USA | New Holland - Pennsylvania | Horse auction | Horsemeat import

We arrive at the New Holland Sales Stables in the early morning. We immediately note that there are several horses with multiple cuts on their faces in the loose horse pens, injuries likely sustained in transport. A Paint horse is especially affected with a bleeding forehead injury as well as another serious cut above his left eye. In another pen, we see a severely neglected gelding that should have never been accepted by the sale barn in his condition. The hooves are severely overgrown to the point that they are curling up and one eye is so infected that it is swollen shut. The horse is also lice infested; the overall condition is just deplorable. One of the auction employees notices that we are looking at the gelding and immediately takes him outside to shoot him. He is then transported to the auction’s dumpster and discarded. It is concerning that action was taken only when auction workers realized that the horse had been seen by our team, at which point he was shot rather than being attended to by a vet.

Outside, there is a horse inside a truck that is very agitated and kicking against the trailer sides. However, due to the completely enclosed trailer model we cannot see what is going on inside. Trailers of that type should not be used for animal transport since it is impossible to view the animals en route to check on their condition.