Tag Archives: horsemeat

Sep 1 2015

90,000 PMU mares trapped in stalls in China? Susan Wagner, Pres. of Equine Advocates, & Susan Kayne, creator of TV show “Real Horse Rescues,” on equine news not covered by mainstream media, on Wild Horse & Burro Radio (Wed., 9/2/15)

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Wild_Horse_Burro_Radio_LogoJoin us on Wild Horse Wednesday (*SM) , September 2, 2015

6:00 pm PST … 7:00 pm MST … 8:00 pm CST … 9:00 pm EST

Listen to the Archived Show (HERE!)

or listen to the show live on your phone by calling (917) 388-4520.

You can call in with questions during the 2nd half hour of the show by dialing (917) 388-4520, then pressing 1.

This is a 1 hour show.  It will be archived so you can listen to it anytime.

_____________________________________________

Our guests tonight are Susan Wagner, President & Founder of Equine Advocates, and Susan Kayne, creator of TV show Real Horse Rescues on ABC-WTEN, who will talk about the mainstream media’s poor (if any) coverage of horse meat in the U.S. food supply, over 90,000 PMU mares trapped in torturous conditions while having their pregnant mare urine collected in China, and other equine welfare issues.

Susan Kayne began creating equine media productions in 2003, and her signature series, Unbridled, aired for 10-seasons and earned multiple awards.  Her present day ventures include Real Horse Rescues on ABC-WTEN in upstate New York. Kayne has hosted shows for the Capital OTB Network, served as a feature reporter for Outdoor Life Network, and has given expert equine commentary for news outlets, professional panels, and educational institutions.  Her advocacy on behalf of thoroughbreds earned her a photo on Page One of the New York Times on 9/22/2012.

pregnant_mares_pee_line_premarinMares strapped in tight stalls to collect pregnant mare urine (conditions for horses are worse in China)

Susan Kayne and Susan Wagner are in the video below in an episode of “Real Horse Rescues.”  In Part 2, Susan Wagner talks about wild horses, including the two that are now living on the Equine Advocates sanctuary.

You can watch Part 1 HERE.

Tonight’s show is hosted by Debbie Coffey, V.P. and Dir. of Wild Horse Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation.

To contact us: ppj1@hush.com, or call 320-281-0585

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Sep 1 2015

Illegal street horse racing in Italy

SOURCE:  Time.com

Inside the Mafia’s Illegal Street Horse Racing

by Lorenzo Tondo

Horses have nerves removed so they feel no pain racing on hard streets

illegal-horse-racing-italy

Young men take out a horse that is used in illegal horse racing for training in Ballarò, Palermo, Italy, in June 2015.

As the sun rises over Palermo, a stretch of asphalt is transformed into a racetrack where yet another clandestine horse race is set to begin. The early hour, with its quiet roads and shuttered shops, provides a haven from passersby and, most importantly, the police. Horses paw the ground, moving nervously, spooked by the shouts of spectators and the sound of car horns.

Welcome to Fast and Furious, Sicilian-style, where horses are the cars that are exploited, abused, doped, forced to run to exhaustion and then thrown away. The past three years have seen a dramatic rise in illegal horse racing on the streets of Sicily, according to police. Illegal racing has spread around the island and spawned its own own Internet sites, photos, YouTube videos, fan pages and songs dedicated to champions.

The latest report by the Italian Anti-Vivisection League, one of the country’s largest animal welfare associations, offers a grim tally: over the last 18 years in Southern Italy, police stopped 111 illegal races, confiscated 1,238 horses and reported 3,344 people to the judicial authorities (46 so far in 2015). The most recent police operation was on July 22 last year when authorities stopped a race at 7 a.m. in a suburb of Palermo. The following day, the body of a horse was found near the motorway, a few hours after another illegal race in the Sicilian capital.

“Unfortunately, police forces are barely scratching the surface of the illegal racing iceberg, which in this city is seen by many as a normal part of everyday life,” Ciro Troiano, a manager at the Anti-Vivisection League told TIME. “Since 2013 there has been a dangerous decline in operations against illegal racing. And yet during the same year there was a massive increase of reports from citizens and of videos uploaded to YouTube by participants.”

