZATIONS
Section under construction.
FORMER HORSE SLAUGHTER PLANTS
These plants are not currently slaughtering horses.
LES VIANDES DE LA PETITE NATION
Saint-Andre-Avellin, Quebec
This Quebec plant mainly slaughtered horses coming directly from the U.S. to supply the EU market. New EU regulations came into effect March 1, 2017, requiring horses to be residents of Canada for six months prior to slaughter. This cut off LPN’s supply of horses and the plant shut down, although they’re still licensed for horses.
Prior to this, undercover video showed horses being shot up to 11 times with a captive bolt gun, in attempt to render them unconscious. LPN is the subject of the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition’s investigation, “Pasture to Plate.”
CANADIAN PREMIUM MEATS
Lacombe, Alberta
Canadian Premium Meats is a mixed slaughterhouse that used to slaughter horses one day a week. Horses were supplied by Scott Irvine, owner of Irvine Tack & Western Wear, located in Crossfield, Alberta. Horses also came across the U.S. border in sealed trucks.
It’s unclear when CPM stopped slaughtering horses. In 2016, an article in The Western Producer claimed that buyers for CPM were pushing horse prices up at local auctions. CPM is still licensed for horses and could resume at any time.
NATURAL VALLEY FARMS
Nuedorf, Saskatchewan
Natural Valley was an infamous Saskatchewan horse slaughterhouse that slaughtered 200 horses a day, five days a week. It shut down in 2009, after violating food safety, humane handling, and environmental regulations.
Natural Valley was the subject of the 2014 Global News Documentary, “Tainted Meat.”
KML MEAT PROCESSORS
Westwold, British Columbia
KML is a mixed slaughter plant located between Kamloops and Vernon in B.C. KML had slaughtered horses in the past and after a change in ownership, resumed horse slaughter in 2013. A protest was held outside the plant shortly after.
The plant claims it stopped slaughtering horses in 2015. Apparently the owners switched to the more lucrative live export market. KML is not currently licensed to slaughter horses.
NORVAL MEATS
Proton Station, Ontario
In February 2010 a suspicious fire closed Norval Meats, which was the last horse slaughter plant in Ontario.