READERS may already be aware that horses are exported live from Poland to Italy to be slaughtered for meat on arrival. When animal welfare group Viva! first went to Poland to start campaigning against the live export of horses for meat to the EU nearly 100,000 animals were being transported every year.
Two years down the line the number has collapsed to 30,000 annually and Poland?s chief veterinary officer has attributed the slump to Viva!?s high profile campaign. I?d like to appeal to readers to join Viva!?s campaign. We must end this sickening trade for good.
Two years ago Viva! filmed undercover to reveal the shocking conditions that the horses are transported in. Viva! has gained recent footage showing that these conditions have barely changed.
The footage shows horses beaten with sticks, collapsed and dying, horses with broken legs and emaciated and blinded horses and donkeys. Some horses are so traumatised that their spirits are completely broken and they have no will to live. Even foals are not exempt from this trade.
By the time horses reach Hungary, just halfway through their journey to the Italian abattoirs, many are injured, dehydrated or dead. At the slaughterhouse, horses are driven or dragged from the lorry. Here, stunning methods are often ignored or done incompletely so that animals regain consciousness whilst their throats are being slit. Many are slaughtered in front of their companions.
Poles do not eat horses and are keen to see a ban on live horse exports. We have to keep up the pressure to stop this trade.
Please support Viva! and help end this cruelty. Contact Viva! at 8 York Court, Wilder St, Bristol, BS2 8QH; tel: 0117 944 1000; http://www.viva.org.uk">www.viva.org.uk
Ms L Harley
Steps House
Webber Hill
Okehampton