Source: By Jason Hewlett, Kamloops Daily News
“There’s no way it can ever be humane…”
A protester waves at passing cars honking to stop horse slaughter in Canada ~ Photograph by: Hugo Yuen , Kamloops Daily News
WESTWOLD, B.C. — Efforts to inform residents of this B.C. community about the slaughter of horses in their own backyard will continue, the organizer of a protest outside KML Meat Processors says.
But Jacquie Sharpe isn’t sure if more protests like the one that prompted 50 people to gather along Highway 97C this weekend will take place.
Sharpe will maintain her Facebook page — Protest Westwold Horse Slaughter Plant — and keep feeding people information on horse slaughter so residents can decide if they want KML Meat Processors to remain open.
“This protest isn’t against this particular slaughterhouse other than if people do not want this happening in their area, we’d like them to shut it down,” said Sharpe.
Protesters learned that KML Meat Processors was granted a licence to slaughter horses in August, making it one of five such facilities in Canada and the only one in B.C.
The group gathered at a highway pullout, hoisted anti-slaughter placards, then marched to KML.
RCMP were present to ensure the protest was carried out safely. KML was closed, but a couple of local ranchers stood nearby and provided a contrary voice.
Harold Hough said the process is necessary. Horse slaughter isn’t allowed in the United States, where some horses are turned out into the wild.
“They are destroying government land and the horses are starving to death,” he said. “What’s more humane?”
The horses aren’t local, he said. He doesn’t know how they are killed, but the slaughter is regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
“It’s not a hillbilly operation,” said Hough, adding horses, like cattle, are a commodity industry.
The protesters disagreed with Hough. Belinda Lyall and her daughter, Rega Malysh, 8, came from Salmon Arm to protest.
Lyall has rescued horses from slaughterhouses, including her daughter’s pet horse, Beauty. She said horses are put in a kill box built for cattle and killed with a bolt gun or rifle.
Unlike cattle, the horse is well aware of what is going on, she said.
“There’s no way it can ever be humane, just due to the nature of the horse and the sheer terror they experience,” said Lyall.
Ellie Wilson joined the protest so she could learn more about the slaughter. She wants to know why it’s necessary.
It doesn’t matter where it’s happening, horses shouldn’t be killed for food, said Wilson.
“I just don’t think it’s a cool thing to do,” she said, adding she’s heard the meat is sold to China.
Resident Val Pringle believes the KML facility is first class, and provides ranchers a means to make money off unwanted horses or those they can’t otherwise sell.
The only other option is to shoot them and bury them, he said, adding he’s owned horses in the past.
Sharpe said most Canadians consider horses a companion animal that helped build the country, which makes their slaughter a contentious issue.
“I do not believe in horse slaughter, period,” she said.
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- Horse-slaughtering facility in Southern Interior is target of weekend protest (timescolonist.com)
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Harold Hough KLM meats BC Canada Its the BLM destroying gov lands with their catte ranchers leasing the land That is why they are getting rid of the horses The horses are are not starvingl You are misinfomed and living on cloud nine Get your facts straight
We all know selling the dead bodies of horses to Europe and Asia is profit for you Stop being a bloody hypocrite No matter what way you “frame”: it and or justifiy it horse slaughter is inhumane .They are NOT FOOD ANIMALS!
Horse slaughter is going to be banned in my country of Canada very soon and you will have to shut down , so make plans to start a new business doing something else asap .If you dont you are a more of a fool than I take you for !
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I am so extremely sick of cattlemen. These,people dont want horse owners opinions or us in their beef slaughter businesz but they pop up like a bad penny when when it comes to horse abuse approval or backing a slaughterplant for equines.
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Folks we need to try our best to get the point across that horse slaughter and the people involved in it, are bad news for any community. Often it’ll attract people who “like” their job a little too much and who have no trouble inflicting a little more pain that necessary, just for some entertainment. Horses have been known to disappear in the night or being bought under false pretenses, improper waste disposal, bad or false vet records, employees with criminal records and a noticeable drop in property values…is it worth it? NOPE, not to me and it should not be to you. The people who live in that area need to get the point across, that it’s not wanted. It’s most important to remember inevitably that it’s the horses that end up suffering most. If we’re dumb enough to allow it to be there, then we deserve it. The horses have no choice in the matter.
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This slaughterhouse should of never popped up…If Canadian Horse Coalition had been doing there job they would of had this opening on the radar why before it even opened its doors. Thats what upsets me. They would of been out there getting soil samples and all kinds of information and data to have stopped this from
opening its doors. If this was the US Animal Angels would of never let another slaughterhouse for horses open without a real fight.
