Horse slaughter is the practice of slaughtering horses to produce meat for consumption. Humans have long consumed horse meat; the oldest known cave art, the 30,000-year-old paintings in France's Chauvet Cave, depict horses with other wild animals hunted by humans. Equine domestication is believed to have begun to raise horses for human consumption.Early Domestication of Horse , Lilian Lam, Swarthmore College Environmental Studies, retrieved May 9, 2012p. 21. Élise Rousseau. 2017. Horses of the World. Princeton University Press. The practice has become controversial in some parts of the world due to several concerns: whether horses are (or can be) managed humanely in industrial slaughter; whether horses not raised for consumption yield safe meat, and whether it is appropriate to consume what some view as a companion animal. __TOC__
Methods
In most countries where horses are slaughtered for food, they are processed in industrial abattoirs similarly to cattle. Typically, a penetrating captive bolt gun or gunshot is used to render the animal unconscious. The blow (or shot) is intended to kill the horse instantly or stun it,United States Humane Slaughter Act , § 1902 Humane Methods, retrieved May 10, 2012 with exsanguination (bleeding out) conducted immediately afterwards to ensure death. Saleable meat is removed from the carcass, with the remains rendered for other commercial uses.
According to equine-welfare advocates, the physiology of the equine cranium is such that neither the penetrating captive bolt gun nor gunshots are reliable means of killing (or stunning) a horse; the animal may be only paralyzed. Unless properly checked for vital signs, a horse may remain conscious and experience pain during skinning and butchering.Use of the 'Penetrating Captive Bolt' As A Means Of Rendering Equines Insensible For Slaughter Violates The Humane Slaughter Act Of 1958 , Manes and Tails Organization, retrieved May 10, 2012Horse Slaughter Images and Description , Intl' Fund for Horses, retrieved May 10, 2012Canadians: Act Now to Ban Horse Slaughter! , People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, retrieved May 10, 2012,
History Some countries, such as Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and France have maintained a tradition of eating horse meat.
Horse meat also was a traditional protein source during food shortages, such as during World War I and World War II. Before the advent of motorized warfare, campaigns usually resulted in tens of thousands of equine deaths; troops and civilians ate the carcasses, since troop logistics were often unreliable. Troops of Napoleon's Grande Armée killed almost all of their horses during their retreat from Moscow to feed themselves. In his biography, Fifty Years a Veterinary Surgeon, Fredrick Hobday wrote that when his British Army veterinary field hospital arrived in Cremona from France in 1916 it was the subject of a bidding war (won by Milanese horse-meat canners) for salvageable equine carcasses.
During World War II, the less-motorized Axis troops lost thousands of horses in combat and during the unusually-cold Russian winters. Malnourished soldiers consumed the animals, often shooting weaker horses as needed. In his 1840s book, London Labour and the London Poor, Henry Mayhew wrote that horse meat was priced differently in Paris and London.
Controversy In some countries, horses are perceived as deserving of humane consideration because of their roles as working animals and for sport. This perception may be greater in countries where horses are not bred or raised for food. According to a 2012 UK MORI survey, 50 percent of respondents in France as well as 51 percent in Belgium and 58 percent in Italy thought it acceptable to eat horses.
Several equine and animal-welfare organizations oppose slaughter or support a ban on horse slaughter, but other animal organizations and animal-agriculture groups support the practice. According to livestock-slaughter expert Temple Grandin, horse slaughter can be humane with proper facility design and management.
Stolen horses have been sold to auctions, where they are bought by "kill buyers" and shipped to slaughter. Auctions enable horses to be sold without owner consent, by theft or misappropriation. According to California Livestock and Identification Bureau statistics, the 1998 ban on horse slaughter in California was followed by a 34-percent decrease in horse theft.
Long-distance transport One concern about the welfare of horses destined for slaughter is the long distances the horses are sometimes transported to a slaughterhouse. In 2013, 32,841 horses were slaughtered in Italy; of these, 32,316 were transported from other EU states.
Worldwide +Argentina-Horse Meat world production figures , Farming UK, January 17, 2009. Country Tons per year Mexico 78,000 Argentina 57,000 Kazakhstan 55,000 Mongolia 38,000 Kyrgyzstan 25,000 United States25,000 "The horse meat industry." Meat Trade News Daily, 06 Oct 2009. In 2009, a British agriculture industry website reported the listed horse meat production levels in various countries. Australia 24,000 Brazil 21,000 Canada 18,000 Poland 18,000 Italy 16,000* Romania 14,000 Chile 10,000 France 7,500 Uruguay 8,000 Senegal 9,500 Colombia 6,000 Spain 5,000** Includes donkeys
Ireland + Horses slaughtered in Ireland, by year Year Horses 2012 24,362 2013 10,711 2014 7,602 2015 6,033 2016 7,618 2017 7,748 2018 6,573 In 2019, Ireland's Department of Agriculture released figures on the numbers of horses slaughtered at government-approved abattoirs for human consumption. The numbers peaked in 2012, but significantly decreased the following year due to stricter regulations put in place after the 2013 horse meat scandal in Europe.
