Uruguay | San Antonio | Horse Auction | Horsemeat Import

We arrive at the auction site outside San Antonio at 15:30. The auction will take place the next day, but 230 horses have already been delivered and about half of  them are yearlings. A horse transporter is parked at the ramp and we observe the unloading, which is quite chaotic. The handling by the workers is rough; they hit the horses with long sticks. Several animals are injured and lame. A thin horse can only bear weight on three legs; his left front leg is broken. The animal is thus not fit for transport and should never have been brought to the auction. We notice a young foal and several ponies among the adult horses. In the EU, they would have to be transported separately, as the risk of them being trampled is very high. After unloading, the whole group of horses is moved into a big pen where they are divided into smaller groups. Separating them is again a chaotic procedure and the animals are clearly frightened. An auction worker explains that the horses are divided into the following groups: riding horses, sport horses, working horses and horses “for the industry”, which means slaughter horses. A chestnut horse that an employee has been riding has an open, infected wound of about 20 cm on the right hind leg. The festering wound has obviously not been treated. In a group of yearlings, we detect a horse that is severely lame and has great difficulty walking.