Vegan Practically

Did you know that Canada is the leading exporter of live horses for meat? This fact hit the news this week because of a private member’s bill introduced to Canadian Parliament calling for a ban on these live exports. In 2022, 2600 live horses, bred specifically as livestock for consumption, were shipped to Japan. Once there, they are prepared for slaughter and then their flesh, considered a delicacy for its sweetness and texture, is served raw as a specialty form of sashimi.

The story included some shocking details about the conditions of their transport. Sinikka Crosland, president of the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, says the conditions are cruel and distressing, though slightly improved since 2020 when the time they were allowed to go without food and water during export was reduced from 36 hours to 28 hours.

The news story is interesting to me because spokespeople on the side of rejecting the bill, including Bill Desbarres, Chair of the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada, said that “the horsemeat industry is no different than any other aspect of the livestock industry, and the sector is being unfairly villainized.” Jennifer Woods, livestock handling expert who conducts animal welfare audits for the transport industry expressed her concern in this way: “We export pigs, we export cattle, and we export them all under the same regulations and requirements so I just really struggle with the idea that air transport is only inhumane when it’s export horses bound for Japan’s meat market.”

When I first started to wonder why they are singling out horses, I thought perhaps it is because horses are the only animals that Canada permits as live exports. That was simply naive of me. This Huffington Post story from 2018 says Canada is in fact one of the leading exporters of live animals, doing so by the millions (about 24 million in 2017). These are mostly chicks and turkey poults, but also calves and piglets. The article says further that while the majority go to the US, “The remaining two million animals endured the longest journeys, travelling thousands of kilometres by ship or cargo plane to countries where few to no animal welfare regulations exist.”

The upshot: yes, let’s be horrified by the live export of horses for their sweet meat. And yes, like the defenders of horse export, let’s question why we are singling out horses. But rather than go the way of the defenders of live horse exports, I’m inclined to take the conclusion in the other direction. It’s all horrific. It should all be stopped.

There is no reason to single out horses as the only animal deserving empathy and compassion and the attention of Jann Arden and the Prime Minister.

This is further evidence of humans’ remarkable ability to compartmentalize their outrage. It’s easy for people who already think of eating horsemeat as almost a cultural taboo, like eating dogs and cats, to get outraged. But it’s difficult to understand getting outraged about that and then going home and digging into a steak or a BLT.

I support the bill on banning live horse exports. I only wish that, being built on outrage, the people championing it could let their outrage do more work. For example, the domestic horsemeat industry is not going to be restricted in any way (not that it will thrive if the new law is passed, because 85% of it is in these live exports). Live exports of other animals is unaffected. Live transport of animals domestically remains unaffected. Factory farming in general remains unaffected, with horses making up but a tiny fraction of the 665 to 800 million animals slaughtered for food in Canada each year (the estimated number varies).

Indeed, I fear that without extending the scope of these concerns, the bill to ban live horse exports lacks teeth and might even seem arbitrary. Those opposed to the bill have already pointed that out. Having identified the practice as horrific for one type of animal, it would make more sense to identify it as horrific for all.