The races’ early start times are deliberate. “That’s when policemen go home after the night shift,” says Giovanni Guadagna, founder of Geapress, a Sicilian press agency for news on the protection of animals. A delay of several minutes in police response is enough time for organizers to stage a race, where, according to police, the value of a single bet ranges from $100 to $5,000, with sweepstakes of up to $25,000. Riders on scooters and motorbikes pursue the horses, goading them to the finish line by sounding their horns and shouting. Races are held on an uphill slope to avoid injuries to horses that have already had their foot nerves surgically severed so they feel no pain racing fast on hard asphalt.

For years, illegal horse racing has been the prize business of the ruthless Sicilian mafia, the Cosa Nostra. “It’s palpable that races are managed by the criminal underworld,” says state prosecutor Amedeo Bertone in an interview with TIME. “Individuals reported to the authorities are often part of the criminal system. Some have previous convictions for mafia association. However, racing is not just about the money, it’s also a hobby for Sicily’s wise guys who have always had an avid interest in horse racing and betting.”

Historically, horse racing was the most popular sport in Italy’s gambling industry. But, according to Snai, the leading Italian gambling business, over the last four years, 40 percent of legal stables have shut down. Former racing champions have been bumped from the glory of the track to the shadows of asphalt — and worse. On the morning of Sept. 30, 2012, in Palermo the body of a horse was found sprawled on the roadside in a pool of blood, its head smashed in. A label around its neck bore its name: It’s A Dream. The horse was the son of Varenne, a celebrated racer in harness. An investigation concluded It’s A Dream died in an accident while being exercised for an illegal race.

Keeping horses in legal stables is expensive — around $2,000 a month — so horses are kept in cheap, illicit stables. Police estimate there are more than 300 underground stables in Palermo alone, usually small units inside garages hidden in the labyrinth of alleys and courtyards. Conditions are grim in the stables, which are dark and devoid of drainage; horses are typically immobilized by ropes attached to their bit rings, anchored to the walls on each side. A dilapidated stable discovered last year was filled with an array of doping agents and antiinflammatories, injected into the animals to enhance their run.

If their life is awful, their end is abysmal. In 2013, three miles outside Palermo in the Pezzingoli countryside, the charred remains of a horse were found. Investigators say it had been butchered when it could no longer compete.

But there’s money to be made from death too. In March 2013, authorities discovered an illegal slaughterhouse in Ballarò in Palermo specializing in horsemeat, a delicacy in the area. Authorities believe criminals coerced local businesses into purchasing the racehorse meat for food. “It’s a business within the business,” Troiano says. “And I don’t think Ballarò is an isolated case. The health risk is extremely serious as doping substances injected into horses are harmful to people.”

The health of the horses and humans is a minor concern for the mafia. But under the cover of each night, horse owners and gamblers continue to prepare for the next short and explosive race, which will probably finish before the authorites become aware that it started.

Jul 9 2015

Political Back-Stabbing Kills Horse Slaughter Ammendment

By Rebecca Shabad as published on The Hill

The Face of U.S. Politics

The Face of U.S. Politics

Republicans narrowly blocked an amendment to a spending bill Wednesday that would have defunded inspections of horse slaughter facilities.

The amendment from Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) would have prohibited funding for the inspection of horse slaughter facilities, which would effectively prevent them from operating.

GOP appropriators defeated the proposal in a 24-24 vote during a markup of a bill to fund the Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration.

For the last three years, Farr said the USDA has asked Congress to defund the practice in its budget requests.

“Supporting this amendment does not stop the slaughter of horses,” said Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the bill.

Aderholt argued the practice would just be moved “off-shore” and “out of sight.”

Democrats, however, said the practice is not humane and Congress has previously stated it does not support the slaughter of horses.

In April, Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), Frank Guinta, (R-N.H.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) introduced the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act to ban the killing of horses for human consumption in the U.S.

The bill also would ban the export of live horses to Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses, where the animals are killed and shipped overseas.

The U.S. already has a ban in place on the sale of horse meat for human consumption, but it must be reviewed by Congress each year.

