According to the Equine Welfare Alliance (from USDA statistics), in 2012, 176,223 American horses were shipped to Mexico (110,202), Canada (59,812), and Japan (6,209) for slaughter. 176,223. That’s a 32% increase from 2011 and the most American horses slaughtered since 1993. A Wild for Life Foundation study found that roughly 19% of the horses shipped to slaughter are Thoroughbreds. In other words, about 33,000 Thoroughbreds met cruel and violent ends in abattoirs last year.
Now consider this: The Jockey Club estimates the 2012 foal “crop” at 22,500, meaning significantly more American Thoroughbreds were exsanguinated than born. Bustling butcher lines. Is this, horseracing industry, what you mean by “responsible aftercare”? Something to ponder as the annual pilgrimage to Saratoga continues…
How they die (from the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition):
2010 undercover video of two Canadian slaughterhouses
2011 undercover video of yet another Canadian slaughterhouse
Somehow we just want deal with the fantasy world of racing, the Saratogas, the Kentucky derbies and so on. Most of the time no thought is given to how the majority of these horses lives are ended in such a brutal way and the suffering they endure even before they are butchered. It is an ugly situation. The industry looks the other way while the money is raked in.
The great state of Kentucky is one of 4 states with the weakest animal cruelty laws while the state income tops 4 billion a year from the horse industry. What a shame.