Three horses saved from slaughterhouse; who will save the others?
December 30th, 2009 by admin
Earlier this month, a group of county code inspectors and officials from state and federal health/food safety agencies raided an unlicensed slaughterhouse in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County. They found butcher tables, pig carcasses and two emaciated horses.
Today, Miami’s NBC Channel 6 reported that the two horses arrived at the slaughterhouse from Calder Race Course. We’ve written about Calder’s anti-slaughter policy on this blog before (here), but according to NBC 6, “despite a policy against such deals, a pony handler allegedly sold the horses to the slaughterhouse.” Although the horses were in very poor condition, police chose not to act.
On Christmas day, horse trainer Carla Wolfson arrived at the property determined not to leave without the two horses. She was successful. The slaughterhouse owner was persuaded to let Wolfson have the two horses. Wolfson told NBC 6 that the horses were about to be slaughtered, “They were in the pen, they were next up.” Sadly, one of the sick horses died two days after being rescued. Click here for the NBC 6 story.
The rescue of another ex-racing horse received national attention this week from CNN (click here for the story). Freedom’s Flight, a thoroughbred racing at Gulfstream Park, ended up at an illegal slaughterhouse after breaking his leg during a race. But he was lucky, rescued in 2008 by the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and adopted by Richard Couto. Cuoto told CNN that although many of the slaughterhouses in the unincorporated areas of Miami-Dade County are unlicensed, it is not difficult to figure out what business they are in: “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist after walking the properties and seeing the dead carcasses, the guts in the trash bins, the slaughter tables, the knives — all of the tools of running this type of operation is right in front of you.”
You Can Help
In October, the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners approved a resolution urging the Florida Legislature to increase criminal penalties for the unlawful slaughter of horses and the illegal sale of horse meat. Please contact the commissioners and thank them for taking this issue seriously, but suggest that they consider an ordinance to make it illegal in Miami-Dade County to slaughter horses for human consumption. Such an ordinance would help law enforcement fight unlicensed slaughterhouses, and would protect horses whose owners have cruelly sold them for slaughter.Contact:
Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners:
- Barbara Jordan (District 1); e-mail: bjordan@miamidade.gov
- Dorrin D. Rolle (District 2); e-mail: district2@miamidade.gov
- Audrey Edmonson (District 3); e-mail: district3@miamidade.gov
- Sally A. Heyman (District 4); e-mail: District4@miamidade.gov
- Bruno A. Barreiro (District 5); e-mail: district5@miamidade.gov
- Rebeca Sosa (District 6); e-mail: district6@miamidade.gov
- Carlos A. Gimenez (District 7); online comment form
- Katy Sorenson (District 8 ); e-mail: District8@miamidade.gov
- Dennis C. Moss (District 9); e-mail: DennisMoss@miamidade.gov
- Javier D. Souto (District 10); e-mail: district10@miamidade.gov
- Joe A. Martinez (District 11); phone (no e-mail): 305-375-5511
- José “Pepe” Diaz (District 12); e-mail: District12@miamidade.gov
- Natacha Seijas (District 13); phone (no e-mail): 305-375-4831