Jun 29 2015

Canadian horsemeat not drug-free, European audit finds

By: Feature reporter, News, as published on The Star

European Commission monitors have “serious concerns” about Canada’s ability to track health and treatment of horses

MICHAEL BURNS / MICHAEL BURNS PHOTO Thoroughbred race horse Backstreet Bully finished first in this August 2008 race at Fort Erie. The race horse changed ownership after retirement and was sent to slaughter, despite frantic last-minute pleas to save his life by people who knew the horse had been given veterinary drugs over his lifetime that made him unsafe for human consumption.


MICHAEL BURNS / MICHAEL BURNS PHOTO
Thoroughbred race horse Backstreet Bully finished first in this August 2008 race at Fort Erie. The race horse changed ownership after retirement and was sent to slaughter, despite frantic last-minute pleas to save his life by people who knew the horse had been given veterinary drugs over his lifetime that made him unsafe for human consumption.

Exported Canadian horsemeat intended for human consumption cannot be trusted to be free of toxic drugs, according to a recently released European audit that cites “serious concerns” about the integrity of Canada’s food safety measures.

Among the reported findings, auditors discovered that slaughterhouse tests conducted two years ago on horse carcasses poised to enter the human food chain showed residues of prohibited substances, including a commonly used veterinary medicine called “bute.” Phenylbutazone, or bute, has been linked to bone-marrow disease in humans if eaten in meat.

“It cannot be guaranteed that horses (slaughtered in Canada) have not been treated with illegal substances within the last 180 days before slaughter,” the audit states.

The report also described the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the country’s food safety watchdog, as having “shortcomings” in its ability to accurately trace horses’ identities and complete medical histories.

All horses butchered in Canada for export as human food, including horses imported from the United States, must be accompanied by an equine identification “passport” completed by the animal’s last owner. Owners must truthfully declare on these signed affidavits that their slaughter-bound animals have not been given prohibited drugs for the previous six months and are, therefore, eligible to become human food.

A 2013 Star investigation found these passports, called Equine Information Documents, are open to fraud and error. In European countries, in contrast, horse ownership and medical histories are tracked from birth.

European auditors, who police the meat coming into their market, gathered information from Canadian slaughter facilities during a two-week inspection in May of 2014. In their report, auditors expressed doubt about the ability of Canada’s food safety regulator to always provide untainted horsemeat to European Union markets.

“There are serious concerns in relation to the reliability of the controls over both imported and domestic horses destined for export (to EU markets),” the European report states.

Auditors also found that in Canada “there are no official checks to verify the veracity of the (equine passports) or whether the horses actually match the identifications registered” on the passports.

“The information contained in several (equine passports) checked by the … audit team appeared incomplete, unreliable or false. It can therefore not be ensured that horses slaughtered in Canada for export to the EU have not been treated with substances which are not permitted in the EU, in particular hormonal growth promotants.” Testosterone was mentioned as a prohibited growth hormone in EU meat.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, responding to written questions from the Star, declared that horsemeat exported from Canada is safe to eat.

“Canada has a strong and robust food safety inspection system in place,” the agency said in statement.

“This includes effective ante and post mortem verification and frequent sampling and testing of meat to detect residues with CFIA inspectors and veterinarians present on a daily basis. The number of samples taken is consistent with international standards.”

The federal food safety agency also stated it “welcomes feedback from the audit and is committed to addressing opportunities for improvement identified within the report.”

Horsemeat is Canada’s top red meat export to European countries.

The audit team attached to the European Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office evaluated the sanitary measures and control systems in place for fresh meat exports (including horse, bison and cattle) from Canada to Europe.

With respect to horses, the European team visited unnamed slaughterhouses, feedlots and one border crossing (the majority of horses killed annually in Canada are imported from the United States).

The vulnerability of Canada’s Equine Information Document was also a key concern in a 2010 European audit. That report found Canada’s ability to trace prohibited drugs in food-bound horses “is inadequate” to protect consumers.

Canada’s equine document is the first step in protecting the public from drug-tainted horse meat. A previous Star investigation found the horse passport that Canada relies upon to keep toxic meat off dinner tables around the world is easily compromised. The Star obtained 10 passports in 2013; nine were incomplete or error-riddled.

