A group of animal rights organizations are calling on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to halt the practice of exporting live horses overseas for slaughter.
“We were absolutely shocked by what we found. The industry has been saying all along that once horses land in Japan they have food and water and rest really quickly, but we found that’s absolutely not the case,” Kaitlyn Mitchell, the director of legal advocacy for Animal Justice, told Global News.“These shipments are taking between four hours and 20 minutes and six and a half more hours after landing in Japan.
“We have asked the CFIA to look into the shipments that we documented, and we are calling for an immediate moratorium on these shipments until the companies involved can show that they will comply with the law,” Mitchell said.“We think it’s important that the CFIA take this action now because, based on our findings, it’s virtually guaranteed that shipments will go over the 28-hour legal limit, which means that horses will be suffering needlessly.
“I look forward to them bringing some evidence to see what they have for actual facts and not just allegations.”