Since 2000, 37 horses have died on the Grand National course and, over the course of the three-day meeting, 66 horses have been killed in that same period. Please support our campaign by wearing a 'You Bet They Die' t-shirt.
Investigating horse slaughter
Our two-year investigation uncovered the stark reality for unwanted horses and ponies. Our footage was released exclusively on BBC One's Panorama.
Between October 2019 and February 2020, we filmed inside a UK slaughterhouse and captured the final moments of countless horses and ponies.
The majority of horses filmed were killed for meat, destined to be sold for human consumption. Some animals were housed for extended periods in lairage (a barren, dirty, and inhospitable place) before their slaughter. Here, we identified ongoing suffering including untreated injuries that left horses and ponies in pain. Others were killed within minutes of their arrival to the slaughterhouse.
Shockingly, some horses received a bullet to the head but continued moving, and many were slaughtered in pairs (a practice condemned by Panorama’s veterinary expert). In one case, three ponies huddled together were shot one after another – the third watching helplessly as their companions collapse to the floor in a sea of blood.
In one particularly upsetting scene, the slaughterer shouts to the workers in the butchery: “Don’t cut this little one’s legs off. They’re having him whole.”
Iain Green, Director of Animal AidI will never forget the anger and brutality of the slaughterman swearing at frightened horses he was about to kill. And the awful scene of two tiny ponies led into the kill room - the first one shot while the other watched. How have we lost any sense of what is right?
Warning: The four-minute film includes slaughter and subsequent butchering. Viewer discretion advised.
Following Panorama’s exposé on ‘The Dark Side of Horse Racing’, which featured undercover footage captured by Animal Aid, the racing authorities in Britain and Ireland were quick to try and shift the blame to the slaughterhouse and the government vets present at the slaughterhouse.
However, this does not address the reason why so many horses are being sent to slaughter nor the root of the problem: unregulated and speculative breeding of horses.
Animal Aid’s footage shows that a huge variety of animals are presented for slaughter – young thoroughbreds discarded by the racing industry, ponies from managed feral herds and other tiny young ponies. Whatever their story, there is money to be made from their meat.
We need your help to reframe how animals are perceived by society. By ordering and sharing our free resources in your local community you'll be encouraging others to support animal freedom.
No animal should suffer for sport. It’s time to end the racing of horses and other animals exploited in the name of entertainment.