Our follow-up investigation in Argentina and Uruguay in November and December 2017 showed that nothing has changed since our first investigation in 2012. We documented once again the whole production chain: horse collection centres, rodeos, transports and EU-approved slaughterhouses. At all places visited, horses are still systematically mistreated…

Our team observes the slaughterhouses Clay and Sarel in Uruguay before, during and after audits of the EU Commission and of European importers in order to detect any changes. Both plants prepare themselves for the announced audits and thus manipulate their outcome. Broken shelters are provisionally repaired, and horses with serious injuries and…

Our team returns to Uruguay in April 2018 in order to see if the conditions at the EU-approved slaughterhouses Clay and Sarel have improved. This is not the case, despite the repeated assurances of the Swiss and EU horsemeat importers. In the slaughterhouse pens, we once again find many injured, weak and emaciated horses, as well as pregnant mares…

30-31.10.2017: We visit the Bar S Feedlot in Shelby, Montana, which serves the Canadian slaughterhouse Bouvry as a collection station for slaughter horses purchased at auctions across the US. We immediately notice that the feedlot is under its capacity and there are empty pens. The horses still do not have shelter and thus no protection from sun,…

We return to the monthly horse sale held in Billings. The auction, which is one of the largest horse sales in the country, markets approximately 700 horses each time and attracts hundreds of buyers from the surrounding states. We arrive early, but the pens are already crowded. The loose horses are kept in the larger pens at the back of the…

Our team visits General Pico horse slaughterhouse near Cordoba. Since our last visit there is still insufficient weather protection. Only one row of holding pens is partly covered by a fabric roof and the majority of the pens are fully exposed to sun and rain. We estimate that there are around 500 horses in total. The horses are very crowded, which…

We again see horses in the lairage, the adjacent holding pens and the large paddocks, and estimate that there are around 130 horses when we arrive. There are two groups, each of about 35 horses, in the adjacent holding pens, which used to be partly covered by a green fabric roof and now offer no shelter at all. The animals are overcrowded, while…

Our team visits slaughterhouse Lamar at early morning. The lairage area is crowded with horses. An employee starts hosing them down, splashing water also in their faces. The floor of the pens is wet and gets very slippery. The handling of the horses is unprofessional and rough. At the entrance of the stunning chute, one or two employees are hitting…

We return to the slaughterhouse General Pico in the early morning. At 8:30, we observe a group of 15 horses that has just been unloaded being moved into the pen area. We note that at least four horses in this group are injured. Two are seriously injured and should have been euthanized immediately upon arrival at the plant. If they were already…