On a pasture belonging to the slaughterhouse El Amanecer, we find a decaying carcass of a horse as well as several horse skulls. There are no bullet holes in the skulls, what implies that the horses were left to die instead of being euthanized. Next to the slaughterhouse building, there are eight waiting pens, which do not offer any shade from the…

In the afternoon, we drive to the collecting station of horse dealer Bonfrisco, south of Artigas at the Brazilian border. Bonfrisco shipped 438 horses to the slaughterhouse Clay last year. His collecting station is located in a very remote area and difficult to find. When we finally arrive, we note that nobody is there. The holding pens behind the…

In the morning, we visit the collecting station of horse dealer Bardanca, who supplies all three EU approved slaughterhouses with horses. He is one of Clay’s main suppliers and shipped more than 1.300 horses to Clay in 2014. Bardanca leases land in Tranqueras in the north of Uruguay from an international forestry company. When we arrive there, we…

In the morning, we follow a horse transporter that drives by Clay to the slaughterhouse Sarel. It is a typical Uruguayan livestock truck, which has no roof and therefore offers the animals no protection from sun and rain. The trailer appears overcrowded and we observe a lot of biting. At Sarel, there are horses in the paddocks next to the main…

We arrive at the Clay slaughterhouse at 9:00. Not far from the slaughter plant, thereis Clay’s collecting station for slaughter horses. We note that some of the pensoffer no shelter at all. Other pens have a worn shelter made of wooden posts with some black fabric as roof. The fabric has fallen off in most areas, leaving the majority of the animals…

When our investigators arrive at the Hoover Horse Sale in New Holland at 8:50, the parking lot is already crowded with many Amish and Mennonite buggies. Despite the cold temperature of - 4° C, people are rigorously test-driving the horses at the track.
This auction has several areas where they keep animals prior to their being run through the sale…