MEET OUR HORSE MEAT
LEARN ABOUT THE GREEDY HORSE-KILLING TRADE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION & HOW YOU CAN HELP HORSES ESCAPE THIS VICIOUS FATE DONATETHOUSANDS OF RACEHORSES ARE SLAUGHTERED IN AUSTRALIA EVERY YEAR
Many if not most Australians don’t know that thousands of racehorses are slaughtered in Australia each year for human consumption.
Scroll down to learn more about the slaughter of racehorses in Australia but…
Before you do, we’d like you to consider something else, and that is just how deadly horse racing itself is – without the slaughter aspect – INCLUDING the Melbourne Cup.
"The Melbourne Cup, for reasons no one can entirely explain, has become Australia’s deadliest race."
- Sydney Morning Herald
Click here to watch the 2 minute video above and while you are on YouTube be sure to like the video and follow us!
Many trainers instruct doggers to kill racehorses, that they are not to be rehomed
In July 2018, on the ABC Four Corners programme “Off Track”, Dr Bidda Jones Chief Scientist of RSPCA Australia stated that 8,500 horses exited the thoroughbred horse racing industry every year…
We also know that many trainers send these horses direct to doggers. Some explicitly instruct the dogger to kill the horse and that it is NOT to be rehomed.
HORSE RACING WASTAGE IN AUSTRALIA
What is wastage?
Wastage refers to unwanted horses. It occurs all along the racing supply chain from foals through to old brood mares and of course, the horses that are not fast enough or are injured.
Why is there ‘wastage’?
This page will explore why so many Australian racehorses end up as “wastage’ and why so many go to slaughter.
There are many factors that contribute to what is commonly referred to as ‘wastage’.
- overbreeding
- inbreeding that favours speed over resiliance
- early strenuous training on immature bodies
- breeding incentives
- injuries on the racetrack
- masking injuries
- an accumulation of stress on young bodies
- the attitude that horses are a commodity that need to earn to stay alive
- training methods that make racehorses unfit for other pursuits
- horses pushed beyond their limits
Victims of the gambling industry
The business model of horse racing sells a dangerous product – gambling – a social evil that not only destroys the lives of families but exploits, harms and ruthlessly discards horses. Horses that are discarded to an uncertain fate are known as “wastage”.
After winnings are paid out to punters, State governments and racing industries make their profit from the losses of gamblers.
Gambling is the main form of revenue of horse racing – it is what sustains it. 41% of all regular racing gamblers, 403,000 adults, have gambling related problems.
There were 34,337 horses actively engaged in horse racing across 8 States of Australia for the 2019/20 racing season (1 August 2019 to 31 July 2020).
In July 2018, on the ABC Four Corners programme “Off Track”, Dr Bidda Jones Chief Scientist of RSPCA Australia stated that 8,500 horses exited the thoroughbred horse racing industry every year and a large proportion of these horses have nowhere to go.
We also know that many trainers and studs send these horses direct to doggers. Some explicitly instruct the dogger to kill the horse and it is NOT to be rehomed.
“8,500 horses exit the thoroughbred horse racing industry every year”
10,000 horses slaughtered annually in Australia for human consumption
In July 2018, on the ABC Four Corners programme “Off Track”, that highlighted the wastage from the horse racing industry, Dr Bidda Jones Chief Scientist of RSPCA Australia stated that 8,500 horses exited the thoroughbred horse racing industry every year and a large proportion of these horses have nowhere to go.
Short racing life- 4.9% of their lives are spent racing and then ?
Horses that leave racing need to be replaced in order to meet the relentless demand to fill race-fields on a daily basis around Australia.
Australia has more race tracks than any other country in the world.
A 2010 study published in Sydney, NSW researched the careers of 146,046 thoroughbred horses over 10 years.
Although horses have a lifespan of 25-30 years, the median career length and number of career starts for the population were 14.7 months and 10 starts. That amounts to 4.9% of their lives.
They are bred knowing that only a small portion of their lives are spent in racing and then expect to either off-load them to the rest of the population or slaughter them.
What is even more alarming is that the rate of attrition was found to be directly associated with the well-being of the animals within the industry.
She has no agency, no choice, she will race until she drops or is no longer useful.