The 16 carcasses with bute residues identified in the recent audit were tested in 2013 at one unnamed slaughterhouse. The auditors noted the slaughterhouse operator conducted its own investigation of the owners of the 16 horses who submitted the non-compliant equine passports.

Auditors noted that while “the CFIA puts the responsibility for follow-up of non-compliances largely on the shoulders of the slaughterhouses, the CFIA does not always fulfill its obligations for verifying and ensuring the effectiveness of the follow-up investigations and corrective actions.”

Mar 27 2015

Dutch meat trader at center of horse scandal faces five years in jail

Source:  dutchnews.nl

willy-selten-horse-meat-trader-560x390  Willy Selten gives an interview to local broadcaster Omroep

The Dutch trader accused of contaminating beef with horse meat should be jailed for five years, the public prosecution department said on the opening day of his trial in Den Bosch. Willy Selten is accused of mixing over 300,000 kilos of horse into products which were labelled as pure beef.  His company was at the centre of the horse meat scandal which hit the European food sector two years ago.

Selten is charged with selling horse to meat processing firms which had ordered beef and false accounting. In one case he supplied horse to a snack food maker in Oss even though beef had been ordered. Selten admits making mistakes but denies that he deliberately committed fraud, using horse meat in order to earn more money. The public prosecution department claims Selten was a ‘master of deception’. ‘He misled everyone – his personnel, the regulator and the consumer,’ public prosecutor Ingeborg Koopmans told the court. ‘He abused the trust of consumers and damaged the reputation of the Dutch meat industry.’ The contamination of beef products with horse led to Europe-wide recalls of meat products.

 

Jan 14 2015

Jo Anne Normile, author and Pres. of Saving Baby Equine Charity, on Wild Horse & Burro Radio (Wed., 1/14/2015)

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WEDNESDAY, Jan. 14, 2015

5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST … 7:00 pm CST … 8:00 pm EST

Listen Live Here!

Call in # 917-388-4520

We have a NEW 1 hour show format. Continue reading →

Apr 4 2014

‘Tainted horsemeat’ kills 5 in Philippines

Source: Multiple

“Horsemeat is not commonly eaten in the Philippines…”

Horse MeatCotabato – Five people are believed to have died from eating tainted horsemeat in the Philippines while as many as 60 may have consumed it, a local official said on Wednesday.

Four horses died from unexplained causes and their meat was given away to residents in the largely rural southern province Sultan Kudarat on March 25, Henry Albana, the province’s social welfare officer said.

Many fell ill after eating it, with the town of Senator Ninoy Aquino particularly affected, Albano added.

“The owners of the horses butchered them, then they distributed the meat to the residents. One of the owners was the first victim,” to die after eating the meat, said Albano.

“Provincial officials are trying to locate all the others who ate the horsemeat. I estimate that as many as 60 may have eaten it,” he told AFP.

Albano said some locals believed the horses died from eating grass newly-sprayed with pesticides. Health officials have yet to establish what happened.

Horsemeat is not commonly eaten in the Philippines but people in impoverished rural areas often resort to unusual meat sources such as field rats or frogs.

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Mar 14 2014

Horsemeat from US is a ‘Health Risk’ to French

as published in The Local – French news in English

A French animal rights’ group claimed on Thursday that horsemeat imported to France from North and South America comes from animals treated with a dangerous drug that’s banned from human consumption.

Poison_Sign_LHorses from the United States, Canada and other countries in the region whose meat is sold in France for human consumption pose a health risk and are often cruelly treated, a leading animal rights group said on Thursday.

L214, which derives its name from an article in a 1976 French law that stipulates that animals have to be kept properly and in healthy conditions, said the conclusions followed a wide-reaching, two-year investigation launched in 2012.

Horses from the US, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay and Argentina destined for human consumption were found to be emaciated, sick, injured or had been administered strong doses of anti-inflammatory medicines, according to the findings.

Using secret cameras, the probes were conducted at horse auctions, in export enclosures, at veterinary checkpoints, feedlots and abattoirs.

