Voices for Horses

Definitions:

Feedlots:  these are fenced enclosures or holding pens specifically built to contain hundreds of horses on their way to slaughter. One of the reasons it's so difficult to obtain exact numbers of horses slaughtered is because kill-buyers can tag a horse as one on its way to a feedlot but once it crosses the border, the horse is instead transported straight to the slaughterhouse. There is always a slight difference, for example, between the numbers of slaughter-bound horses cited by Agriculture Canada and those documented by US horse exporters. The "send-receive" numbers are always off by a few thousand.

Kill-buyers (KBs):  these are the intermediaries between the owners and suppliers of horses and the slaughterhouse.  Their job is to negotiate the price of buying several horses (which is frequently worked out with auction-house owners either prior to or during an auction) and arranging for their transport to slaughterhouses.  Sometimes the kill-buyer and the transport truck driver are one and the same person.

Performance-enhancing and horse-specific medications:  Phenylbutazone (aka, bute, PBZ, or "horse's aspirin"), clenbuterol, winstrol, and other drugs (such as those used by breeders to regulate estrus cycles) given to horses are banned for human consumption.  Since North American horses traditionally have not been, and are still not, bred from birth for human consumption, there is no need to track these equine-specific drugs.  These drugs are forbidden to be administered to cows, for example, because cows are bred from birth to be consumed by humans and therefore must be clear of these particular drugs and medications before slaughter.  (The term "purpose-bred" means "bred from birth for purposes of slaughter for human consumption."  We are all born to die--mortality being what it is, I suppose, but I hope none of us is born to be eaten:  so with horses, cats and dogs, all of which are favoured in our culture as non-food and non-food producing animals.)

CFIA:  the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is responsible for food safety and food safety practices and protocols throughout Canada, including the humane handling of food animals, before and during slaughter (the rendering process).  The CFIA's mandate is to ensure that whatever lands on your dinner plate will neither harbour nor contain disease- or death-causing substances, like bute, or viruses, like e-coli, salmonella or trichinella.   The CFIA must also adhere to standards set out by other countries to which we export meat and dairy products.  It is empowered to close down any rendering facility which is found deficient in following, or in gross violation of, its policies or standards, and, along with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) must ensure that live animal transport across borders is carried out humanely, and that any sick, injured, handicapped, blind or pregnant equines are removed from the transport vehicle for appropriate veterinary care.  Chapter 12 of their Manual of Procedure (MOP) specifically requires that incoming animals must be evaluated for signs of distress or suffering and action must be taken to address these situations.

Questions & Answers:

Don't we slaughter only the old, sick or incorrigible horses?

No. Of the over 60 per cent of US horses we import for slaughter in Canada's four abattoirs, most are young and/or healthy; many are Thoroughbreds who can't make the cut at the racetrack, or horses belonging to loving US owners who, for whatever reason become financially or physically unable to continue caring for them and innocently send their horses for sale at auctions, hoping some equally loving owner will buy them. Kill-buyers are present at all auction sales and outbid everyone (including the serious, responsible horse buyers), especially for a horse in good condition whose plump, healthy flesh will make him more money per pound at the slaughterhouse.  All breeds are sent to slaughter.  Quebec tends to favour Quarter Horses and Standardbreds, even its own heritage breed, le Canadien, and the two abattoirs in Alberta receive for slaughter a great number of Belgians sent by the Amish and Mennonite communities in the US.  Draught horses, like Belgians, are particularly sought after by kill-buyers because these are much heavier horses than non-draught breeds; even if they've been starved or abused, they still carry at least one-third more flesh than the average breed--and more flesh means more meat-money.