Since 2017, there has been an obligation to re-home retired thoroughbreds under Racing NSW rules. But in the space of 22 days, more than 300 racehorses were sent to slaughter by the RSPCA for 'pet food'.
JAMES HOCKADAY: ‘Broken-down thoroughbreds are being sent by the RSPCA Australia to slaughterhouses where their carcasses are turned into pet food, it has been revealed. It is the first time they have admitted to doing this, despite previously criticising the transportation of retired racehorses to knackeries or abattoirs. The animal welfare organisation’s New South Wales branch says it has no other option but to send animals to be turned into meat if they are ‘very diseased, unwell or aged’. One pet food factory it has used in Sydney was successfully prosecuted by the RSPCA over the way it treats sheep and cattle. Burns Pet Foods in Sydney was also allegedly found to be slaughtering horses on a mass scale in a recent expose by ABC…
Since 2017, there has been an obligation to re-home retired thoroughbreds under Racing NSW rules. But despite this, an undercover investigation in October showed horses being mistreated in an abattoir in south-east Queensland. It alleged animals were kicked and beaten as they lay dying and repeatedly stunned with electric prods. In the space of 22 days, more than 300 racehorses were slaughtered, according to ABC’s 7.30 programme… Veterinarian Paul McGreevy said ABC’s findings of ‘appalling treatment’ would ‘shake the industry to its core’. Responding to the probe, RSPCA Australia’s action CEO Bidda Jones said she was ‘shocked and horrified’ and blamed an oversupply of horses which the industry refuses to acknowledge or control properly…
The RSPCA makes these decisions based on guidance from experienced vets and in some cases by a stock welfare panel. Sometimes animals are deemed so malnourished or weak that there is no other option but to send them to an abattoir. The spokeswoman added: ‘RSPCA NSW believes that the implementation of legal welfare standards for racehorses, to eliminate practices that cause injury, pain, suffering or distress, is an urgent government priority. ‘We believe provisions should be made to ensure thoroughbreds are not sent to abattoirs or knackeries.’ Initially responding to the ABC programme, Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys said he knew nothing about thoroughbreds being sent to slaughterhouses in the state. He warned the ‘full, force of the law’ would be used against anyone found breaking the rules’. SOURCE…
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