Abattoir in Cheshire welfare breaches

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horsestar

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It pains me to have seen this on sky news this morning. I'm not posting a link if you want to see the video I'll let you find it. It's very sad and in a way I'm glad they've been investigated so it stops it in future.
 
I just saw this on Sky and its awful. I am not surprised and would like to think in the UK we HAD high food welfare standards but clearly not. They are pointing the finger at live exports and other european countries but hey lets begin at home and get our house in order.

Disgraceful. Inspectors should be sacked too. Perhaps live cameras should be put in all abbatoirs so the public an view Anytime as well on a restricted age channel.

I know a lot of people realise the racehorse industry supply the most horses for slaughter but I didnt realise that. I incorrectly thought it was ie hill ponies etc.

Sickening. The abbatoir concerned has lost its licence. Too late for some.

What is the real answer?
 
Is it the one which processes horses? Don't want to mention the name in case I accidentally link the wrong one, as mud sticks.
 
Saw it and shared it on fb, couldnt watch tbh, but if it heightens awareness, if overt cruelty is on the vid they should be jailed, cruelty to animals needs to be addressed in its fullest form, whether in a back yard, barn, field or slaughter house
 
What was wrong? Not in mass detail, but was it right the way through - transport, care, ending, hygeine or all above? And how long for? Surely there are regular checks done on abbatoirs?!

I'm so lucky that my local abbatoir (not closest or horses but one we liked) is incredible right the way through. Even to letting us walk the animals through most of the way ourselves and not hauling them around after.
 
Before we all get carried away with how dreadful the whole practice of horse slaughter is please remember that while there are so many unwanted horses and ponies in the UK then the sad reality is that we need these places. While colts are dumped within hours of birth to die (just because they are colts), while owners send their old horses to markets rather than do the right thing by them, while herds of horses are abandoned on common ground where there is little or no grazing & while idiots like 'horse hoarder Clwyd' continue to breed foals for which there is no market horse slaughter is the best option for many of these poor unwanted creatures.
In the USA horse abattoirs were banned, so now horses travel for hundreds of miles to truely barbaric places in Mexico.
The practices shown in this particular instance unacceptable for ANY animal. but it's to be hoped that the management & workers can be retrained in the correct & humane handling of creatures sent to them. It should be pointed out though that 'herding' is often the only way to move large numbers of unhandled animals & many of those going through won't even have been halter broken. They'll have been herded on to a lorry, & herded off in to a pen. The lucky ones will have gone straight to the slaughter house. Those not as fortunate will have to endure several journeys via at least one market (where they'll be herded around again) before reaching their final destination, with perhaps one or two lucky ones finding homes as part of that process.
 
Zebedee said:
Before we all get carried away with how dreadful the whole practice of horse slaughter is please remember that while there are so many unwanted horses and ponies in the UK then the sad reality is that we need these places. While colts are dumped within hours of birth to die (just because they are colts), while owners send their old horses to markets rather than do the right thing by them, while herds of horses are abandoned on common ground where there is little or no grazing & while idiots like 'horse hoarder Clwyd' continue to breed foals for which there is no market horse slaughter is the best option for many of these poor unwanted creatures.
In the USA horse abattoirs were banned, so now horses travel for hundreds of miles to truely barbaric places in Mexico.
The practices shown in this particular instance unacceptable for ANY animal. but it's to be hoped that the management & workers can be retrained in the correct & humane handling of creatures sent to them. It should be pointed out though that 'herding' is often the only way to move large numbers of unhandled animals & many of those going through won't even have been halter broken. They'll have been herded on to a lorry, & herded off in to a pen. The lucky ones will have gone straight to the slaughter house. Those not as fortunate will have to endure several journeys via at least one market (where they'll be herded around again) before reaching their final destination, with perhaps one or two lucky ones finding homes as part of that process.
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I completely agree with this.
 
Before we even talk about horse slaughter full stop, I'm not sure we are even talking about a slaughterhouse that slaughters horses. There is only one I know of in Cheshire who slaughters horses, and it doesn't, unless it has changed name, appear to be the one mentioned here. :confused: ...?
 
Zebedee said:
Before we all get carried away with how dreadful the whole practice of horse slaughter is please remember that while there are so many unwanted horses and ponies in the UK then the sad reality is that we need these places. While colts are dumped within hours of birth to die (just because they are colts), while owners send their old horses to markets rather than do the right thing by them, while herds of horses are abandoned on common ground where there is little or no grazing & while idiots like 'horse hoarder Clwyd' continue to breed foals for which there is no market horse slaughter is the best option for many of these poor unwanted creatures.
In the USA horse abattoirs were banned, so now horses travel for hundreds of miles to truely barbaric places in Mexico.
The practices shown in this particular instance unacceptable for ANY animal. but it's to be hoped that the management & workers can be retrained in the correct & humane handling of creatures sent to them. It should be pointed out though that 'herding' is often the only way to move large numbers of unhandled animals & many of those going through won't even have been halter broken. They'll have been herded on to a lorry, & herded off in to a pen. The lucky ones will have gone straight to the slaughter house. Those not as fortunate will have to endure several journeys via at least one market (where they'll be herded around again) before reaching their final destination, with perhaps one or two lucky ones finding homes as part of that process.
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Don't disagree, it still doesn't make pleasant viewing though.
The TB particularly wouldn't look out of place in any stable yard.

