I first became aware of MP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex Lianne Rood when she appeared in an AGRI – Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food meeting video on the issue of live horse export. As you might expect of a Conservative MP and one who is wholly in favour of this disgusting trade, her comments are a template of idiocy. She believes that expensive competition and sport horses are shipped the same way as slaughter-bound horses – in wooden crates with no food or water. Her comments in the committee suggest that she believes that every horse owner “recovers the cost” of their horse by selling them for live export at the end of their careers. In the AGRI standing committee meeting she actually asked Animal Justice’ Kaitlyn Mitchell if she had ever been on a flight with the horses to Japan, as if that were ever an option for any interested observer.
This former farmer, who served as the shadow minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food (2020), and Deputy Shadow Minister (2019), for Agriculture and Agri-Food, is also a member of the Canada-Japan Inter-Parliamentary Group, and is simply a bad actor who is making a career out of spreading disinformation. Who do Conservatives advocate for? Certainly not animals or the environment.
Most recently, Rood, who gets paid six figures, has decided that she’s unhappy about paper coffee lids, in effect bringing American Republican culture wars to Canada, where inanimate objects are considered “woke” – a code for any Conservative grievance. Rood’s post is a work of daft frivolity: it succeeds at showing the pettiness of Conservatives, and their utter disregard for the environment, in a single post. Does a sitting MP have nothing better to do than vent about lipstick on a cup lid?
Every day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The UNEP says plastic pollution can alter habitats and the natural world, reduce ecosystems’ ability to adapt to climate change and directly affect livelihoods and food production for millions of people, when they release microplastics into the environment. But Ms. Rood is hardly concerned with her cup lid taking 200 years to bio-degrade in a landfill. After all, there is rage to be farmed…
It’s free to send mail to any MP in Ottawa. That includes sending any single-use plastic waste that we find, to her for free. You could also send her a sippy cup, even though she makes about $200,000 a year, this option has never occurred to her.
Mail any single-use plastic waste you have (or send her a message detailing your opposition to live horse export, or both), to:
Lianne Rood M.P – House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0A6
Part of the re-election campaign Prime Minister Trudeau included a commitment to ending the trade of horses for the production of horsemeat for export. The 2021 Mandate Letter to then-Minister Bibeau stipulated that she be committed to fulfilling this ban, but she failed to execute the ministerial mandate letter. The government has acknowledged that it has been stung by criticism for its inaction on this mandate. The lack of fulfilment has since been identified as a trade irritant (any issue or policy that creates tension or friction in international trade relations between countries) between the EU and Canada through a little-known mechanism of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
Further embarrassment for the Liberals continued – in December of 2022, the Globe and Mail published an article that highlighted the inaction by the government in fulfilling this election promise, while underscoring calls for action by public figures. Another such piece the Globe and Mail published further condemned the practice and called for the realization of this campaign promise. The failure to implement this commitment was interpreted by the federal government as a future issue in the next election cycle.
For more than two years, the Government of Canada has been reviewing (at a glacial pace) the legal and policy framework to address the Liberal mandate to ban the live export of horses for slaughter. Unfortunately, much of this 1,200+ page series of FOIA documents has highlighted the degree of obstruction due to the complexities and inefficiencies of bureaucratic systems within government agencies. Disappointingly, an entire team from the CFIA/AAFC/Legal Services, and Canadian Border Services Agency crafted the typical self-congratulatory response letter we’re all too familiar with, about the CFIA maintaining high standards, The Health of Animals Act (HAR) ensuing humane transport, variations of which was sent to Japanese agencies.
Health of Animals regulations are the absolute minimal standards for shipping an animal. The HAR does not ensure humane treatment. Politicians are shocked to discover that competitive horses are shipped with food and water, often in a single compartment, sometimes with their own dedicated veterinarian who travels with them through to their designated stop.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada also endorsed and disseminated misleading information from pro-slaughter individuals and organizations that has been debunked more than a decade ago. One wonders why so much effort has gone into this analysis when the trade largely benefits only a few individuals, and the government’s own legal analysts have stated that the process to end trade seems reasonably straightforward and a decision not necessarily requiring bilateral agreement:
“Article 12.1 of the WTO agreement on agriculture provides that a member must notify in writing and in advance of implementing an export restriction or prohibition, as well as consult with another Member that has a substantial interest as an importer (e.g. Japan) that requests it. The notification is the include the rationale and duration of the measure.”
Excessive redaction of the most important information in this FOIA will raise questions about transparency and accountability. Notable redactions include the certification process to export horses, any information about the exporters themselves, and perhaps most importantly, Japanese response to the prospect of ending the trade. There have been some Japanese media reports about reports made in Canadian and UK media regarding the concerns over transportation of these animals but there is no Japanese opinion provided anywhere.
History of Trade Relations with Japan:
• Japan is the fifth largest importer of agri-food and seafood products in the world, and Canada’s third largest market for agri-food and seafood.
• Horse meat is a traditionally eaten food in Japan. In particular, in Kumamoto Prefecture where horse meat is considered a centre of local cuisine that has been part of the culture for over 400, consumption is focused on fresh horse meat. MAFF promotes horse meat as a low-fat, low-calorie, high-protein food rich in minerals such as iron,calcium, and zinc.
• Since 2012, Canada’s exports of live horses for slaughter have been almost entirely destined for Japan, and Canada has been Japan’s largest supplier in most years with a market share ranging from 29% to 46% over the years. Japan receives about two shipments per month of livehorses for slaughter from Canada, and on average, a shipment contains 100-125 horses. Foals from 6-9 months are transported to feedlots where they remain until the age of 2. Then they are flown overseas from Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg.
