On 6th August, we are informed that a truck with horses has been confiscated by the police on the way to the EU-approved slaughterhouse Infriba in Mar del Plata. The horses had been discovered on a slaughter truck owned by the Onorato family. An AWF|TSB team travels to Argentina to investigate and document this case. Out of the 32 horses on board…

In September 2018, our team travels to Argentinain order to see if the conditions for slaughter horses have improved after the repeated promises of the Swiss and European importers. We inspect again the two largest horse slaughterhouses in the country: Lamar in the province of Buenos Aires, and Land L in the province of Cordoba, as well as the…

From 8:15 until 10:30, more than 200 pregnant mares go through the blood extraction procedure. They are moved through the raceways and into the restraint boxes by brute force. The mares are hit with iron hooks, including on their heads, and poked in sensitive body parts. Wooden sticks are also used. Once they are inside the restraint box, the…

Our follow-up investigation in Argentina and Uruguay in November and December 2017 showed that nothing has changed since our first investigation in 2012. We documented once again the whole production chain: horse collection centres, rodeos, transports and EU-approved slaughterhouses. At all places visited, horses are still systematically mistreated…

Our team visits General Pico horse slaughterhouse near Cordoba. Since our last visit there is still insufficient weather protection. Only one row of holding pens is partly covered by a fabric roof and the majority of the pens are fully exposed to sun and rain. We estimate that there are around 500 horses in total. The horses are very crowded, which…

We again see horses in the lairage, the adjacent holding pens and the large paddocks, and estimate that there are around 130 horses when we arrive. There are two groups, each of about 35 horses, in the adjacent holding pens, which used to be partly covered by a green fabric roof and now offer no shelter at all. The animals are overcrowded, while…

Our team visits slaughterhouse Lamar at early morning. The lairage area is crowded with horses. An employee starts hosing them down, splashing water also in their faces. The floor of the pens is wet and gets very slippery. The handling of the horses is unprofessional and rough. At the entrance of the stunning chute, one or two employees are hitting…

We return to the slaughterhouse General Pico in the early morning. At 8:30, we observe a group of 15 horses that has just been unloaded being moved into the pen area. We note that at least four horses in this group are injured. Two are seriously injured and should have been euthanized immediately upon arrival at the plant. If they were already…

We arrive at the slaughterhouse General Pico at noon. The temperature is 30°C. No horses can be seen from outside, as there is a tall fence with visual cover all along the road blocking the view. We climb a nearby tree in order to get a view onto the premises. We immediately realize that there is insufficient weather protection for the horses. Only…