Relentless inbreeding by unscrupulous breeders…
In 2006, the Australian Keeper of the Studbook, analyzed 15 years of breeding statistics that averaged 18,000 horses bred per year.
45% of those horses never got to race and the reason he gave was that they probably “simply didn’t have the conformation for it".
As Reported by Jane Allin & Tuesday’s Horse
“Thoroughbred horses have not only been indiscriminately bred, but inbred for one trait, speed.”
“The maniacal frenzy for speed at the expense of durability and soundness has all but decimated a once genetically diverse and robust species.
Over the last four decades, the manipulation of the gene pool of the Thoroughbred and relentless inbreeding at the hands of unscrupulous breeders has created inherent weaknesses in the bloodlines that have led to dangerous flaws in horse physical conformation that has destroyed the integrity of the breed.”
“Many racehorses carry in their DNA, the seeds of their own destruction.”
Read more at Tuesday’s Horse.
Be the next person to make a difference...
"Undercover investigations have revealed at least 37% of horses who vanish each year from the racing industry are killed based on one slaughterhouse alone, without considering the other Australian slaughterhouse and approximately 30 knackeries - a far cry from the industry's claims of 1%."
Race horses are abused
Tongue-ties are currently the subject of proposed NSW legislation by Mark Pearson MP of the Animal Justice Party. He is proposing to ban the whip, spurs and tongue-ties.
Racing experts claim tongue-ties are necessary to stop horses choking on their tongues.
We’re sure you will agree that horses with tongue-ties look distressed.
Video: Chautauqua’s New Journey
HORSE RACING ALLOWS CRUEL TONGUE-TIES
"... HIS TONGUE BECOMING NECROTIC AND REQUIRING PARTIAL AMPUTATION"A rising percentage of horses are racing in tongue ties with 62.5% of trainers reporting using them and 38% reporting complications. A tongue tie is a piece of nylon or rubber wrapped around the tongue...
ANGULAR LIMB DEFORMITY IN THOROUGHBREDS
ALD IN THOROUGHBREDSThoroughbred foals are often born with legs that are not straight. Amongst the veterinary community it is well known that amongst the big studs, almost 100% of foals are being given surgery to correct their limbs. In some cases, it is necessary for...
KING’S VOYAGE
We met King's Voyage when he had become just another unloved and unwanted horse in a paddock full of unloved and unwanted horses. He stood out for his friendliness, he had always known people as nurturers and providers, but now it was different. It’s not always...
ONE YEAR ON
October of 2020, Horse Racing Kills writes: In October 2019 ABC's 7:30 program highlighted the routine slaughter of racehorses once they are disposed of, creating shockwaves across Australia and the world. Their brutal retirement plan for horses had finally been...
DEAD ON ARRIVAL
Yes we have Standards for the land transport of horses in Australia but they are not worth the paper they are written on, as the saying goes. There is no one policing the standards so horses can be on a truck without food and water for days and no one would know....
ALL THINGS PINK
All Things Pink was born at a well-known stud in NSW. Being in NSW, her safety should have been guaranteed, but like so many others, it wasn’t. She was born on the 29th August, 2013 at the Bowness stud in NSW, she was by Domesday and out of My Peggy Fu. She was the...
JEEWAN
Poor Jeewan was identified by his earlier owners in the dogger’s paddock when they watched One Year On and were horrified to recognise their horse. He was 7 years old at the time and he looked so sad. He only had a week left to live before he was sent on the truck to...
YES IMAPARTYGIRL
Yes Imapartygirl has her broodmare chain and now also her death sentence. The tag tied on with baling twine is a crude form of identification once she fell into the hands of the dogger. It makes her eligible for human consumption. Yes Imapartygirl was born in New...
AFTER THE DOCUMENTARY
In October 2019, Australians were horrified to see The Final Race on the 7.30 Report (scroll down). It showed in graphic detail the fate of unwanted horses in Australia. It particularly focussed on the large amount of racehorses that were being disposed of with the...
Whistleblowers are invited to contact MOHM regarding violations occurring during horse slaughter or transport to slaughter. Are you an ex-slaughterhouse employee, a transport driver or a feedlot operator with knowledge of animal abuse, or other violations? Are you a track veterinarian who has evidence of horses “run” on phenylbutazone or other drugs, and then being shipped to slaughter? Do you have pictures/video of horses in transit to slaughter?
Anonymity guaranteed!