• With the lowest food self-sufficiency level ratio among G7 countries (38% in FY 2021/22), food security is a major concern for Japan. This concern was further aggravated by the spate of export restrictions on agricultural goods that governments implemented as supply chains were roiled by COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• Canada and Japan are both members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and share a likeminded view regarding an international rules-based trading system.
• Any Canadian exporter who has successfully negotiated a commercial contract with an importer in Japan and who can comply with Japan’s import conditions (as specified in an established health certificate) may export horses to Japan. What is required to meet these expectations was redacted from the FOIA.
• In 2021, Canada was the world’s eighth largest exporter of horse meat, with exports valued at $28.6 million.
Understanding and mitigating unintended consequences is important for effective governance and policymaking. Whenever you read any claims about horse slaughter from the following groups, you know they are going to be about as impartial as David Duke’s critical review of Alex Haley’s “Roots.” Most exasperatingly, AAFC included numerous references to outdated and debunked articles, from as far back as 2006 (preceding the cessation of horse slaughter in the US). It’s unclear why promotional material for horse slaughter was included at all, since most horses shipped for export are purpose-bred or are “byproducts” of an industry that breeds horses for other purposes.
These supplemental materials included:
• A 2006 document from Animal Welfare Council, Inc. Colorado Springs, Colorado.
• An assortment of refuted references and pro-slaughter organizations who want to convince you to upgrade to a new $5,000 AQHA horse, but need to provide you with a pathway to dispose of your $500 horse who is stubbornly clinging to life.
• Canadian Meat Council, prepared in consultation with Bouvry Exports and Jennifer Woods of J. Woods Livestock Services.
• The inclusion of an article from BEEF magazine blaming horses for irreversibly damaging rangelands, and proclaiming slaughter as needed for “good horse welfare.” The author, Courtney L Daigle, an Assistant Professor of Animal Welfare at pro-slaughter Texas A&M University, claims that horse slaughter is “doing the right thing for the animals.”
These pro-slaughter articles, which somehow found their way into a discussion on live horse export, are very familiar to those of us who have been advocating against slaughter and live export for years. Over time, the purported claims became truth to many in the horse industry who were saddened to hear of such reports, and while conflicted about slaughter, began to believe that it was the better alternative for horses facing such neglect and abuse.
The “Horse Welfare” Alliance of Canada, which churns out its own brand of pro-slaughter propaganda and receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants from the Canadian government, asserted that live export is needed to enrich 347 breeders who provide purpose-bred horses, 25% being indigenous. A request for clarification on the number of indigenous exporters was answered by the CFIA National Issues Manager, who stipulated that there are no known indigenous producers of horses for export. While 347 breeders seems like a huge number of suppliers in this industry, the reality is that there are only 4 active exporters and the 2 largest breeders for export are in Ontario. The bulk of the profit from this industry goes to Ontarians, including WillJill Farms.
These primary exporters purchase horses from a few hundred producers (the remaining 343 approved “exporters”) from different farming situations. Most horse breeders supplying this market breed horses for other purposes and comprise a very small secondary market in an industry that is less than 20 years old.
There is little support by humane agencies and the general public for the continuation of this barbaric trade. A poll conducted by the BCSPCA found that only 22% of those polled want to continue the export of live horses. Equestrian Canada was approached as part of the stakeholder communication process and acknowledged that most of their members opposed horse export for slaughter. The BCSPCA also weighed-in with their opposition to the transport of horses overseas. Katherine Curry – President Racetracks Canada, announced full support for the Bill. Toolika Rastogi, PhD, senior manager, policy and research for Humane Canada, also reached out to decry the trade. Other stakeholders included the Winnipeg HS, The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, and Animal Justice, who has recently carried out a successful private prosecution of live shipper Carolyle Farms (a legal avenue that would not be necessary had the CFIA decided to take action themselves). The government also acknowledges receiving letters in the “tens of thousands,” from individuals opposed to live export. Also included in the FOIA documents were several redacted letters from the general public.
Bill C-355 has passed the Agriculture Committee; once this process is complete, the chairperson of the committee submits a report back to the chamber and will move onto its third and final reading and vote at the House of Commons. It will go for a final vote in the House before moving to the Senate. Once the Bill receives Royal assent it wouldn’t come into force for 18 months. Senator Dalphond’s concurrent Senate Bill S-270 is also active.
Well-said, Senator!
Reading the contents of the FOIA and watching debates of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, reminds us of how vigilant we must be challenging propaganda. At numerous points in the aforementioned debate, groups and individuals needed to correct the record on horse transport and the HAR as being some sort of divine document that ensured humane treatment. It’s exasperating to hear that politicians believe the standard of care for high-value, competitive horses is to ship them 4 at a time in flimsy wooden crates without food or water, just like slaughter-bound horses. Refuting incorrect information is essential for combating deliberate disinformation campaigns aimed at manipulating public opinion and sowing division. It requires vigilance, transparency, and a commitment to accuracy from all stakeholders, including governments, media organizations, educators, and individuals. Many groups and private individuals have written to correct the public record on predatory horse industries, including John Holland of the Equine Welfare Alliance. If you’re new to this discussion, please read some of his analytical writings, which directly address many of the falsehoods perpetuated by the above groups.
