In December 2018, two weeks after an audit by the EU-Commission, our team returns to Argentina. At both slaughterhouses Lamar and Land L, new shelters have been installed, particularly for the audit. However, they are too small for the large numbers of horses which are usually kept on the premises. Once again, we see a lot of emaciated, injured,…

Our team inspects a horse auction in Artigas, a town in northern Uruguay. The handling of the horses at the entrance of the auction ring is extremely violent. Auction workers hit the frightened animals with sticks and leather whips. All horses go through the sale regardless of their condition. We even see a horse with a broken leg, heavily pregnant…

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…

Together with our partner organisation Animals’ Angels USA, we inspect a horse auction in Sugarcreek, Ohio. This is where disused horses are purchased by so-called kill buyers. The closest horse slaughterhouse is located in Québec, Canada, more than 1.100 km away from here.

The auction’s pen area is half empty today, only about 40 horses are…

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 observes the slaughterhouses Clay and Sarel in Uruguay before, during and after audits of the EU Commission and of European importers in order to detect any changes. Both plants prepare themselves for the announced audits and thus manipulate their outcome. Broken shelters are provisionally repaired, and horses with serious injuries and…

Our team returns to Uruguay in April 2018 in order to see if the conditions at the EU-approved slaughterhouses Clay and Sarel have improved. This is not the case, despite the repeated assurances of the Swiss and EU horsemeat importers. In the slaughterhouse pens, we once again find many injured, weak and emaciated horses, as well as pregnant mares…

30-31.10.2017: We visit the Bar S Feedlot in Shelby, Montana, which serves the Canadian slaughterhouse Bouvry as a collection station for slaughter horses purchased at auctions across the US. We immediately notice that the feedlot is under its capacity and there are empty pens. The horses still do not have shelter and thus no protection from sun,…

We return to the monthly horse sale held in Billings. The auction, which is one of the largest horse sales in the country, markets approximately 700 horses each time and attracts hundreds of buyers from the surrounding states. We arrive early, but the pens are already crowded. The loose horses are kept in the larger pens at the back of the…