An animal rights group, backed by Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby, is calling for an all-out ban on the slaughter of horses for human consumption in Canada – a practice that has increased here since it was stopped in the United States.
Ruby called the slaughter of horses in Canada "shockingly inhumane" and said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency does not properly police such slaughter for human consumption and it should be banned.
At a news conference yesterday at Ruby's offices, representatives of the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition showed a graphic video which it says shows horses being slaughtered at Natural Valley Farms in Neudorf, Sask.
The organization says the video demonstrates violations of Canada's food inspection act including: the transportation of animals on double-decker trailers; horses transported with their horseshoes on and not separated for their own protection; the transportation of horses across the U.S./Canadian border and unloaded at night without supervision.
The group also said the video showed evidence of the transportation of injured, blind and emaciated horses (including a horse with a tumour on its face and another with eye cancer) as well as the transportation of a very pregnant mare and the discovery of a full-term foal in a rendering pit that had been eviscerated by animals.
The group also alleges that the horses are not being provided food or water as they wait overnight in pens, are too densely packed and are being improperly stunned before they are killed.
This year alone, at seven federally licensed facilities, an estimated 102,000 horses will be slaughtered in Canada for human consumption in Europe and Asia, the organization says.
It wants a total ban on the slaughter of horses for human consumption and, in the meantime, for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to shut down the Neudorf plant to end a "senseless, inhumane slaughter" of horses.
A CFIA official, who didn't want to be identified, said the agency plans a thorough investigation of the plant and will be asking for an "independent external animal welfare expert" to accompany agency officials during their investigation.
A spokesperson for Natural Valley Farms said the company was not commenting yesterday.
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1 comment:
Because of the excessive amounts of breeding 93% of the 100,000 horses being slaughtered every year are perfectly healthy, but the truth is the United States is over populated with Equine animals.
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