There is a growing international movement to end live export of animals, driven by concerns for animal welfare, ethical treatment, and environmental sustainability. Canada implementing a ban would signal its commitment to aligning with these global trends and adopting progressive policies:
Netflix has a new true crime docuseries out that profiles scandals within the sports industry with first-hand accounts from those involved. Episode 6 – “Horse Hitman” profiles Tommy Burns, AKA “The Sandman,” who was responsible for the killings of expensive sport horses at the behest of their owners, to perpetrate insurance fraud. The horse killings were discovered by the FBI incidentally while they were investigating the disappearance of Brach candy heiress Helen Brach in the late 1970s. The investigation, which centered on a racketeering scam where wealthy heiresses were convinced to invest in horses worth up to 750,000 (who were later killed for insurance), led them to Burns, who subsequently made a deal with investigators where he would provide all the horrible details that implicated him, and would only be charged with one crime (but if the FBI discovered he lied about any detail, he would be charged for all the killings).
Tommy’s intel led to the conviction of many individuals who contracted with him to kill their horses. But Burns was hardly a role model; he was really a deeply/flawed anti-hero, who had literally no empathy for horses when he could enrich himself by killing them. But in watching the Netflix episode, you may find that his dialogue creates the same sense of justice being served that a traditional hero might.
As a young adult, Burns had a long history of making bad decisions. Starting in the horse industry by doing manual labour at farms, he moved through the ranks of anti-hero archetypes, crossing almost all moral lines. He initially began working for Barney Ward, who owned Castle Hill Farm, and was a former member of the US Equestrian Team and US World Cup team, which gave him close insights to others in the horse industry. He developed a strong loyalty to Ward. Through his connections, he left Barney’s employ and went to work for lawyer Jim Druck, who operated Eagle’s Nest Farm near Ocala Florida, where he bred show horses. Rielle Hunter (formerly Lisa Druck) was his accomplished teenaged equestrian daughter. In 1981, Lisa/Rielle was riding a show horse named Henry The Hawk. Henry had been purchased and insured for $150,000; he was one of the top hunters in the country at the time.
Vintage Photo of Henry the Hawk
Tommy Burns became obligated to Jim Druck when Druck got him off an assault with a deadly weapon charge – “You owe me.” Druck confronted Burns about having an affair with his wife, and he now needed money for the divorce settlement. Druck got an offer to sell Henry the Hawk for less than the amount he was insured for. So Druck determined that “Henry’s Gotta Go.” The horse’s fate was thus sealed.
Very ironically, Druck’s legal practice consisted of defending insurance companies against claims. He knew that if a horse were electrocuted in a certain manner, it would be very difficult for a veterinary pathologist to find signs of foul play, unless the animal was necropsied by someone who knew to look for a burn mark, the death would be chalked up to colic. Electrocuting a horse mimics colic – the twisting of the horse’s gut that comes on very suddenly without symptoms. Druck counselled Burns exactly how to do it – with an extension cord split down the middle, with alligator clips attached to the ear and rectum of the horse. It was the “perfect crime,” from which Druck profited with Burns as the facilitator.
After the killing of Henry the Hawk, Burns was out-of-control. He was stealing saddles and credit cards, all centered around horse shows and the horse industry. Druck encouraged him to leave town because the cops were suspicious, so he reached out to his friend Barney Ward, who he claimed had a legitimate interest in helping him.
Around this time, Burns made a connection with horse trainer Paul Valliere (who trained Canadian Olympian showjumper Eric Lamaze). Valliere offered Tommy $5,000 to kill his horse Roseau Plattier. The insurance policy on the horse was about to lapse, so apparently this was the reason he needed the horse dead ASAP. So he was also electrocuted. Then, horse people started calling Tommy on a weekly basis, and his fee went up considerably.
Tommy Burns’ Tools of the Trade. He traveled the show circuit, visiting stables with his bag full of electrocution equipment, to make “problem” horses go away.
George Lindemann Jr was from of one of the richest families in Palm Beach – his father was a billionaire. To kill George Lindemann Jr’s horse Charisma, he was paid $35,000 plus expenses. For $5,000, Burns had an accomplice break the leg of a horse named Streetwise, whose owner just didn’t like him. Burns, who justified electrocution as “painless,” apparently drew the line at breaking a horse’s leg with a crowbar, so he subcontracted that one out, knowing that a veterinarian would have to euthanize the horse. Streetwise had had a colic operation previously, and as colic was excluded from his insurance policy, the jumper cables couldn’t be used.
“Break his fucking leg.” She was heartless. ~Tommy Burns
By 1991, Tommy was under surveillance, and he and his accomplice were arrested at the conclusion of the beating of Streetwise. Police took his confession and reported the killings to the Insurance Crime Bureau. Paul Valliere admitted to the crime of contracting with Burns to electrocute Roseau Plattier and defraud the insurance company of $75,000. In his deal with prosecutors, Valliere agreed to wear a wire for over a year, gathering information for the federal authorities, which revealed an astonishing plot twist in the docuseries.
Plot Twist
Tommy Burns claimed in the documentary that he was always forthcoming with the FBI, but in truth, he held back a significant piece of information. If you haven’t watched the Netflix episode, and you don’t want a major plot twist revealed, I suggest you skip down to the epilogue.
The FBI knew that Tommy must have had a connection who was facilitating these contract killings throughout the US. They knew that he was not sufficiently resourceful to establish these connections of his own volition. After Paul Valliere recorded a conversation for the federal agents, they confronted Burns with their discovery of the identity of this “facilitator.” In the recorded conversation made by Valliere, it was Barney Ward who revealed that he would have Tommy killed so that he could not take the stand against them. Since he idolized Ward and took great pains to protect him, Tommy was forced to come to the powerful realization that, not only was the loyalty not reciprocated, he was completely expendable. In no way had Tommy planned to implicate Barney.
