FW: (AU) Leading slow horses to slaughter

[Guest guest]

This is from Australia but it is relevant all over Asia.

John.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horseracing/leading-slow-horses-to-slaughter-2010010\

2-lmi1.html

Leading slow horses to slaughter

January 3, 2010 - 12:00AM

 

Leading slow horses to slaughter

LISSA CHRISTOPHER

January 3, 2010

THE odds are against Australian thoroughbred horses leading long, happy

lives.

While champions such as newly retired sprinter Apache Cat and Melbourne Cup

winners Might and Power and Doriemus will see out their days in pampered

comfort, thousands of nameless thoroughbreds will be slaughtered at

knackeries and abattoirs.

The less fortunate become pet or human food, hides or glue, according to the

RSPCA.

Many of the animals will be less than seven years old (life expectancy for a

horse is 20 to 30 years). A 2008 report commissioned by the RSPCA to examine

''wastage'' of Australian thoroughbred horses found 60 per cent of the

animals processed at one abattoir originated from the racing industry.

It also found 80 per cent of the animals showed signs of neglect before

slaughter.

From Wednesday the Magic Millions horse sales will be held on the Gold

Coast, with more than 1200 young thoroughbreds for sale to buyers hoping to

find a champion.

''Only 300 in every 1000 [thoroughbred] foals born [in Australia] will

actually end up racing, with just a small proportion of those racehorses

proving profitable,'' RSPCA chief scientist Bidda Jones said. Many of these

animals wind up at abattoirs or knackeries rather than being retrained for

other purposes.

A lot of racehorses ''considered lazy or chicken-hearted'' by their owners

''have simply been poorly trained'' or are unsuited to sprinting, said

Andrew McLean, an honorary associate of the University of Sydney and founder

of the Australian Equine Behaviour Centre.

There were plenty of former racehorses, some of which ''were absolutely

hopeless'' on the track but have won medals at Olympic equestrian events

including dressage, cross-country and show jumping, he said.

Published studies from Europe show two-thirds of horses, including

racehorses, are sent to abattoirs for ''behavioural reasons'' and

unpublished Australian data indicates the local story is much the same, Dr

McLean said. He said that with good training techniques, 99 per cent of

horses with behavioural problems could be rehabilitated but many trainers

used ''medieval'' methods based on submission.

''I would like to see the horse industry move into the 21st century and use

effective training techniques that appeal to the way horses learn, their

mental capacity and their natural behaviours,'' he said.

With better-educated horse trainers and owners ''horses would get a better

deal'', he said.

In Australia between 30,000 and 40,000 horses are processed for human and

pet consumption annually, according to the Rural Industries Research and

Development Corporation.

Horse meat cannot be sold for human consumption in Australia but it is

exported to countries including Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Belgium and

France, according to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.