More from Equine Welfare Alliance

Link to CBC segment on Canadian horse slaughter 05.18.10

No Country for Horses, our in-depth feature about the horse slaughter industry in Canada, originally aired on June 10, 2008.


With slaughterhouses closed in the U.S. and lucrative markets for horsemeat in France and Japan, the horse slaughter industry in Canada is booming. It's a controversial business to begin with, and after a lengthy investigation, CBC News has uncovered disturbing information about the way horses are transported, and the way they are slaughtered at one plant.
Now, some are asking whether this sector is being properly monitored, and how the slaughter of horses can ever be called humane.
Mellissa Fung reports.

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103415543035&s=53&e=001_Z8A3lSfNVTcTj0IsYot4HNSFedbKvDo7VI2-1BcCLF7R5U8SLSZowP6wde4_AxatcecjhJOqfPOzlUVBZVssglR1T4S_4r3kbk5vdByd_xB_6dpnPlx_Wic9abg6jEYfHmQxQpwfjF7yNpcBJ2vb_cbmAdp_Ay0-_qPSc9TZGuaP-j3RsKo2zuzqWGONOzJp4q0POInExw6tqXG5bv1oA==


More from Temple Grandin:

The following are selected responses about the conditions and quality of horse slaughter plants from an interview between reporter Mellissa Fung (MF) and Dr. Temple Grandin (TG), a designer of livestock handling facilities and a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD STUN BOX
TG: You have to have a non-slip floor - I can't emphasize that enough. The problem with flooring is that it wears out gradually, and people don't realize it's wearing out and the slipping and the falling gradually gets worse and worse and worse. If you have a slippery floor, animals panic. All species of animals panic when I go into new plant that's got a problem that I haven't been in before. I’ve had to put in new materials on the bottom of the stun box for non-slip flooring. It's easy to fix. You can put mats down or weld rods on the bottom of the box. One of the problems you get is called jigging and the foot will just go like this (makes a sound with her hand on table) and the animals will go more and more into a panic. Well, one little steel rod and that stops, and sometimes, that's all. It’s amazing sometimes how little tiny fixes will work.
RICHELIEU MEAT INC.
TG: There was a horse looking out over the top of the cattle stun box. That is not acceptable. You need high solid sides so the horse cannot see out into the plant. That's an easy fix, you're talking about just framing up a little bit of steel and putting some metal on that. You're not talking about capital improvements here.
MF: Why is it bad for a horse to be able to look out of the stun box?
TG: If the horse can see out, you get a lot of motion and commotion, which is scary. You don't want them seeing a lot of commotion. In the lead up to the stun box they can look over the top, that's fine, but once they go into the door through the plant they should not be looking out - the door should come down.
MF: What can cause stunning problems?
TG: There can be problems if they don't maintain the gun. When they stun the animal, you have to see - did they aim it right? Was the gun misfired or is the horse jumping all around? If the horse is jumping all around, that's either caused by a slippery floor or they poked it with an electric prod out in the alleyway and they got it all upset and frightened, or they let it stand up in the box too long. So you have to figure out - do I have a problem with the gun, or do I have a problem with the handling, or the floor of the stun box? Those are things that can cause stunning to fail. But those guns have to be maintained, like a fine hunting rifle. Every day you’ve got to take the gun apart, clean it fix it, you’ve got to make sure the gun doesn't get damp. It gets back to management paying attention to detail. One of the things that video showed was that management was sloppy. I've been in that Bouvry plant three times and when I’m standing there it works just fine. This brings up another thing, if someone wants me to approve a plant; they better put in video auditing that is audited by third party that can be tuned into at any time. So they never will know when someone’s watching, and they can do the scoring over the internet. In fact, some of the big cattle companies have already put that in.
MF: How long should a horse be in a stun box?
TG: I'd like to get them stunned within 15 seconds. It [the horse] walks in, you shut the door and you do it. They're putting them in there and letting them wait, and that's wrong. They need to wait until the plant's ready and then open the door and bring the horse in. You don't let it wait in the stun box. Some of the plants do that now because they’re understaffed. Maybe they're going to have to add another person for handling so they don't have to do that.
MF: How long should you wait between shots if they first shot isn't accurate?
TG: You should just do it immediately. They have to do what's possible for them to do. If the horse falls down in the box, they may not be able to reach it that quickly, but they need to do something about it right away. You don't wait.
ELECTRIC PRODS
TG: OIE guidelines right now - and that's the World Organization for Animal Health - says that electric prods should not be used on horses. They need to be pretty much just getting rid of electric prods. Electric prods should not be used on sheep. On the 2010 of the AMI guidelines, to get an excellent score for sheep now, it has to be zero percent. They're still allowing 5% for big rams.
TG: A horse, as a species, is more flighty, than cattle are. So if you poke a horse with an electric prod, it’s going to get more upset than cattle would. They're both going to get upset, but the horse is more reactive. Horses as a species are more reactive than cattle are.