Epilogue
Tommy confessed to killing between 15-20 horses. 18 people were charged with revolving insurance fraud. The uber-wealthy George Lindemann Jr was sentenced to 33 months and was ordered to pay a $500,000 fine and restitution to the insurance company. Paul Valliere was put on probation for 4 years and had to pay a $5,000 fine. Tommy’s accomplice in the killing of Streetwise was sentenced to 18 months. Jim Druck collected on a $150,000 insurance policy for arranging the killing of his daughter’s horse in 1982, but he was under investigation by the FBI when he died of cancer in 1990. He never suffered any legal consequences.
Valliere, a former coach for Canadian Olympic showjumper Eric Lamaze, is still giving clinics
Barney Ward was sentenced to 33 months in prison, followed by three years of probation, and was ordered to make restitution of $200,000 to one of the defrauded insurance companies.
Tommy himself was given leniency for his cooperation; he received a sentence of one year in prison.
No one was ever convicted for the conspiracy to murder heiress Helen Brach. Stable owner/conman Richard Bailey was convicted of racketeering and fraud against Helen and other women.
Rielle Hunter (Lisa Druck) was devastated since she loved Henry. She must have wondered how a person could insert himself into her family, have an affair with her mother, and then kill her horse? With her own father killing her beloved horse, whatever family bonds she had must surely have been destroyed.
Why would any super-wealthy person kill a horse when they didn’t need the money? In Druck’s case, he did need the money for his divorce. But for others, the horses were “disappointments.” Their lack of performance was a symbol of failure that reflected poorly; if the horse goes away, you collect the insurance, and the embarrassment is removed. In that way, the owners were able to make themselves “financially and reputationally whole.” Charisma (Lindemann Jr’s horse) evidently performed poorly on the show horse circuit which made him look bad. He had the horse killed to save face. It was apparently easier than admitting he made a mistake in buying the horse. His father was worth around 4 billion so it certainly wasn’t an issue of money. But it’s really evidence of poor character when you kill an innocent animal for no other reason than you are embarrassed – with such wealth he could have simply given the horse away to someone who would have been overjoyed with the gift. For the mega-rich, cashing in an insurance policy on a horse is like redeeming a $25 gift certificate to Tim Hortons for the rest of us.
In cases where insurance fraud is never caught and punished, Insurance companies do what they always do when forced to absorb those losses – they increase premiums for everyone else. But the horses were the biggest losers.
How often do you hear or see an ad that leaves you questioning the claims being made? Anyone who knows me knows that both online and IRL, I am a “super-complainer.” You really have no choice anymore, because “fake news” permeates literally every subject.
A few months ago I visited the Richelieu horse slaughterhouse website as I am wont to do every few months, just to see what nonsense they are purporting. There’s usually always something that can be used to launch an official complaint, and they didn’t disappoint. Claims about horsemeat for pregnant women and for those prone to infection really drew my ire. It’s not very smart to put out information that is so easily discredited. But nobody said horse killers are smart.
It took complaints to Ad Standards, Health Canada, and finally the CFIA (who acted upon the complaint) to do something about it. The CFIA didn’t say exactly what they did or what they counselled Richelieu to remove or stop posting on their website, but I was very pleased that they looked at my materials and saw that the horse killers were using language that amounted to a murky sea of nutritional “advice.”
Our community of anti-slaughter advocates is strong and engaged! If you see questionable or false claims being made about the quality or nutritional value of horsemeat or indeed any animal product, please contact:
Many horse advocates were as horrified as I was to discover that live pregnant mares were being used as hosts for Pregnant Mare’s Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG), extracted on blood farms in Argentina and Uruguay. PMSG, which is used in Canada to stimulate oestrus in livestock, creates many strange bedfellows in the agricultural industry, spanning species, supply chains, and nations. Horses are once again are being commoditized, this time by biopharmaceutical supply chains, and these raw resources are obscured in the final product – primarily pigs, but also sheep, and cattle, farmed deer and elk, and even captive fur-bearing animals. PMSG is a compound designed to produce hyper-fertility in livestock for profit.
Trade in Animal Blood Products Heightens Risk of Disease
According to the World Health Organization, products derived from the international trade in animal products amplify the risk of pathogenic, harmful, or even zoonotic (transferrable to humans from animals and vice versa) disease. PED (porcine epidemic diarrhea) is considered to be epidemic in the U.S. Porcine blood plasma which originated from 10 different countries is generally considered to be the culprit that brought PED to Canada in 2014, via animal feed. And we have apparently learned nothing from the 2003 BSE crisis that arose when cattle were back-fed ground meat and bone from cows infected with the prion disease (or sheep infected with scrapie). When the infected meat is eaten, it can lead to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans – psychiatric symptoms, immobility and death follow months or years afterwards.
2019 Study Found Horse Blood Supplies May Be Contaminated with Equine-Parvovirus-Hepatitis
A new study published in May 2019 found that Equine-Parvovirus-Hepatitis (EqPV-H) viral genomes were found in commercial equine serum pools in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, and
Germany,”suggesting a worldwide distribution,” and urged that requirements for diagnostic tests be implemented immediately to prevent transmission of the disease. Quite apart from the suffering inflicted on blood donor mares, it seems obvious that the international trade of animals and animal products is responsible for the spread of zoonoses and other infectious diseases, creating permanent threats, particularly in developing countries with their organizational weaknesses. The USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics has also proposed that all licensed equine blood products be tested for Equine-Parvovirus-Hepatitis. Equine blood from Argentina and Uruguay is being used to produce PMSG in Canada – it’s unknown whether manufacturers of PMSG test for this virus or to what extent. Testing is important also because blood serum is also used for other applications within the equine veterinary field.
