{"id":756962,"date":"2019-05-04T08:28:38","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T12:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=756962"},"modified":"2019-05-04T08:31:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T12:31:48","slug":"u-s-racehorses-beaten-slaughtered-and-ending-up-as-meat-in-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=756962","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Racehorses Sold, Beaten, and Slaughtered for Meat in South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t

4,301 racehorses and 2,681 broodmares have been imported from the U.S. since 1994. Almost all of the racehorses are yearling and two-year-old purchases from U.S. auctions.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

RYAN GOLDBERG:<\/strong> ‘It\u2019s long been taboo to eat horse meat in the U.S… In America, eating horse meat has been associated with desperate, troubled times during war or revolution or famine. Most other countries don\u2019t harbor this taboo, and Korea has a tradition of eating horse meat that goes back thousands of years… That South Korea\u2019s supply of horse meat comes in part from American racehorses is basically unknown in the American racing world, even though it\u2019s an open secret there and the subject of retirement has become a major concern here and worldwide. Instead, most of the focus is on Korean racing\u2019s spectacular growth, largely due to these acquisitions of American bloodstock…<\/em><\/p>\n

Jun Park, a U.S.-based bloodstock consultant who buys American horses for Korean owners, said that when he first began working in American horse racing 20 years ago, \u201cPeople asked me if I was from Japan. Nobody even knew Korea had horse racing.\u201d American sales companies have certainly welcomed South Korea\u2019s growing investment. In 2010, after 92 horses were bought for export to Korea at Ocala\u2019s spring sale, or 12.4 percent of the total sold, Tom Ventura, now its president, noted, \u201cThey have been very good customers for the last four or five years.\u201d In 2013, Fasig-Tipton\u2019s director of marketing, Terence Collier, told the Daily Racing Form that if all goes well, Korea \u201cis going to be a market that\u2019s going to be very productive for us for a long time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

According to the KRA, 4,301 racehorses and 2,681 broodmares have been imported from the U.S. since 1994. Almost all of the racehorses are yearling and two-year-old purchases from U.S. auctions… In South Korea horse racing falls under the country\u2019s Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which means that horse racing goes hand-in-hand with the raising and processing of horses for food for human consumption. Indeed, the Korean Racing Authority (KRA) publishes quarterly spreadsheets of the horses slaughtered during that period… Between 2003 and 2014 the number of horses sent to slaughter tripled, from 315 to 1,036, according to government figures published by the since-shuttered Korea Observer. Last year, that number was 1,249. More than three-quarters of those were killed at Nonghyup\u2019s plant on Jeju… The chairman of the KRA told the Korea Times said \u201cHorse meat is good and we will work on ways of encouraging people to eat it in the future”.’<\/em> \u00a0SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

RELATED VIDEO:<\/strong><\/p>\n