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Each
year, around 100,000 horses are exported
from Central and Eastern Europe for
slaughter in Italy, France and Belgium
in what can fairly be described as one
of the cruellest and least regulated
aspects of Europe’s live animal trade.
Poland is the biggest exporter of live
horses for slaughter in Europe. Ten
years ago there were one million horses
in Poland but that number has now been
reduced to 500,000. Nevertheless, each
year, 87,000 leave Poland to be
slaughtered for meat. 90 per cent go to
Italy and 10 per cent to France and
Belgium. Horses endure horrendously long
journeys. One of the furthest
destinations is Sardinia, a journey of
2500km (1500 miles) which may take as
long as 95 hours. Roads are often
extremely pot-holed and drivers usually
travel too fast.
Where do the horses come from?
Horses of all shapes and sizes are
sold for slaughter but the majority are
heavy working horses, chestnut in colour
and gentle in nature. Most horses are
owned privately. There are also many
racehorses and riding school horses.
Often horses come from Lithuania and as
far as Russia through Poland and on to
Italy. Many horses are old, diseased,
injured and even blind and because of
the high demand, even fit and healthy
horses, and youngsters are sold. Foals
are thought to be a ‘health food’ so are
highly sought after. Paperwork for
horses is often false so it is
impossible to ascertain horses true
backgrounds. Horse theft is common, as
thieves know that they can easily obtain
false certificates of origin. The
biggest horse market is in Skaryszew,
South of Warsaw where thousands of
horses are sold .
Who owns the trade?
The major registered horse traders
in Poland are: Animex SA Warsaw (Owned
by Smithfields Foods USA) and Cosmos
Czestochowa. The average price a horse
fetches is £250.
Why Polish horses?
Consumers in Italy demand vast amounts
of horsemeat - thousands of tonnes.
Italy’s terrain is unsuitable for horses
as much of it is mountainous. Polish
horses pay the price as they are
relatively cheap to buy and laws and
regulations are easily broken. Polish
drivers are told not to water their
horses. Italians demand ‘unsaturated
meat’ so drivers are told that watering
the horses will give them colic. This
has no scientific reasoning and is a
complete fallacy. There is clearly no
consideration for the welfare of the
horses.
The Journey
The dangers the horses face include
overcrowding, which can result in them
falling and being trampled on. These
dangers increase as the journey
progresses because of the practice of
loading additional horses en route
through Poland.
There is a notorious lack of veterinary
inspection, so by the time the horses
reach the Czech border, they are often
ill or injured. It is supposedly illegal
to transport diseased or injured animals
from Poland and these horses should be
off loaded. Viva!’s investigation
reveals however, that sick and injured
horses are being transported and rest
periods are being ignored. After just a
three hour break - rather than 24 hours
required by law - horses are reloaded
onto the lorries to continue their last
journey regardless of their condition.
From Cieszyn, the horses are trucked all
the way to Slovenia through the Czech
Republic and then onwards through
Slovakia and Hungary. This circuitous
route is to avoid the stricter
veterinary controls presently in force
in Austria. Although common this
practice is illegal and prolongs the
travelling time for many hours. The
swaying trucks make it difficult for the
horses to remain upright, especially
when they are tightly tethered to the
vehicle bars. This is carried out to
stop them biting each other and is
prohibited by law.
Often horses lose their balance inside
the lorry and fall. Once down, they are
likely to be trampled and wounded by
their companions. For injured horses and
smaller ponies and foals, this
combination of overcrowding and lack of
segregation by size can be deadly.
Downed horses may be unable to rise
again, resulting in their struggling
desperately to regain their feet, being
urinated and defecated on and stood on,
often trampled to death.
Upon arrival at staging points, fallen
horses are either dragged off the truck
with chains or are subjected to violent
treatment to induce them to stand. This
can involve brutal kickings, beatings
with heavy sticks or having an electric
cattle prod inserted into their rectum.
By the time horses reach Hungary, just
half way through their journey, most are
injured, exhausted and dehydrated. Some
are already dying or dead.
Horses enter the EU at Goriozia in
Northern Italy, on the Slovenian border,
by which time increasing numbers are in
an advanced stage of physical and mental
deterioration or dead. Many still face
long journeys - on to the west coast of
Italy and onwards by ferry to Sardinia.
At the slaughterhouse
Arriving at the abattoir, horses are
again brutally treated, driven are
dragged into the killing factory. The
normal process of slaughter is stunning
- required by law - followed by throat
cutting. The method of stunning is the
captive bolt pistol, which drives a
metal bolt into the forehead. All too
often this process is ignored or done
incompetently and the horses regain
consciousness while their throats are
being slit. Many are slaughtered in full
view of their companions, which is a
further contravention of the law.
The law
Animal Welfare Act of Republic of
Poland (August 21, 1997) states:
Art.5. Every animal requires humane
treatment
Art.6.1. a. It is not allowed by the law
to hit animals with hard and sharp
objects or made to cause extraordinary
pain, hitting their head, belly, lower
parts of their legs.
b. Transporting animals - including farm
animals , animals destined for slaughter
and animals destined for market - by
carrying them or making them walk in
such a way that causes unnecessary
suffering or stress.
Ordinance by the minister of transport
and maritime economy of the republic of
Poland of June 30, 1998 on specific
rules and conditions of carriage animals
1. In the carriage of animals
the carrier is obliged to use means of
transport suitable for the given
animals species and age group.
2. They should: Provide enough
space for each animal, allowing it to
stand or lie down;
3. Have insulated walls and
roofing to protect animals against
weather impact;
4. Provide sufficient
ventilation, and if necessary, heating;
5. Have enough bedding material
to absorb excreta and ensure animal
comfort and safety;
6. To be fitted with facilities
making animal feeding and watering
possible and ensure access to each
animal.
All these laws have been seen to be
broken.
Effectiveness of EU laws
Viva!’s research shows that the EU’s
Transport Directive is little more than
a cynical device which allows a largely
uncontrolled trade to continue without
regulation, inspection or sanctions. As
virtually no independent inspection is
carried out throughout the entire EU,
live exports are an uncontrolled free-for-all
and animals crossing into the EU from
Poland and other countries can expect no
better welfare controls than exist in
Poland. Just as Polish laws are
routinely ignored, so are EU laws.
The conditions in which animals are
transported demeans all those who
participate in the trade and all those
who allow it to happen in their name
without protest. Legislators in all EU
countries have quite clearly placed the
profits of the livestock industry above
the suffering of animals.
Conclusion
The profitability of this
uncontrolled and unregulated trade is
dependent upon defying the law. The
implementation of Poland’s existing
Animal Welfare Act would go a long way
towards protecting the horses and would
make the industry unprofitable. This in
turn would cause an end to the live
export of horses for meat.
There must be a proper implementation
and enforcement of permitted journey
times, strict guidelines for those
operating the border controls and an
immediate implementation of the EU
Directive’s eight-hour maximum journey
time by France.
Viva! believes that by campaigning in
Poland and in the UK, a ban on this
barbaric trade can and will be brought
about. People of Poland do not eat
horsemeat and are outraged about the
horsemeat trade. The majority support a
ban.
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