This Animal Welfare Foundation / Tierschutzbund Zürich video reveals that mares farmed for their blood are beaten, many are starved, suffer from untreated injuries, lack of shelter, may suffer from anaemia or hypovolemic shock, endure systematic abortions, and often death.
The breeding of pigs, sheep, and cattle in Canada have their own welfare issues, which are being negatively affected by the increase in productivity caused by PMSG-derived hormone treatments. Since this virus exists in established equine blood serum pools, it is suggestive that the practice of blood collection itself may be advancing the spread of the disease. Many pathogens stay on the farm/ranch, remain in manure, contaminate transport routes and vehicles, as well as in soil and water. This creates risk factors not only for horses and other livestock, but for wildlife as well. Further evidence, if any were needed, that the animal agricultural industry casts a larger footprint than previously imagined – it increases the frequency and duration of suffering in other species in addition to traditional “food” animals – in this case, horses.
These practices give us deceptively cheap food that comes at a high price.
The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition is running an active petition with approximately 117,000 signatories – the respondents – Partnar Animal Health in Canada, the Canadian Animal Health Institute, and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association remain utterly mute on this cruel practice.
This issue should be paramount to all of us, so please sign the petition and send a polite, fact-based email to the Canadian Animal Health Institute and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association to register your disapproval. Ask that synthetic analogs to PMSG be used to eliminate equine suffering in the PMSG industry (unfortunately, this will not end all suffering inflicted on other species via the industry standard of invoking hyper-fertility in other livestock).
Jean Szkotnicki, President, Canadian Animal Health Institute (CAHI), jszk@cahi-icsa.ca,
It can be a daunting challenge for consumers to separate true advertising claims from false ones. This is especially true with industries that slaughter animals – in the interest of public image, they are anxious to avoid any terminology that suggests that animals in the food chain die horrible deaths. The term “processing” is now to be used instead of “slaughter,” because of the latter term’s association with mass murder. And while the CFIA heavy-handedly enforces decades old product descriptions that don’t take into consideration the proliferation of newly available plant-based foods, no one is minding the store at the Viandes Richelieu website, where the company makes claims, without evidence, that horsemeat is “good for pregnant women and anemics” and is advisable for individuals with “an increased risk of infections.” It looks like VR’s marketing department could use a good proofreader, or as they say in French, un bon relecteur. So what’s going on here? Is this a faux pas, or a jeu de mots gone wrong?
These types of random statements are pretty risky claims for a slaughterhouse to make. Health Canada has some pretty onerous “Guiding Principles” for product labels and advertising about food characteristics and related health benefits – obviously, because these types of claims influence people’s buying habits. And Health Canada’s standards of evidence are generally consistent with those of other scientific and regulatory authorities, including the European Food Safety Authority.
Consider that “a health claim is a statement or representation that states, suggests or implies that a relation exists between a food or component of that food and health” in Health Canada’s guidance documents on nutrition. These types of claims (about infection and health in pregnancy) fall under “Disease risk reduction claims” and “function claims.” When someone advertises a claim about their product’s ability to treat a health condition, mitigate a disease, or about restoring, correcting or modifying body functions – they must be prepared to back it up. Ideally, the company is supposed to submit these claims to Health Canada so they can be reviewed BEFORE publishing them anywhere. Neither can a company typically make non-specific or general claims (for example, “horsemeat is beneficial to health” or “horsemeat supports immune health”) since these are subject to multiple interpretations and are potentially misleading.
Making health claims are totally optional for a food product. But if and when a claim is made, it must be truthful and not misleading, according to Subsection 5(1) of the Food and Drugs Act. This means that producers must have scientific evidence to substantiate a food health claim prior to its use. Subsection 3(1) of the FDA goes on to state that no person shall advertise any food, drug, cosmetic or device to the general public as a treatment, preventative or cure for any of the diseases, disorders or abnormal physical states referred to in Schedule A.
There are some great precedents whereby manufacturers have been slapped down for making dubious or unsupported claims in the past. One of the most famous examples occurred when, in 2011, the Kellogg Co. paid $5 million back to consumers for making the common claim that its Rice and Cocoa Krispies can help a child’s immune system, shortly after a similar settlement concerning its Frosted Mini-Wheats.
The marketing folks at Viandes Richelieu must be under terrible pressure – they blame activists for the unpopularity of their product in an article published in the French language Journal de Montréal.
“There is no restaurant that wants to use it because of the threats. We, too, have it continuously. Our equipment must be monitored 24 hours a day,”declared spokesperson Marc Bouvry in a translated statement about the Bouvry operations in Alberta (VR is also part of the Bouvry horse slaughter empire). Hey Marc, maybe this industry isn’t worth it – at least, that’s the consensus of about 69% of Canadians. Time to find more socially acceptable work. So that’s why I’ll be writing to Health Canada, to ask them to make a determination about the appropriateness of these claims made by Viandes Richelieu. Not too long after sending a letter to Advertising Standards Canada about statements made on Richelieu’s website in 2011, I received a response from ASC indicating that the company had revamped their website to remove the misleading claims.
I didn’t realize that you could request a purebred horse steak (or an “old half-bred” for that matter either).
