In late February the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition received hidden camera footage of horse slaughter practices at Viande Richelieu in Quebec and Bouvry Exports in Alberta. The videos demonstrated that both facilities fail to meet humane slaughter standards used by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to audit Canadian slaughterhouses.
The videos reveal horses being shot multiple times while still alive and slipping and scrambling as they wait to be slaughtered.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals responded to the footage. “It is clear that neither the facilities nor the behavior of the personnel shown are suited to the humane slaughter of horses, and that extreme suffering results for many individual animals. Problems include failure to restrain each animal’s head properly before shooting, shooting from too great a distance, shooting in the wrong part of the head or body, failure to follow up with an immediate second shot in animals that were not killed by the first, hoisting apparently conscious animals, and—in the case of the Richelieu plant—cruel handling and treatment of the horses, including excessive whipping and overuse of an electric prod as well as an apparent callous disregard for the animals’ suffering.”
“Horse slaughter, when it’s done correctly, can be done really well—just as with cattle,” said Temple Grandin, Ph.D., an expert on humane slaughter facilities. Although she did not review the video footage, she told the CBC News that the key to humane horse slaughter is a stunning box, or kill pen, that is designed specifically for horses and has walls high enough so the animals cannot see over the side as well as non-slip flooring.
WARNING: Content is very graphic and could be disturbing to some viewers
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Richelieu Part I of III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovQdVVR-Bfc
Richelieu Part II of III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w0kAtPQmfA
Richelieu Part III of III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4th6b-IP9k
Photo Slideshow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUlIJqJzWLE
Photo Slides on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cetfa
