It may be hard for some to believe that tens of thousands of horses are routinely slaughtered overseas for human consumption and that Canada is the leading exporter of live horses to those countries.

Most of these horses are shipped to Japan, the European Union and other countries

A small amount of these horses are consumed in Canada and some are shipped up from the United States.

This barbaric practice has been stopped in the United States since 2007 due to government defunding of equine slaughterhouse inspections; however, horses from the United States continue to be shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter for human consumption.

In addition, Canada allows for the transportation of live horses to Japan and South Korea to be slaughtered for human consumption and, unfortunately, the transportation of horses destined for slaughter within Canada, and by air, is far from humane.