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TO ROBIN TIFFIN
You need remember we have far fewer slaughter houses for horses here in Canada than the Us Public awareness of this issues is very scant and what the public do know about the realities of this is not too much
We dont have a BLM here in Canada brutally rounding up horses and stockpiling them whlie the horse’s land is leased to cattle ranchers
.We have a bill currently being presented to our federal government to ban horse slaughter in Canada so support this and tell every one you know to support this too
I do not appreciate you slamming the Canadian Horse Colaition like you have Uncalled for and bad taste They are all volunteers and I dont see or hear about anythng you are doing to help !
If you reply to this Ms or Mr Tiffin you had better be giving us all your detailed and specific efforts as to what YOU HAVE DONE to stop this plant opening and what efforts you have made to support the private members bill to ban slaughter in Canada
How dare you criticize the CHC ! The horses dont need your kind of negativity People in glass houses should not throw stones and this is about saving horses not about your negative biased opinions
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Hold on. I am sure thats called for, but that was someone making a comment out of frustration. We would be glad to assist raising Canadas awareness and appreciate your hard work. No we realize this industry sneaks up like a slithering cobra, and rising its ugly head only once its close to striking. We understand your frustration. Now instead of combating Internationally, lets just work together for the Common Good as you always have. I read all your posted data, pics, keep aprised and encourage Canadians to take a stand. We will and most certainly can get awareness raised so lets work on this and Together we can stand for the horses. I mean that sincerely, this is a battle turning into a giant war, so lets all stay on the same side!
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Robin Tiffin, the Canadian Horse Coalition has done a tremendous amount of work to save horses from slaughter, and do not deserve one word of criticism or blame. You apparently aren’t aware of all the good work they have done. The Canadian Horse Coalition deserves much appreciation and thanks, and have mine.
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I’m an American who’s worked with race horses. And I’ve been all over BC province and Vancouver Island for business: Kamloops, Kelowna, etc. I will always treasure my time there and the people that I met there, some who became friends. I’m amazed that this educated, civil society would practice such violence on horses. The suffering and inhumane treatment that is ‘necessary’ to achieve slaughter plant profitability should be condemned … which many seek to achieve in the US.
If what the horse slaughter industry does to horses in it, were done to any other species (ie, dogs) it would be condemned as cruel and unacceptable.
Just because someone wants to relieve themselves of a 1,000-LB animal that they are otherwise responsible for, nothing justifies the cruelty of horse slaughter.
Further, US horses are not raised (yet!) as food animals, and their meat is unfit for human consumption due to chemical and drug residues.
Good luck with your efforts to prevent horse slaughter in BC.
http://www.americanhorsemeat.com/Home.php
http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/medications.php
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I am seeing savinghorses2 commenting on the canada articles with encouragement. Please anyone who canand will post words of encouragement. They need to know theyhave a support systemaround the world. They need to know cattlemen always butt in uninvited and to tune them out! They neex encouragement to fight and a tool kit of how to fight.
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Post about stolen horses being prosessed, drug residues not properly tested for only spot checking carcasses when every one needs checked.
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Hello all….
I read the article above and went to reply on the original site, but only after composing my thoughts discovered you must be a Facebook member to post! I do not and don’t want to join FB, so will post my words here. I’d be more than thrilled if someone would be willing to copy them over to the original article so Mr. Hough might actually read them. Thanks!
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Mr. Hough, with all due respect you need to do some homework. America’s wild horses are not starving, and even the domestic horses sold for kill are not valuable if they are thin or starved, and as rescues well know, you can spend a fortune and not put much weight on a horse quickly once they are sickly. Kill buyers are in the business of buying fat, mature horses and unloading them as quickly as possible, even if it means in Canada.
You might also realize there is little accurate information about what horses end up in kill pens and it is more than likely some of those slaughtered have Canadian origins. Canada’s wild horses are even less protected than those in the USA.
Further, there is a significant biohazard from horses carrying diseases into Canada for which they are not tested or vaccinated against in the USA. Records are often forged if they exist at all, and many diseases are insect-borne from live animals to others. So a truckload of horses of unknown origin passing through anytown, BC could be bringing you a gift that keeps on giving.
Others have mentioned the unknowable amounts of drugs in domestic horses sold to slaughter, which then end up in international food products.
American horses, wild or domestic, are not a “commodity industry” raised for slaughter as you wishfully imagine. Nor are they the sole cause of environmental damage in America.
If ignorance assuages your conscience it is a poor way to walk this world. I have long admired Canada and spent some time traveling your magnificent western provinces. I am dismayed and disappointed that people I have long admired as upright, intelligent, outdoor-oriented people tuned in to their environment could so readily close their eyes and hearts to the horrendous slaughter of sentient, innocent native creatures.
Please delve more deeply into this matter and consider that money (and especially blood money) is not the measure of a man.
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So very well said Thank you !
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