MF: Is that what makes horses harder to stun?
TG: They can be stunned really easily. I've been in these plants and I've seen them work right. It gets down to management just wanting to make the plant work right. I was supposed to go to that plant in Saskatchewan, but by the time I landed the trip was cancelled. That plant had a ton of problems. But I’ve been in Bouvry plant and seen it work well.
MF: How long ago since you've been there?
TG: About two years ago, and it worked just fine. But, it was not working just fine on that video. What this means is when backs are turned, people are not managing. We've had some problems with this, with cattle. When we're out there with a clipboard watching, people behave. This is why some companies now have video auditing. Cargill put in video auditing in all their plants for cattle and for pigs. And now an auditor that's in another state will tune into those plants on that video every day and score at least 20 cattle at random - they never know when they're going to get watched. It's very interesting what happens. Stunning usually stays the same. Handling is the thing that gets bad when the back's turned. Stunning is very equipment dependent - you've got to have a well-maintained gun. Handling is 100% people dependent, other than the slippery floors - slippery floors are a really important equipment thing.
MF: Why would someone just whip a horse?
TG: Well, some people shouldn't be handling animals. One of the things I’ve learned is when you look at 10 people out in a plant, or out in some big place handling tons of animals, there's one that shouldn't be there. They like to herd them and they just shouldn't be there. There's probably two that are very good handlers and then there are others I can train and supervise it really gets down to management taking animal handling seriously. Something like that horse being whipped in the face, I’d blame that on plant management. Plant management needs to be controlling that stuff. It’s up to plant management to set the standard. Good equipment makes good handling possible. I'm going to say to Bouvry’s if they fix the floor they'll have adequate equipment. It’s not state of the art, but it's adequate. But then, management has got to not just care when I’m there and do a show. I was really angry when Kurt was giving me this report of this video, because I know Bouvry's is capable of doing it right. You see, this gets down to management taking handling seriously all the time. This is not unique just for horse plants. Places that have a manager who cares, have good handling. Places that have a manager that does not care, often have bad handling. It doesn't matter what species you're handling.
MF: So those videos tell you that the management doesn't care.
TG: Management is not paying attention. You know, they put on a show when I was there.
BOUVRY HORSE EXPORTS
TG: It's an older facility, but it's an older facility than the one that's operated. It's adequate. They've got a covered bar - it's adequate. They've got just a single file chute that holds about four horses that leads up to the stun box and that's outside the plant. It's out in the barn, the chute where the horses wait in line. They line up in the barn and stand there pretty quiet. It's in the barn, and the steel gate comes up like this, one horse at a time, goes right in. I've watched them work that - they just went in with a pat on the rear end. They went in there pretty easily.
MF: Do the horses stay calm in the chute?
TG: They seem to stay calm in the chute because it's outside the slaughterhouse building itself. The chute is out in the barn. That’s good, that’s a real good design. The horse doesn't enter the slaughterhouse itself, until it enters the stun box. I've seen them wait quietly. When they get in the box with all the noise is when they start to get scared. There are things you can do to reduce noise. One of the problems in the plants are the materials that absorb noise you cannot clean. Materials that are easy to clean tend to be noisy materials.
TG: With the equipment they have at Bouvry they're capable of putting horses down in one shot and doing a good job - if management chooses to do a good job. The problem at Bouvry is not equipment mainly it's management. Hitting the horse in the face is management, that's Richelieu.
ELECTRIC PROD USE AT RICHELIEU
TG: Well, I’m more concerned with whipping the horse in the face. That's absolutely not acceptable and I understand that they were putting more than one animal in the stun box, that's also not acceptable. It's one animal at a time in a stun box. When you shoot the first one, the second one gets all upset. That's true for cattle, too. It’s one animal in a stun box.
TG: Whipping an animal in the face - doesn't matter what species it is - that's an automatic failed audit - a willful act of abuse.
MF: Why would somebody do that?
TG: Because they're stupid and not being supervised.
MF: What does management need to do to make sure that doesn't happen?
TG: They need to stop it. As far as I’m concerned, they need to put these plants on video auditing and have people who can look in at any time and score them. Just like some of the big beef plants have put in. The part that seems to get bad when the back is turned and nobody's watching is handling. Things like hitting them with a prod too much, that's the thing that tends to get worse when nobody's watching.
MF: Why is that?
TG: People are lazy and it's easier to get them [the horses] in if you poke them with a prod. Good animal handling is going to require that person who's driving the animals - no matter what species you're handling - to walk more. He's got to go back and get smaller groups. If he puts two ponies in a stun box, then he doesn't have to walk as much.