Main concerns of animal activists

The live transportation of horses has raised several concerns in the animal welfare community. To better understand the animal welfare concerns the public has raised let’s look at the Five Freedoms.

Freedom from hunger and thirst

One can argue that the possibility of traveling for 29 hours without food or water in a trailer is in clear violation of this freedom. Horses are grazing animals and are physically designed to be constantly eating, restricting them of food for several hours is unnatural for them.

 

Freedom from discomfort

This requires an appropriate environment and comfortable resting area for the animals. Piling several horses onto a trailer for countless hours restricts their ability to rest and have a comfortable journey. In air transit this freedom is more easily met as they are given individual stalls with space on each side.

Freedom from pain, injury and disease

I might argue this is the most important of the Five Freedoms and is constantly compromised during transportation in trailers. Even during air transport the ability to contract “shipping fever” is possible.

 

Freedom to express normal behaviour

Providing sufficient space and proper facilities satisfies this. Once again the transportation method of trucking for slaughter does not provide sufficient space for the horses, especially if the horses are being transported in a double-decker trailer where they don’t even have enough room to hold their head in a natural position.

Freedom from fear and distress

Horses are naturally very fearful and skittish animals. When being loaded and unloaded from the trucks they can experience high levels of stress and anxiety. They will also experience fear and stress if they are being trucked alongside other horses that have a tendency to bite or kick and potentially cause injuries to one another.

 

What campaigns are out there?

This is not an issue that goes unnoticed in the animal welfare community. The United Kingdom is active in raising awareness for the rights of live animal transport and World Horse Welfare provide lots of information for the public on their website and ideas about how to get involved.

http://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/Live-transportation

The Humane Society of the United States is also very active in the fight against live transport of animals and is an active supporter to ban the slaughter of horses in the United States. You can join their campaign to “Speak Out Against Horse Slaughter” and learn more at:

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/horse_slaughter/facts/facts_horse_slaughter.html

The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition is a coalition that is actively trying to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption in Canada. To learn more about their fight to ban horse slaughter in Canada visit their website at:

http://defendhorsescanada.org/