Horse welfare declines after closing of U.S. slaughter plants

The forced closure of the horse slaughter plants in the U.S. has devastated the U.S. horse market and seriously depressed the Canadian horse industry. Should Canada shut the border to American slaughter horses to protect the Canadian market – and force the Americans to stand up to the activists?

The Billings Gazette 

The closure of the last U.S. horse slaughter plants in the fall of 2007 has failed to reduce the number of horses shipped to slaughter. Instead, the federal funding ban had the unintended consequence of forcing horses to be shipped great distances to be slaughtered in Canada or Mexico where they are killed and not necessarily humanely.

That’s one key conclusion from a 62-page report released Wednesday from the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. The report confirms what many horse owners have been saying for years: Because of a glut in the horse market, prices for all but the most expensive horses are seriously depressed.

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