It appears that the racehorse industry is a repeat offender when it comes to retired/rubbish racehorses, as well as over breeding.

Something needs to be done but what and how is beyond me :(
 
I am really shocked that Turners kill horses in this way. Some of the article is inflammatory rubbish but the video of the 3 in the chute and the stunned horse hung isn't nice

I am at Potters most weeks and I would point out that they kill with a bullet, no chute and stun. Even the wildest of horses relaxes and gets shot with no fuss and panic. There are no welfare issues there and yes, it is all overseen by a vet and regularly inspected.
 
I work in the food industry, and visit abbatoirs regularly. So consider myself to be fairly tough when it comes to this process. I firmly believe that there is an absolute need for these services.

But the report on sky, brought me to tears. Absolutely disgraceful.

Those poor ponies:(

I look forward to those responsible being brought to justice. I would be vey interested to hear what the onsite vet/inspector has to say about this.
 
quirky said:
Red Lion, Nantwich
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This is the one that was named on Sky not familiar with the area or abbatoirs but thought uk standards were better than this. Live video is the only way forward.
People that stick horses through sales instead of PTS including racehorse industry should hang their heads in shame. For the references to Potters clearly they do it right.

How do you fight the wealth that is sloshing around in the racehorse industry? Glad it was exposed to the public.

Was it Hillside rescue that did the good deed on the racehorse they saved that had an illustrious racing career and was saved from the meatman!? I feel a donation on the way.
 
That was very unpleasant viewing. I don't have a problem with animals being slaughtered, I eat meat so it would be wrong if me to day otherwise, but it should be fine humanely. No-one should be surprised at the numbers of horses and ponies being slaughtered increasing if people continually breed indiscriminately.
I am a bit upset that pregnant mares are included, why get a horse pregnant if you have absolutely no proper plan for either the mare or the fosl's futures
 
I'm not condoning anything on that video but I have bought horses from Turners and seen first hand fields full of mares and foals that are left til weaning and the foals sold instead of letting in-foal mares get slaughtered.

I was also told they fetch an artic load every 2 weeks from the New Forest as well as hundreds of exracers per month. So sad but they provide a necessary service while over breeding continues. Again, I do not condone the slaughter practices shown but the people sending these horses in are ALMOST as much at fault
 
So it is turners under another name. SUCH a shame, and horse welfare in the north west will suffer as a result of the closure of the last horse slaughterhouse locally. I'm not in any way trying to justify the upsetting scenes of malpractice, but there was a time that the Turner couple were really well thought of locally and I had presumed that was still the case. :( They could recognise good horses and I know of one who was sold to them who had nothing wrong with him, and they themselves 'rescued' the horses from slaughter and put him back into a ridden career and local home. He went on to be a college horse for 6 years before an injury meant he needed a quieter life.

Indie999 there are several racehorse rehab centres around, perhaps consider donating to one of those, who do ongoing work with many more racehorses than hillside, getting them into suitable homes so they can work with more.

The sad fact is though that racehorses can be completely unsuitable to rehome as leisure horses, and there currently isn't any viable option but to slaughter the majority of them. Without racing itself equine veterinary treatments would still be in the dark ages, as the industry funds most equine research, so if you're going to be anti-racing due to slaughter, you better hope your horse doesn't need vet attention.

It's not an easy subject. The best outcome I think there can be is that somebody else sees the opportunity and takes up horse slaughter in the area. The grim truth is that without a cost-neutral or slightly profitable solution like slaughter, the many waifs and strays going through Beeston would be abandoned and our current abandonment crisis would be 10x worse, with redwings and whw stretched even further. :(
 
Brownmare said:
I'm not condoning anything on that video but I have bought horses from Turners and seen first hand fields full of mares and foals that are left til weaning and the foals sold instead of letting in-foal mares get slaughtered.

I was also told they fetch an artic load every 2 weeks from the New Forest as well as hundreds of exracers per month. So sad but they provide a necessary service while over breeding continues. Again, I do not condone the slaughter practices shown but the people sending these horses in are ALMOST as much at fault
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Very well put, & I totally agree, other than I think the 'blame' lies more with the breeders than with those who send them on their way, although of course in some cases it's one & the same person :mad:
 
One solution may be that anyone wishing to breed a horse would have to be licenced and for evey horse that is bred the breader has to take out a one off insurance for the horse at the point of being born that will cover the cost of the horse being put down at home. This would at least prevent horses having to travel long distances to be put down and possibly reduce the amount of overbreeding.
 
PeterNatt said:
One solution may be that anyone wishing to breed a horse would have to be licenced and for evey horse that is bred the breader has to take out a one off insurance for the horse at the point of being born that will cover the cost of the horse being put down at home. This would at least prevent horses having to travel long distances to be put down and possibly reduce the amount of overbreeding.
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Agree altho I suspect that a certain large section of the overbreeding community will take as little notice of that set of laws as they do most others....however it might be worth considering - tho I think if we do it for horses we should also do it in respect of dogs.
 
World horse welfare has a petition up calling for CCTV in abattoirs which I have signed. I'm also not against slaughter but believe it should be as quick and humane as possible. CCTV is in no way a complete answer but may help to spot and tackle bad practice.
 
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