In 2024, an RTÉ Investigates program, Horses – Making a Killing which went undercover inside an Irish horse slaughterhouse, found widescale animal abuses and incidents of workers purposely misidentifying animals. Animals were shown to have identifying markings covered with spray paint and new microchips inserted prior to slaughter. Journalists from the Investigates program examined the details of 2,400 horses slaughtered at Shannonside Foods Ltd between January 1, 2023 and March 1, 2024. They found that 71% of the slaughtered animals were thoroughbreds bred for the racing industry, over 400 of which had racing careers, and the rest were sport or leisure horses. The documentary led to investigations by Europol, the European Commission and the Irish Department of Agriculture. Meat from the abattoir featured in the documentary was later destroyed over food safety concerns.
United States
Food safety Horses in the United States are not bred or raised for meat. Nearly all equine medications and treatments are labeled, "Not for horses intended for human consumption." Meat from American horses raises a number of potential health concerns, primarily due to the routine use of medications banned in food animals and a lack of tracking of such use. Unlike livestock raised for food (where all potential medications are tested for withdrawal times and vigilantly tracked), there is no way to guarantee which medications have been used in a particular horse. During November and December 2010 inspections of EU-regulated plants in Mexico which slaughtered horses for human consumption, the European Commission Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) uncovered violations.Horsebackmagazine.com "In a report filed by the FVO (Food and Veterinary Office), a number of serious violations and actions taken were cited, including these noted by Animals’ Angels. Two out of five establishments failed to meet EU requirements relating to slaughter hygiene and water quality. Additionally, there were non-traceable carcasses, a number of which were in contact with EU eligible horse meat. No export certificates will be issued until these issues are satisfactorily resolved. Random samples were taken from horse meat processed in 2008, 2009 and 2010 tested positive for EU prohibited drug residues. Sworn statements made by horse owners on veterinary medical treatment histories were not authenticated and proven false, including cases of positive results for EU prohibited drug residues. From January and October 2010, of the 62,560 US horses shipped to slaughter 5,336 were rejected at the border due to advanced pregnancy, health problems or injuries. In a visit to one US export pen, 12 of the 30 horses held there were rejected." Most American horses destined for slaughter are transported to EU-regulated plants in Mexico and Canada. Horses, unlike traditional food animals in the United States, are not raised (or medicated) with the intent of becoming human food. Because American horses are not intended for the human food chain, they often receive medications banned by the Food and Drug Administration for use in food animals. Concern also exists that horse meat will be mixed with ground-beef products and sold improperly labeled in the US, as occurred during the European 2013 horse meat scandal.
Before 2007, three major equine slaughterhouses operated in the United States: Dallas Crown in Kaufman, Texas; Beltex Corporation in Fort Worth, Texas; and Cavel International in DeKalb, Illinois. All were Belgian-owned, with Multimeat also having French and Dutch ownership; Velda owned Cavel, Multimeat owned Beltex and Chevideco owned Dallas Crown. The slaughterhouses exported about $42 million in horse meat annually, with most going overseas. About 10 percent of their output was sold to zoos to feed their carnivores, and 90 percent was shipped to Europe and Asia for human consumption. Although the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to end horse slaughter in 2006, the bill never came to a vote before the Senate. The two Texas horse-slaughter plants were ordered closed in 2007, after protracted battles with local municipalities who objected to their financial drain on the municipalities (no tax revenue), ditches of blood, dismembered foals and noxious odors in residential neighborhoods. Later that year, the Cavel plant was closed after local community action.
The director of equine protection of the Humane Society of the United States reported seizing large numbers of horses, and equine-rescue facilities were taking in more horses than ever despite a record number of horses shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter.Amy Hamilton, Horse abandonment rises , January 24, 2010, trib.comCases of horse neglect, abandonment growing in Colorado , January 24, 2010, Colorado Springs Gazette The equine market was saturated by increased breeding.The unintended consequences of a ban on the humane slaughter (processing) of horses in the United States , Animal Welfare Council, Inc.
In March 2012, Wyoming state Representative Sue Wallis proposed a new horse-meat processing plant in Missouri or Arkansas. According to Wallis, she had six million dollars to invest and support from Belgian horse-meat buyers. In May Wallis sought local investors in Wyoming to help finance the plant, which she said could cost between two and six million dollars and would process up to 200 horses a day for sale abroad and to ethnic markets in the US. In 2013 the Obama Administration proposed the removal of funding for USDA inspection of horse-slaughter plants in the 2014 fiscal year, which would prevent horse slaughter.
Federal bills