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RSPCA admits sending broken-down thoroughbred horses to slaughterhouses to be turned into pet food

The animal welfare charitable body has reportedly been one of the strongest critics of thoroughbreds being sent to abattoirs.
UPDATED JAN 23, 2020
(Source : Getty Images)
(Source : Getty Images)

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), in a first, has admitted that it sends broken-down racehorses to slaughterhouses in New South Wales where their carcasses are turned into pet food, according to reports. The animal welfare charitable body has reportedly been one of the strongest critics of thoroughbreds being sent to abattoirs after they are retired from the racing industry.

RSPCA New South Wales, while speaking to the Daily Mail, said that it sometimes sends stock for commercial slaughter if no other option is available to them. The stock also includes thoroughbreds.

"On occasion, the only mechanism for disposing of very diseased, unwell or aged stock animals is via abattoir or knackery facilities," a spokesperson from the organization to the outlet. "RSPCA NSW has in the past sent stock to abattoir, and continues to do so in a variety of circumstances."

One of the knackeries used by the RSPCA NSW in the past is Burns Pet Foods in Sydney. The particular firm, Burn Pet Foods which processes horse meat for consumption by animals, was recently featured in an ABC expose, alleging that the place was being used among multiple where thoroughbreds were being slaughtered on an industrial level.

Even RSPCA had recently slammed the knackery for cruelty to cattle. The firm had also pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated animal cruelty in September and one of failing to provide veterinary treatment. 

A day after the ABC program was screened, RSPCA Australia's acting CEO Bidda Jones, had released a statement, saying: "Like all Australians who saw last night's program, we were shocked and horrified - but sadly, not surprised - at the fate of of Australian thoroughbred and harness racing horses sent for slaughter, and the industry's alarming lack of acknowledgement or control over this. Sadly, Australian racing authorities have become experts in ignoring the obvious, because it doesn't fit with their desired image."

RSPCA Queensland, in the wake of Daily Mail's report, released a statement, with the spokesperson stating that the state body had never sent stock, including thoroughbreds, to abattoirs of knackeries. 

In October the ABC's 7:30 program screened footage of thoroughbreds being mistreated in an abattoir in south-east Queensland and alleged hundreds of Australian racehorses were being sent to slaughter every year. Hidden cameras showed that in just 22 days, more than 300 racehorses - winners of a combined $5 million in prize money - were killed in the abattoir. 

The report cited Racing Australia data which claimed fewer than 1 per cent of ex-racehorses were sent to abattoirs or knackeries, which would be 34 each year. The ABC aired allegations that animals sent to the Queensland abattoir were beaten, repeatedly stunned with electric prods and kicked while they were dying.

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