USA | Transport of rejected horses to Shippensburg | Horsemeat import

We wait at the CFIA inspection station for any U.S. trucks loaded with slaughter horses to document their inspection. We decide to leave the inspection station after several hours without a truck passing. Little later, we spot a truck belonging to Rotz Livestock from Shippensburg. Bruce Rotz is a well-known large scale kill buyer.

However, the truck with the horses drives back to the USA and we follow. The horses must have been rejected by the CFIA at the Canadian border. The temperature has risen to 32° Celsius. The truck arrives at Rotz’ collecting station in Shippensburg in the evening. The driver parks the truck into the parking lot and disappears into the house. Ten minutes later, he returns with a second person. They open the back trailer door and look inside the trailer for a long time.

The wife from Mr. Rotz detects and threatens us. We call the police for support. Our feeling: injured or dead horses inside the trailer. When the police arrives and asks Rotz to open the trailer, he refuses, stating that the Officer would need a search warrant before he would comply. The Officer informs us that there is nothing she could do, since there would not be enough probable cause for her to demand the trailer to be opened. The police leaves and Mr. Rotz does not open the transporter as long as we are here. The situation becomes menacing for us, we have to give up. We will continue to monitor this kill buyer.