October 22, 2010

Ending Horse Slaughter in Canada

Humane Society International/Canada

In collaboration with the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition, HSI Canada has collected more than 12,000 signatures for our petition to end horse slaughter for human consumption in Canada. This is a fantastic achievement, and an important step in the process of ensuring that this cruel practice ends. We are grateful to our animal advocates for their help.

The petition is in support of Bill C-544, an act to amend the Health of Animals Act and the Meat Inspection Act (slaughter of horses for human consumption). This bill would forbid the transportation of horses across provincial borders, and effectively deal the horse slaughter industry a fatal blow.

We are still collecting signatures! Every new signature will add support to the bill and make its passage through Parliament smoother. It still has a long way to go, so we want to make sure that MPs know how important this bill is to Canadians. Take action.

We want all of the MPs voting on this bill to know that Canadians want to stop the slaughter of horses—gentle creatures who often spend their entire lives interacting with people, only to face a cruel end once their owners have no further use for them.

The horse slaughter industry not only inflicts terrible cruelty upon these loyal and majestic creatures; horse meat also poses a significant health threat. A chemical routinely used to treat horses—phenylbutazone—can cause toxic reactions in humans, and it is almost impossible to ensure that no horses carrying this chemical are used for meat production.

The horse meat industry was effectively shut down in the United States in 2007, and Canada is on track to follow. With your continued support, we can put an end to this cruel industry once and for all!