Bouvry Exports in southern Alberta and Viande Richelieu in Massueville, Quebec – where unimaginable cruelty happens and most Canadians have no idea.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) claims that these “federally licensed operators conducting horse slaughter are responsible for ensuring that horses are treated humanely and are slaughtered without unnecessary suffering, as required by federal law”.
The key part to of the above CFIA requirement…what is “humanely”. You see this is a huge loophole found in most animal welfare legislation, laws, guidelines…how “humanely” and “humane care” are defined. So in the case of horse slaughter factories in Canada….LICENSED horse slaughter factories…video released via whistleblowers show what happens is anything BUT what the normal person would call “humane”.
Slaughtering horses in the USA has been banned for close to 2 decades. Their massive horse slaughter factories were de-funded and they closed up shop.
Canada (along with Mexico) was more than happy to help out our neighbour (for a handsome price) by accepting horses from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maine to kill and export the meat to lucrative markets oversees mainly Japan and the EU (mostly Switzerland).
These are not horses bred for meat…nope. These are horses that no one wants anymore:
- Retired race horses
- work horses such as draft horses from farms
- rodeo horses, sport horses
- Pets that no one wanted to buy privately or through auction houses like OLEX in Waterloo
- sick horses no one was willing to vet
Well Its not entirely true that “no one wants them”….kill buyers and slaughterhouses want them very much because they make money off their suffering.
And the manner in which these horses are hauled off to the deaths is absolutely indefensible. These horses are not in appropriate horse trailers, secured so they don’t injure themselves…NO! They are crammed into livestock trailers, not secured and not protected against the elements and they are hauled for hours..hours!
When they finally get to the slaughterhouse, there are some horses injured – very badly injured. Then they face a scene that would make most human beings sick to their stomachs….this is what is allowed in Canada folks!!!!
Consuming horse meat in Canada is not commonplace but it is throughout Quebec, with availability in main street grocery chains like Metro and Sobey’s. It can also be found in speciality butcher shops.
Important Information:
The meat that comes from Canadian slaughterhouse are NOT held to high human consumption health standards…oh no it is not! Read on….
Unlike traditional food animals, horses in Canada and the United States are routinely treated throughout their lives with medications such as phenylbutazone (“bute”), dewormers and other drugs that are TOXIC to humans and explicitly prohibited from the human food chain.
See more information at Ban Horse Slaughter and critical CALL TO ACTION: