One-year-old racehorse foals slaughtered in Irish meat factories for human consumption

Racehorse foals slaughtered in Irish meat factories for human consumption. The kind of foal bred and slaughtered for human consumption. Image: Getty.

Because too many racehorses are bred due to a lack of regulation in Ireland and the UK, The Sun newspaper reports that more than 3,000 racehorses many of them young foals were slaughtered for human consumption. Here are some statistics about this obnoxious practice:

• Since 2020 more than 3,000 racehorses have been killed in Irish meat factories according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
• 151 of the horses were just one-year-olds.
• 288 were under three years of age.
• The average life expectancy of a racehorses is between 25-30 years.
• Only 7% (210) of racehorses slaughtered were aged over 20 years.
• More than 50% (1534) were under the age of six when there was slaughtered.
• Almost one third (839) were younger than four years of age.
• These numbers relate to thoroughbred horses with passports issued by the horseracing conglomerate Wetherbys.
• This information does not include thousands of other horses slaughtered for human consumption since 2020.

Fiona Periera, the campaign manager of Animal Aid, a rights group campaigning against horseracing said:

"The crux of the problem is that the racing industries have failed to limit the numbers of horses produced."

They state that this is a wealthy industry and they breed horses in the hope that one or two will become winners. If they don't, they are slaughtered for human consumption. That's the general MO.

They added:

"Tragically, the end of the road for a number of these poor souls is the abattoir and, until the government makes the racing industry accountable, it seems that many unwanted horses will suffer this fate."

A BBC panorama programme highlighted the transportation of racehorses to abattoirs against animal welfare guidelines.

Most Irish racing horses slaughtered in this manner and under the circumstances are, apparently, transported to continental Europe where they are eaten in burgers, roasts and steaks. Horsemeat is considered a delicacy in parts of Belgium, Switzerland, Holland and Italy. And it is commonly served in Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Russia and China.

The video below (warning) is not about the article above but it just tells you in a video how horrible racehorses can be treated by humans. Racing is a commercial enterprise. It's the same as dog racing. Greyhounds are also killed if they aren't useful anymore. When you use animals as commercial assets and they can't make the owner of the business money, they are discarded and that means killed and in the case of racehorses killed and eaten.