In a video posted on L214’s website, horses are seen with open gashes, dislocated or broken legs, and left without treatment in feedlots.

Some are visibly dead and in a state of decomposition, in enclosures or in transport trucks, with other horses squeezed around them.

“Apart from the unacceptable treatment of the horses, the use of phenylbutazone or other dangerous substances banned in the European Union is common,” said L214’s Brigitte Gothiere.

The drug, commonly referred to as bute, is used to alleviate pain in horses that are not destined for human consumption. It was originally also given to humans to treat rheumatoid arthritis and gout but was found to cause irreversible liver damage when combined even in small doses with other human painkillers.

The drug is no longer approved for human use in the European Union and United States.

The revelations follow a Europe-wide health scare last year when horsemeat was found in millions of ready meals labelled as containing only beef.

The group called Thursday upon leading supermarket chains to shun horsemeat coming from the Americas to put an end to the “cruel and illegal treatment” of
the animals.

It carried out the study in conjunction with other animal lobby groups including Switzerland’s Tierschutzbund-Zurich, Animals Angels’ USA, Belgium’s GAIA and Eyes on Animals in the Netherlands.

According to the groups, 82,000 horses were slaughtered in Canada in 2012 for human consumption. About 70 percent of them were imported from the United States, where horse abattoirs were closed down in 2007.

France, meanwhile, imported 16,900 tonnes of horsemeat in 2012, mainly from Canada, Belgium, Argentina, Mexico and Uruguay — many of the countries featured in the investigation.

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Jan 23 2014

Happy Birthday, Horsemeat Scandal

Source: By Eve Mitchell as published in foodandwaterwatch.org

“…if you’re going to buy heavily processed foods you need to know this stuff –”

Horsemeat on a bunIt’s been a year since we were first told the beef we buy in the EU may actually be horsemeat, but we still don’t really know what happened, how far it spread, who is responsible, or how they will be called to account for themselves.

We’ve seen a smattering of arrests, notably the September 2013 arrests of eight managers of the French company Spanghero on charges of aggravated fraud and mislabelling of food products. French authorities say they “knowingly sold” 750 tonnes of horsemeat mislabelled as beef. Around two-thirds of this went to French firm Comigel’s Luxembourg subsidiary Tavola and found its way into some 4.5 million products that were then sold again to 28 companies operating in 13 European countries. This may be the source of the tainted Findus “beef” lasagne (100% horsemeat) found on UK supermarket shelves.

Sound complicated? It is, but if you’re going to buy heavily processed foods you need to know this stuff – unless you’re happy to just pinch your nose and swallow.

Justice is elusive. Accused of netting some €500,000 over six months of fraud (£425,000 or US$681,000), Spanghero had been stripped of its operating license in February 2013. It then closed in June, changed managers, sacked nearly 60% of its workforce, renamed itself La Lauragaise, refinanced and was trading again by the end of July – protesting its “innocence” all the way. Then came the arrests in September. The company’s new tagline “Saveurs des terroirs” (“The flavours of the land”, with heavy overtones of traditional cultural quality) feels like a bad joke.

Flagship arrests, while welcome, are not enough. Supermarkets sold us this stuff but are not feeling the heat. The UK Parliamentary inquiry into the affair quizzed supermarket bosses, pointing out to Tesco that it is “notorious” for rejecting misshapen apples but somehow managed to miss the fact that products labelled beef were actually up to 29% horse. The Tesco representative attempted to blame consumers, saying the company does what they want, but this didn’t wash with the committee, which retorted, “You obviously don’t [do what your customers want] on horse.”

The inquiry pressed that if beef is trading at a premium to horse, and with “unscrupulous people out there, as obviously there are,” surely supermarkets should watch cheaper products more closely. Tesco said each of its suppliers is scrutinised with the same ”rigour” (Tesco does one DNA test per year at each meat production site). Horsemeat was still being found in Tesco products as late as June, but as the Food Standards Agency only reports results over 1%, for all we know horsemeat is still masquerading as beef all over the place. At this stage it isn’t in anybody’s interest to say differently, and consumers have to take what they can get.