Written by: Heather Clemenceau (with files from the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition)
Dear friends,
Many people are shocked to find out that pregnant animals are routinely slaughtered. According to the European Food Safety Authority, “on average 3% of dairy cows, 1.5 % of beef cattle, 0.5% of pigs, 0.8% sheep and 0.2% of goats in the EU are slaughtered during the last third of gestation. Reasons may vary – from farmers not being aware that animals are pregnant, to considerations linked to animal health and welfare or economic reasons.” Horse advocates may be shocked to discover that this also occurs with slaughterbound horses, and there’s really no good explanation for the “why” here, when horses are slaughtered in the last few weeks or days of gestation. Indeed, probably many horse people are convinced that kill buyers and slaughterhouses as a rule, allow mares to “foal-out” on idyllic pastures worthy of a John Constable painting.
The Health of Animals Act (138 (2)(c)) stipulates that any animal that is likely to give birth during the trip is considered to be “unfit.” While the CFIA veterinarians are responsible for ensuring that transport is compliant, there are not enough of them and it’s highly questionable whether the organization has the will or fortitude to fine or penalize shippers. We already know that they don’t enforce their own regulations and any existing regulations we have in Canada do not reflect the current science regarding care and handling.
Slaughterhouses are profiting off the suffering of horses, and in particular, pregnant mares and their foals, which are often only discovered upon evisceration of the mare on the slaughter dis-assembly line. Please be advised that the translated sequences of events contain graphic and disturbing accounts of suffering and despair:
Pregnant mare (USDA tag #2976) – Mare gave birth in trailer, and both mare & foal were slaughtered the following day
Mare #2976 with foal. ATI Documents
Translation of CFIA Remarks from French:
“On March 9, 2011 at 9:00 a.m., a load of 30 horses from (name withheld) arrived at establishment 505. During unloading, (name withheld) inspector at establishment 505 discovered that there was a foal with its mother in the first section of the trailer.Here is the sequence of events before the foaling and a declaration collected by the Inspector at establishment 505: While parked in a rest area around 1:15 am on the morning of March 9, 2011, the driver was awakened to noises coming from the trailer. When he checked, he saw that there was a mare lying down.
He continued to observe the mare and around 2:00 am, he witnessed the birth of the foal noting that it came out with no problems. At around 6:00 am, he called his boss to ask him what to do. The ‘boss’ contacted establishment 505. At 9:00 am the load arrived at the slaughterhouse. The seals were removed. The colt was in the first section of the trailer with his mother and other horses. He seemed in good health. (Name withheld) noted placenta residues and traces of blood where the mare and foal were (see photos: placenta and traces of blood in the trailer, trailer traces of blood). (Name withheld), employee of the slaughterhouse, carried the foal in his arms and brought him into the barn with his mother. The rest of the load were fine. On March 10, 2011 at 8:00 am, I looked at the mare and foal. They seemed in good health. I discussed the case with (name withheld). Around 13:30 (1:30 pm), the foal was euthanized for humane reasons.The mare was shot, in normal fashion, around 14:45 (2:45 pm).”
“A journey of horses imported from the United States arrived at (Les Viandes de la Petite-Nation) establishment designation #505. These horses
Bouvry feedlot – Why aren’t pregnant mares separated? What will be the outcome for this mare and her foal? Photo credit – Animals’ Angels & AWF
left on June 3, 2011 at 22:00 (10:00 p.m.) and arrived on June 5, 2011 at 9:10 am after 35 hours and 10 minutes in the trailer. At first glance, the horses are thirsty and hungry. They are fed and kept awaiting slaughter, to take place on June 6, 2011. On June 6, 2011, during the evisceration, we have 2 mares #4937 USDA and #4439 USDA who have a very large uterus and which each contain a foal I describe as almost to term. The first foal of the mare was black, measured 38.5 inches (98 cm) and weighed 44.8 kg. The second foal of the mare was beige, weighed 56.4 kg and was 40.5 inches long (103 cm). Their weight and length measurements indicate that the mares were in the last 10% of gestation, pregnant more than 300 days.To be precise, I would say that the 2 foals were between 325 to 330 days of gestation, 330 days being the normal time of gestation for mares. A pregnant mare in the last 10% of gestation is considered to be an animal that is fragile and unfit for transportation. Its resistance to the stress of transport is weakened. Article 138 (2) (c) of the Health of Animals Regulations states that it is prohibited to load or to transport to load in a motor vehicle an animal that is likely to give birth during the journey. The hazards related to the stress of the trip, the hazards associated with the travel itself, the lack of drinking water for long hours and the duration of the trip are among the many possible causes of complications in the pregnancy in the transported mare.”
“I recommend that the offender be prosecuted. The owner of the horse should be aware of the state of gestation of the mare before sending to the livestock auction. Lately, I noticed almost full-term fetuses during my post-mortem examinations. People should be made aware of this.”
“A journey of horses from the United States arrives at (Les Viandes de la Petite-Nation) establishment designation #505. This journey of horses left on June 9, 2011 at 22:00 hours (10:00 p.m.) and arrived on June 11, 2011 at 9:45 a.m. At first viewing, the horses are thirsty and hungry. They are fed and kept until the next day when they will be slaughtered, June 14, 2011.
During my first visit to the pen in the morning of June 13, 2011, I noticed that the mare with USDA #4617 is isolated along the wall and does not move (although) another horse bit her regularly for ten minutes. She is abnormally still. She looks sick. She is dehydrated over 12%, this is evident in the skinfold, and this represents a very serious situation and we could expect an eminent death if action is not taken immediately. (Her) temperature is normal. The mucous membranes of the mouth have a nice colour. Its sides are obvious. (Name withheld) a specialist in animal transport examined this horse. In summary, the mare #4617 is severely dehydrated.
