Bringing Transparency to the American Horse Slaughter Industry

At the moment, no. Federal appropriations bills effectively ban or permit domestic horse slaughter by controlling USDA funding. In the 2021 Fiscal Year Appropriations Bill, Congress removed USDA funding to inspect, and thus, regulate domestic horse slaughter facilities, but American horses can still be exported for slaughter.

Approximately 36,885 American horses were exported for slaughter in 2020. According to data collected by the Equine Welfare Data Collective, there is daily rescue capacity for 47,000 horses in rescue facilities. Note this data does not include all rescues in the U.S. or any individuals who are looking to adopt. With slaughter numbers on the decline, trends and data suggest there are enough homes for at-risk horses in the slaughter pipeline each year. 

Horse slaughter is demand-driven. Companies do not slaughter horses to control the horse population.

Let's shift the conversation to access and accountability. Develop a network and infrastructure for horse surrender and rehoming. Create a centralized tracking system for data capture and analysis. Establish euthanasia and carcass disposal criteria, access, and guidelines. Work with private donors, as well as local, state, and federal budget offices to define funding needs and parameters. Champion responsible breeding and ownership.

No. It is impossible to humanely slaughter horses due to their physiology. Without the use of sedatives, it often takes several blows from a penetrating captive bolt gun to render a horse unconscious before the slaughter process. As a result, horses are often still conscious when slaughtered and/or experience horrific suffering and fear prior to being slaughtered. The American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Equine Practitioners recommend using a sedative on horses prior to administering a penetrating captive bolt gun, but slaughter facilities are unable to do so because it would be inefficient and sedatives would contaminate the meat.

In the U.S., horses are considered livestock for legal and tax purposes. Most Americans consider horses as pets and companion animals, not as products and/or food.

Horses are very intelligent, intuitive, and social animals. They are used as therapy partners due to their close connections and bonds with humans.

On a cognitive and behavioral scale, horses are very different than other livestock. Recent studies suggest horses have similar behavioral and cognitive abilities to dogs, and horses are similar to dogs in the bonds they form with humans. They are able to read facial expressions, remember humans, understand many situations, change their behavior based on human emotion, feel emotions when watching positive and negative horse-human interactions via video, as well as point to and identify symbols.

Due to their physiology, it is impossible to humanely slaughter a horse with a penetrating captive bolt gun—the instrument used to render a horse unconscious in slaughter facilities—without the use of a sedative. Slaughter facilities will not use sedatives because they contaminate the meat, are inefficient, and add cost to the slaughter process. Therefore, horses will suffer greatly regardless of where they are slaughtered.

When horse slaughter plants could operate legally in the U.S., the USDA documented numerous instances of horses still being conscious during the slaughter process, as well as horrific abuses. Horses also still had to travel very long distances to slaughter facilities in the U.S., and still arrived in poor to non-ambulatory conditions. 

The largest welfare issues affecting horses in the slaughter pipeline right now are the conditions, neglect, and abuse they experience at livestock markets and kill pens or holding facilities, as well as the long distances they must travel to slaughter. The horse market that drives these conditions, and the lack of institutional oversight that permits these conditions, would still exist if horse slaughter plants reopened in the U.S.

If the USDA has appropriate funding and oversight of slaughter marketing channels and plants (and welfare standards are implemented and enforced), horses would still suffer, but they would not have to travel as far to slaughter plants in Mexico and Canada. This is only if horse exports for slaughter are banned. Past reports and documents, however, indicate that USDA oversight and horse welfare concerns were still prevalent when horse slaughter was effectively legal in the U.S., and allowing horse slaughter in the U.S. does not solve the main issue: It is impossible to slaughter horses humanely without the use of sedatives.

Yes. The Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act (H.R. 3475 and S. 2037) permanently bans horse slaughter in the U.S. and prohibits the exportation of American horses to slaughter. The legislation would expand the Dog and Cat Meat Prohibition Act, which passed as part of the 2018 Farm Bill. For updates on the bill and what you can do to help, please visit safe-act.org. You can also write your representatives and senators in Congress or call them at 202-224-1321 to share why passing the SAFE Act is important to you.