Horse Export Numbers Bring Focus Back to Federal Slaughter Ban

A Sept. 30 article and photographs in the Houston Chronicle examining horse slaughter procedures in Mexico has shifted the attention of animal welfare groups back to a federal ban on exporting horses for the purpose of slaughter. The article came in the wake of the Sept. 21 closure of Cavel International of DeKalb, Ill., the last U.S. horse slaughter facility.

According to the USDA Market News Oct. 4 report, 31,086 horses declared as animals intended for slaughter have been exported to Mexico so far this year. At this point last year the total was 6,391.

In an Oct. 4 press released entitled “Cruel Deaths in Mexico a Result of Closing U.S. Horse Processing Plants,” the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) reiterated its stance on horse slaughter and the ongoing efforts to cease it.

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