Many horses that end up being inhumanely slaughtered are brought in by kill buyers who supply the slaughterhouses. Kill buyers purchase horses from private owners and at livestock auctions around the country and haul them to the plants to be butchered. Some horses are sold at auction by owners who are aware that a slaughterhouse is a possible destination for their horses, while others are consigned by caring owners who simply have no idea of the fate awaiting the animals.

The Nightmare Begins
Once in the hands of a kill buyer the horse’s fate has been sealed. "The entire process starting at the auction, the method of transportation, the feedlots, the slaughter plants...everything up to and including their death is inhumane. The horses stand in line smelling the blood, sensing the terror. They are electrocuted or speared into the "kill box" where they shake violently, falling, unable to stand from fear. They are repeatedly bludgeoned with the "captive dead-bolt" gun which drives a four-inch spike into their skull, rendering the horse not dead but unconscious. Alive and many times still conscious, the horse is then shackled, hoisted, throats slit, bled and dismembered. It is man's ultimate betrayal to the horse." (Source: Habitat For Horses.) In 2006 more than 100,000 horses were killed in this violent way in the three slaughterhouses still operating in the U.S.”

In 2007 an estimated 105,000 American horses were shipped to Canada and Mexico to endure an even more brutal death at unregulated slaughter plants. Rather than use a captive bolt, which has already been shown to be inhumane when used on horses, slaughterhouse employees simply stab the horses along the spinal column until they collapse and can be hoisted, still alive, for the kill. The Humane Society of the United States has gruesome video footage of horses being killed in this manner.

The Horse Slaughter Debate
Many believe that horse slaughter should again be legal and federally regulated here in America. They think slaughter plants in the U.S. would be a more humane option than the current situation of sending horses to unregulated plants in Mexico. The following video is of the Congressional testimony of the horror and cruelty horses faced when they were slaughtered under federally regulated guidelines here in the U.S. Watch video.

Current Stats
According to USDA records 9,856 horses from the southeast United States - including Mississippi - have been taken across the Mexican and Canadian borders for slaughter in the first five months of 2008. The total nationwide is 35,937. This is an increase of over 2,000 horses from the same period in 2007, which is remarkable when you consider that the Texas and Illinois slaughterhouses were open until the fall of 2007.