Discussion Groups / British English / October 2007

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/f/CAMPAIGNS/blog//4//?be_id=94

aa Watch video secretly filmed in an English abattoir... HEALTHY
HORSES AND PONIES BUTCHERED FOR MEAT EXPORTS
18 September 2007
Animal Aid today (Thursday, September 20) releases footage secretly
filmed in an English abattoir. It shows discarded children’s riding
ponies and unprofitable race horses being shot in the head with a
rifle and then butchered for human consumption.

It is the first time that such scenes have been filmed in Britain and
made public.

Covertly recorded last month at Potter’s abattoir in Taunton, the
Animal Aid footage shows the killing of a succession of apparently fit
and healthy horses. One conspicuous exception was a seriously injured
chestnut mare who was brought to the killing factory on the evening of
August 14. After a long delay, she was finally shot while lying in a
yard.

Animal Aid has called on the Meat Hygiene Service to investigate
whether the delay in putting her out of her misery was due to the time
it took Potter’s employees to re-start the slaughterline, on which she
could be promptly butchered after being shot. The law states that, for
meat to be deemed fit for human consumption, an animal must be bled
immediately after being shot or stunned. But there is also a statutory
obligation to despatch a seriously injured animal without delay.

Another horse looked as though she could have been pregnant. After she
had been shot, what sounded like a second rifle shot was heard from
behind the closed door of the butchering line. Animal Aid challenges
Potter’s management to declare whether or not this second ‘shot’ was
directed at an unborn foal.

Lawrence J Potter (South West) Ltd describes itself in the company’s
latest annual report as being engaged in the ‘elective euthanasia of
equines and export of horsemeat’. Stephen Potter, a director of the
company, was reported in The Observer (1 October, 2006) as saying that
his establishment killed ‘some 3,000 [horses] a year’. He added that
‘only 100 [horses] a year came from racing’. About 20 of the roughly
50 horses Animal Aid filmed over just two days and one evening were
Thoroughbreds.

Says Animal Aid Director Andrew Tyler:

‘The fundamental problem at the heart of the horse slaughter scandal
that we have uncovered is that these horses are bred to excess. They
are produced for commercial reasons, by both the Thoroughbred racing
industry and by those servicing the pet horse and pony market. When an
animal is no longer useful, he or she is often simply disposed of.
This is the fate of thousands of healthy horses and ponies every
year.’

Watch the 90 second film
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/f/CAMPAIGNS/blog//4//?be_id=92
Watch the 9 minute film
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/f/CAMPAIGNS/blog//4//?be_id=94
Read notes on the footage
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/pr_horse/ALL/1662//
Read the Daily Mail article
http://tinyurl.com/yqg33g

NOTES TO EDITORS
Animal Aid filmed at Potter’s on August 14, 15 and 22.
Still images ‘grabbed’ from the film are available on request.
For the past eight years, Animal Aid has investigated the horse racing
industry, publishing a series of detailed reports exposing the
oppressive regime to which Thoroughbreds are subjected. Hundreds of
horses are raced to death every year and thousands of ‘surplus’
animals are slaughtered or otherwise destroyed. While Thoroughbred
bloodstock sales are an integral part of the multi-billion pound
racing industry, there is also a lucrative private sales market in
horses and ponies used for show jumping, dressage, cross-country,
hunting and hacking, as well as those employed by riding schools. No
matter what their background, there is always the likelihood that a
horse will meet his or her end in a slaughterhouse, with the meat sold
abroad for human consumption.

Animal Aid campaigns peacefully against all animal abuse, and promotes
a cruelty-free lifestyle. You can support our work by joining, making
a donation, or using our online shop.
Contact Animal Aid at The Old Chapel, Bradford Street, Tonbridge,
Kent, TN9 1AW, UK, tel +44 (0)1732 364546, fax +44 (0)1732 366533,
email info@animalaid.org.uk.