I isolated her from the other horses with unlimited access to water and good hay for her to regain strength. The next day, June 14, 2011, I reexamined her and I find that she is moderately dehydrated to 8%, which represents some improvement. She proceeded to slaughter and at evisceration we have a very large uterus containing a foal that I would call almost to term. Its eyes are open, it weighs 34.8 kg and is 92 cm long. Weight indicates that the mare was in the last 10% of gestation, is pregnant for more than 300 days. The normal length of gestation in the mare is 330 days. A pregnant mare in the last 10% of gestation is considered to be a fragile animal and unfit for transport. Its resistance to stress is weakened. The hazards related to the stress of travel, hazards related to the travel itself, the lack of drinking water for long hours and the duration of the trip are among the many possible causes of complications of pregnancy of the conveyed mare.
This is even more evident, since the mare USDA tag #4617 was deprived of water for transportation and her proximity to a dominant horse was prevented from drinking in the pen at the slaughterhouse. The consequence of the severe dehydration could bring suffering to her and her foal until death ensures. Luckily, I perceived the signs of weakness. She regained strength, which enabled her to have a dignified and painless death.Article 138 (2) (a) of the Health of Animals Regulations states that is prohibited to load or to cause to load an animal for reasons of infirmity, sickness, fatigue or any other cause that cannot be transported without undue suffering (unjustified and unreasonable) during the planned trip.” The inspector also recommended a pecuniary sanction.
This is what “foaling out” looks like on a feedlot in winter. Photo credit – Animals’ Angels & AWF.
Probably one of the most reprehensible aspects of the horse slaughter industry is the slaughter pregnant mares (and as a result, their foals), which occurs in violation of Canada’s Health of Animals Act. Slaughter plants in Canada do and will continue to butcher them; the only provision on both sides of the border is the transportation issue, which is largely ignored. Enforcement at auctions, border control and at the slaughter plant is minimal and questionably enforced.
The idea that horse welfare and CFIA oversight correlated in a linear way is just false. There is a point of diminishing returns where increased welfare and attempts to hold individuals’ responsible costs more than any potential “market quality” you could get out of it. Notice also that while one inspector notes that “people should be made aware of this,” a second CFIA inspector congratulates him/herself on re-hydrating the mare #4617 sufficiently so that she can “have a dignified and painless death.”
Kill buyers, slaughterhouses, and the CFIA itself are all financially incentivized to kill animals while providing little to no welfare oversight.
There are 16 Codes of Practice for animals but they are all voluntary, lack legal status, and are developed by industry dominated committees. They are out-of-touch relative to other standards elsewhere in the world. https://www.nfacc.ca/codes-of-practice/equine-code
According to a General Occurrence Report by Niagara Regional Police, no charges were filed following the carriage horse accident at King and Picton that resulted when the horse, “Ethan,” spooked and the carriage he was put to subsequently collided with a parked 2017 Lexus RX5. According to the police report, obtained by FOIA request, there are two explanations for what happened, one provided by a witness, who claimed that a second carriage pulled out and clipped Ethan’s carriage, startling him, while the second explanation was provided by the carriage owner, who claimed the accident occurred when “the shaft to the carriage broke off.”
“The horse then went diagonally toward the median on King Street hitting the curb and the horse then bucked its hind legs 3-4 times. The horse then turned 90 degrees and went directly toward the front of the Prince of Wales Hotel (on Picton Street) where the carriage struck a parked (unoccupied) vehicle in the valet stand area. The driver of the carriage fell off the carriage and the horse came to rest and sat on the ground adjacent to the struck vehicle.” ~ FOIA Report
Insofar as the two explanations are concerned, both show that it is not necessary for a third party vehicle to be involved as a cause for a
Ethan, in a photo credited to Richard Harley/Niagara Now
carriage horse accident. It’s often claimed by supporters of the carriage trade in NOTL that “drivers need to respect carriages,” and that perhaps “cars should be prevented from driving in the tourist areas of NOTL,” as if cars are the sole reason for a carriage accident. It is the law that cars must respect horse carriages of course, but this incident shows that a horse and carriage can get into an accident without any other influential factors, unless you consider a parked car a factor in the accident.
I don’t know which of the two explanations for the cause of the spooking is the more accurate one (perhaps an element of truth to both – clipping one carriage *could* damage the shaft on the other). It’s ironic that two carriages operated by the same company may have had a small altercation causing a huge explosion in the horse (bucking and bolting), or that one of the two shafts on the carriage spontaneously broke off for no apparent reason, as per the police report. By either official explanation, there appears to be no cause to blame anyone else other than the owner/operator for this accident that left one driver injured and Ethan sitting stunned on the lawn next to the Prince of Wales Hotel.
A new study, published January in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, has found that digital thermography can be used in the detection of ante-mortem injuries sustained by horses en route to slaughter. While digital thermography (DT) itself is not a “new” technology, (it has been previously used in the detection of lameness in horses); the authors of the study used DT to assess bruising by identifying areas of the body where there were elevated skin temperatures (consistent with non-visible injuries). The high predictive rates for detecting unseen injuries means that CFIA inspectors or other welfare assessors could use DT as a diagnostic tool to identify injured horses up arrival at slaughterhouses. The obvious relevance of DT here is that it could be used to assign responsibility for transportation injuries to the appropriate offenders – not just for horses, but for other species of animals transported to slaughter as well.
