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Banning export of live horses for slaughter no threat to other livestock sectors

live horses cramped in transportation truck on their way to slaughter
Published Apr 24, 2024 at 4:00am

A proposed ban on the transport of live horses to Japan for slaughter poses no threat to the rest of the Canadian livestock industry, humane specialists have told the Commons agriculture committee.

Barbara Cartwright, CEO of Humane Canada, said that while her organization supports the ban, it does not see it as “the slippery slope that's going to try to end the meat industry, as some over-emotional arguments claim.”

The horses are different than all the other livestock slaughtered for food in Canada, said Barbara Cartwright. “We’re discussing approximately 2,500 horses whose welfare is at risk because they are uniquely shipped by air to the other side of the world to be killed, which does not ensure that the animals’ fear, anxiety and pain are kept to an absolute minimum prior to that killing”.