Friday, May 7, 2010

Canada and Mexico increase horse slaughter production

Tuesday's Horse

Writing for the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Journal, MALINDA LARKIN points out that the slaughter of horses is down since the recent decade’s all time high of 140,911. However, with increases in horse slaughter production in Canada and Mexico, Larkin points out:
From 2001-2009, the mean number of horses slaughtered each year was 97,954. So while this past year’s total is below average, the number of horses slaughtered in Mexico and Canada is historically high, making up for the lack of production in the United States.
According to government reports, in 2009 approximately 52,000 American horses were exported to Canada for slaughter for human consumption, and 46,000 to Mexico, totaling around 98,000.
That puts paid to the arguments that there has been an increase in abused, neglected and abandoned horses or the bottom has fallen out of the horse market because American horses are no longer being slaughtered since the last plant operating on U.S. soil closed in 2007.
The article also takes a look at some of the legislative measures pending on the horse slaughter issue. It is not a comprehensive list.
Read the article in full at the AVMA’s website at http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/may10/100515o.asp

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