While the Senate was on a summer break, two new reports revealed shocking information about the conditions that Canadian horses are enduring on the journey to become luxury food overseas. The time to ban live horse export for slaughter is now.
In June, an Animal Justice report (PDF) found that horses were in transport for longer than the legal limit, which is already 28 hours without feed, water, or rest.
Another Animal Justice report (PDF) in September found that between June 2023 and May 2024, 21 horses died during transport. As these deaths were not reported to the CFIA, previous statements about the extremely low death rate are inaccurate and unreliable. Additional injuries and illnesses, including salmonella, wounds, diarrhea, falls, eye injuries, and leg injuries, were also reported.
Please contact the Senate today and urge them to immediately pass Bill C-355 to ban the live export of horses for slaughter overseas. Your hard work has gotten the bill this far, and we need you to take action again to ensure it passes before Parliament ends before the next Federal election.
Across the country, thousands of Canadians continue to speak out against this practice. In an April 2024 national poll*, only 22% of Canadians disagree with ending the export of live horses. Specifically, 78% of Albertans, one of the provinces that exports horses to Japan, no longer want horses from their province shipped overseas. Among Indigenous and First Nations peoples in Canada, 71% agree that this practice should be banned.
Learn more about live horse export
*ResearchCo. poll conducted for the BC SPCA April 3-5, 2024 (n=1,000, margin of error +/-3.1%, 19 times out of 20)