2019 Roy, Riley, Stryhn, Dohoo and Cockram – Department of Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE., Canada, and the School of Veterinary Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
“The transport of horses for slaughter and related management practices may cause externally visible and non-visible injuries due to trauma including fractures, swelling, excoriations, and bruising. The welfare assessments of livestock undertaken following transport to slaughter plants include visual/clinical evaluations by plant personnel or official inspectors. However, horses may have non-visible injuries unrecognized until post-mortem carcass examination. The lack of suitable methods to identify bruised horses ante-mortem limits the ability to differentiate injuries occurring during transport, from those that occur at the slaughter plant itself. It is important to determine which stage of the process is responsible for bruising, so that appropriately directed measures are taken to reduce this risk. Reliable and objective tools to detect non-visible injuries in horses following transport could empower regulatory authorities and plant operators to improve animal transport welfare.
Digital thermography (DT) is a non-invasive imaging technique that records superficial infrared emission patterns. When tissue is damaged, localized hypo- or hyper-perfusion due to vascular injury and inflammation occurs that may be detectable by DT. In horses, DT has been used to detect musculoskeletal and neuromuscular injuries, and to monitor skin lesions. It also has been used for the ante mortem and post mortem detection of blunt force trauma in humans. The authors hypothesized that a qualitative methodology using DT imaging implemented at slaughter plants may identify horses with bruising ante-mortem after transport. The objective of this study was to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of DT images as a diagnostic test for detecting bruising ante-mortem when compared to post-mortem visual examination of carcasses.”
Ante-mortem digital thermography images provided as supplementary materials in the study. Lack of symmetry between the right and left side of the horse suggests “hot spot” in second image is transport bruising.
Far too often we have seen the devastating, often fatal, effects of horses transported to slaughter plants in Canada with few individuals ever held accountable. While we collectively work to get horse slaughter shut down, digital thermography is one tool that we can insist the CFIA implement in order to improve welfare. Violators who are found to consistently deliver loads of horses with soft tissue injuries should be assessed the same administrative monetary penalties that the CFIA already applies in the case of non-compliance with the Health of Animals Act (HAA) and Health of Animals Regulations (HAR).
The peaceful protest, Operation Rolling Thunder, took place on December 16th in the town of Niagara-On-The-Lake, to protest the commercial horse carriage industry.
Written By: Heather Clemenceau
Photography: Me
Horse carriages delay traffic which cannot easily or safely pass, and on occasion, they are involved in motor vehicle accidents (carriages themselves are considered vehicles within the Highway Traffic Act). Drivers often don’t understand that they need clear sight lines for hundreds of feet in order to safely pass a horse and carriage.
Most people who oppose urban carriages are used to being told that they have “limited horse knowledge” or that they don’t live in the country or work with horses, and therefore have no right to render an opinion. But much of the propaganda being churned out in favour of the commercial carriage industry takes the form of attesting to the carriage horses’ overall “happiness” and wonderful working conditions, and this is something we can all fact-check.
The insistence that “horses love to have jobs” is an oft-repeated statement in the carriage trade; I’ve heard it uttered many times in defence of working horses for 8-12 hour days. It’s derivative of the old “christian work ethic,” which every true believer is supposed to apply in the realm of their employment – everyone should work to support themselves and idleness is to be abhorred. For horses and those individuals who used horses for their labour, it would be rare to find evidence of real friendship, because the primary relationship to the horse with an actual job was usually exploitative. It is more accurate to say that horses, because of their compliant nature towards humans, do not actively show aversion to the many things humans ask them to do. They may like interaction with humans very much, but there’s no indication that they “love having jobs.”
A publication by European equitation scientists suggested that, when given the choice, horses prefer not to work at all; in fact, it appears that they’d rather be back in their resting place with their food and equine pals. It’s not a big stretch of the imagination to assume that horses might prefer not to have to be bitted for long periods of time either. Some equestrians have found that feeding horses with bits in their mouths may also be a choking hazard, but the bridle, and therefore the bit, can’t be removed from horses while they are put to carriages for safety reasons.
When we keep horses engaged in work or put to a carriage for as long as 8-12 hours, whether we think they like it or not, we overcome horses’ innate responses and thus ignore their behavioural preferences. We need always to bear in mind that its the “tractability” of draft horses in particular that makes them easygoing animals, but that characteristic also makes them vulnerable.
Other people feel that the carriages themselves are at odds with the traffic in an urban environment – which has resulted in sharp, civic discontent in the town of Niagara-On-The-Lake. Horses and cars do not mix well wherever you find them and if there is a collision it is always the horse (and passengers) who will be worse off for it. Most carriage companies typically represent their industry as accident-free or low risk, but even in a quaint town like NOTL that isn’t the case.
Yes, there was a carriage accident in NOTL.
Click to open PDF document
It was reported to the Niagara Regional Police and requested by FOIA. According to the NRP, the horse appears to have been thankfully unhurt. For understandable privacy reasons, the report does not identify any individuals or circumstances of the accident, or whether any charges were laid. The dates in my original FOIA (2014 – 2018 – provide only a 5 year “snapshot” in a 30 year history of carriages in the town), did not cover the exact date of the accident, but my contact at NRP helpfully provided that one was on record in 2013. The incident demonstrates that even with the slow pace in the quaint town of NOTL, accidents with carriages will still occur.
Written by: Heather Clemenceau
Subsection 5(1) of the 
give birth during the trip is considered to be “unfit.” While the CFIA veterinarians are responsible for ensuring that transport is compliant, there are not enough of them and it’s highly questionable whether the organization has the will or fortitude to fine or penalize shippers. We already know that they don’t enforce their own regulations and any existing regulations we have in Canada do not reflect the current science regarding care and handling.
heatherclemenceau 