Supermarkets sell UK shoppers 80% of our food, so when they fail us, it is a big deal. Tesco pleads innocence, saying its supplier used unapproved suppliers further down the chain. The Committee’s July 2013 report concluding its inquiry said while some retailers may have been misled, the big ones “need to ‘up their game’”, and the costs should rest on companies, not consumers. The inquiry concluded, “Retailers and meat processors should have been more vigilant against the risk of deliberate adulteration,” instead of taking everything “on trust”. The Committee continued, “We are dismayed at the slow pace of investigations and would like assurance that prosecutions will be mounted where there is evidence of fraud or other illegal activity.” That was in July 2013.

So what has the UK Government done? Testifying before the inquiry in January 2013 Minister for Agriculture and Food David Heath MP announced a wide-ranging review of the crisis, but the report was kicked into the long grass and is not due before an unnamed point in 2014, with actual action who knows when after that. Meanwhile the inquiry heard the Government is proposing to decriminalise food labelling violations amid a declining number of public analysts and labs able to carry out food testing and budget cuts to the local authorities responsible for food testing.

UK Secretary of State for Food and Farming Owen Paterson said of the horsemeat scandal: “I think we came out of it very strongly.” On addressing the scandal he said, “Firstly we are bound by the rules of the European market,” although this is a notable departure from his feelings in other areas (Paterson calls Europe’s rules on GM food “medieval” and compares them to “witchcraft”). The annual review of his department showed that fewer than a third of his staff have confidence in managerial decision making and fewer than a quarter think their management have a clear vision of the future. They are not alone.

Some say all this is proof that “Big Retail has government in an armlock”. It sure feels like they have shoppers under the other arm.

On 14 January 2014 the European Parliament passed a motion on food fraud that “deplores” that it has never been an EU enforcement priority and reiterates that “the retail sector has a special responsibility to guarantee the integrity of food products”. With supermarkets claiming innocence and the UK Government playing “hurry up and wait,” maybe the EU can force some action on our behalf.

Click (HERE) to comment directly at foodandwaterWATCH.org

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Dec 30 2013

NH Boy a Vigilant Opponent of Horse Slaughter

By DAN TUOHY as published in the New Hampshire Union Leader

“Gregg has mustered support among New Hampshire’s congressional delegation…”

“Our own Declan Gregg in the news, again, fighting the good fight.” ~ R.T.

Declan Gregg of Children 4 Horses and R.T. Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation speaking in Washington D.C. ~ photo by Terry Fitch

Declan Gregg of Children 4 Horses and R.T. Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation speaking in Washington D.C. ~ photo by Terry Fitch

A horse slaughter plant in New Mexico plans to open soon, which is mobilizing animal welfare advocates to repeat calls for a federal ban on slaughterhouses and horse meat for human consumption. One of these opponents is an 11-year-old boy from Greenland, N.H.

Declan Gregg, who runs the blog Children 4 Horses, keeps tabs on the bills that are in committee on Capitol Hill. He has traveled to Washington three times to fight for the bills, and he and his mother, Stacie, plan to keep pressing the case in 2014.

“It’s not good for the horses, community or public safety,” Declan Gregg said in a phone interview Friday.

Gregg, who was the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Humane Kid of the Year in 2012, continues to fight for the SAFE Act, the Safeguard American Food Exports Act, a version of which was introduced in the U.S. House and Senate. That bill would prohibit the sale or transport of horses or horse parts in interstate or foreign commerce for human consumption.

It is a food safety issue, his mother said, because horses are not raised for slaughter and are routinely given medications that are labeled “not for animals intended for consumption.”

Declan Gregg was inspired to speak out two years ago, when he was 9 and noticed his mother was saddened by the horse slaughter issue. He soon found his voice, and encouraged other children to speak out, as well. He promoted letter campaigns to legislators and spoke before the politicians in Concord and in Washington, D.C.

Today, at 11, he is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, likes drawing and enjoys playing basketball. And he’s a savvy advocate. His family does not own horses, but he says he is fighting for responsible horse ownership…(CONTINUED)

Click (HERE) to counter some of the idiot comments directly at NewHampshire.com

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