Horse slaughter in Canada has roughly doubled to 100,000 horses per year since the United States banned horse slaughter there last year.
That’s according to a report from the Alberta Equine Welfare Group whose membership includes the RCMP, livestock groups and veterinarians.
Mexico is also increasing its horse slaughter. U.S. exports to Mexico have risen 312 percent since the ban began.
The main problem, according to the equine welfare group, is the use of double decker trucks, in which horses do not have enough headroom for a long journey. The practice is prohibited for meat horses in Canada and the U.S.
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The welfare group has written to agriculture minister Gerry Ritz and Stockwell Day, minister of public safety, asking for increased inspections at the border to ensure commercial truckers are following the rules, said Bill desBarres, spokesperson for the group.
A legal loophole in both countries states if the horses are identified as riding horses or feeder animals, they do not have to be inspected and could be shipped on double deckers, which allows shippers to load more animals per truck.
“United States truckers take advantage of that,” said desBarres.
“If they lie about what they are doing, we don’t have control over that.”
Unless there is a complaint, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency does not inspect U.S. horses imported into Canada for purposes other than slaughter, said des Barres.
Also, Canadian horses moving within Alberta and travelling interprovincially are not inspected.
However, for international travel, the rules are different. Since Dec. 7, 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations have stated American horses transported to Canadian meat plants must arrive in single decker trucks and must be inspected by veterinarians on both sides of the border, said spokesperson Madeline Fletcher of the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
“The owner-shipper has to have documents saying they are going to slaughter. However, if they don’t say they are going to slaughter then we do not have any role over their transport,” she said.
A proposed rule suggested equines delivered to stop-off points before going to slaughter, whether it is an auction, feedlot or assembly yard, would be subject to the same regulations as those going directly for processing. This amendment is working through the legislative procedure, said Fletcher.
The export of horses for processing remains legal, but once horses leave the country, U.S. authority over their treatment ends. However, Fletcher said the U.S. plans to inspect Canadian and Mexican plants and border crossings and it will continue to receive owner-shipper certificates from Canadian plants and the Mexican border.
The Alberta report said there are about 300,000 horses in Alberta. About one percent is raised primarily for meat, while the rest are working or sport animals.
There are four horse feedlots in Alberta with about 20,000 horses on feed at any given time, with an average stay of 60 to 80 days before slaughter. One of the lots handles horses strictly for the Japanese meat market.
The report said more than one billion people eat horse meat annually and the consumption has increased since 1990. China consumes the greatest amount of horse meat at 421,620 tonnes each year. Horse meat is also consumed throughout western and eastern Europe as well as Japan.
