Canadian Slaughter Houses No Longer Accept US Horses for Slaughter

Canadian (and possibly Mexican) slaughter houses have been closed to US horses headed for slaughter!!  We have been speaking with advocates all over the country who say that they are seeing signs posted at the auctions stating, "no horse sales until further notice".

The fight is not over, we cannot stop!!  We need to push for a ban even harder now and never give up!!  Contact your legislators and let them know what is going on and ask them to cosponsor
HR 2966/S 1176 - The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act!!  ~Declan


As posted on RT Fitch's blog:

CONFUSION REINS AS CANADIAN SLAUGHTER PLANTS HALT IMPORT OF US HORSES

CONFUSION REINS AS CANADIAN SLAUGHTER PLANTS HALT IMPORT OF US HORSES

Posted: October 12, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse Health, Horse Slaughter
Tags: Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, European Union, Horse, Horse Slaughter,horsemeat, Mexico

Press Release from Equine Welfare Alliance and the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition

Market for Butchered American Horses is Slaughtered

“Shove THAT in your pipe and smoke it, ‘Slaughterhouse’ Sue Wallis”

Chicago (EWA) – US horses are no longer being accepted by Canadianhorse slaughter plants, according to multiple sources. The Shipshewanaauction in Indiana confirmed reports that they have discontinued loose (slaughter) horse sales for an indefinite period of time.

A spokesperson for the Sugar Creek auction in Ohio also confirmed that the kill buyers were no longer taking slaughter horses because “the plants are shut down”. This was further confirmed by a Richelieu slaughter house official. An unconfirmed report by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) indicated it was the result of an EU directive.

Canadian customs officials, however, knew nothing of the action. To add to the confusion, at least one driver stated that he did deliver horses to an undisclosed plant Friday afternoon.

The move came so suddenly that many trucks were already on the way when they learned of it. According to Lambright the issue is that theEuropean Union (EU) has banned American horse meat from being shipped for consumption in Europe. The EWA has yet to receive confirmation from the EU.

Following the closure of US based horse slaughter plants in 2007, the export of horses to slaughter in Canada and Mexico increased dramatically. In 2011 the US exported over 64,000 horses to Canada and 68,000 to Mexico for slaughter.

Documents showing horse meat contaminated with phenylbutazone (a carcinogen) and clenbuterol (a steroid) had recently surfaced, indicating that the CFIA and the EU were both accelerating their residue testing programs. These reports were followed by claims from some kill buyers that blood was being drawn from as many as half their horses (an unprecedented percentage) before they were being accepted.

Since most of the meat from both the Canadian and Mexican plants is being consumed by the EU, it is reported but not confirmed that Mexico too will curtail imports of US horses.

In 2008, the EU announced that it would require third countries to come into compliance with their standards which require horses to be micro-chipped and all their medications tracked, but few observers expected any action would come before the expiration of a July, 2013 deadline.

The most likely explanation for the sudden move is that the expanded residue testing program has yielded worse than anticipated results.