Sonja Meadows:

Unfortunately… that's a common misconception and a lot of people romanticize auctions and think that's a place where horses are traded from one family to another family and that it's a safe thing to do - to bring your horse to a sale barn. Our investigations have shown that that's absolutely not the case. Kill buyers are frequenting pretty much every larger auction in the United States. So, you never know who will actually buy your horse.

Sonja Meadows:

No, absolutely not. We do not need horse slaughter, and we do not need kill buyers. And if you think about it, there's over 9 million horses in the United States and only 25,000 horses are shipped to slaughter every year. If you look at it, 0.3%. So, the vast majority of horse owners are already doing the right thing, or they’re providing a humane ending at the end of its life. No, we don't need horse slaughter and we don't need kill buyers.

Sonja Meadows:

Slaughter is as far from a good death as you can get. There is nothing humane in the slaughter of a horse – they are a flight animal. A horse is very concerned about anything approaching its forehead. It moves a lot. So in a commercial setting, there is no chance that the horse will have a humane death.

The minute a horse is labeled a slaughter horse, everything changes for it. From the behavior of the people dealing with it. At an auction for example, a slaughter horse is put in a completely different pen. Usually they use large scale pens all these horses in a group and there's kicking and biting… some horses drop dead.

Then they're transported long distances. I've followed horse slaughter trucks 36 hours.  You have 30 to 40 horses crammed inside one trailer. And you have draft horses, you have thoroughbreds in there, you've got mustangs in there. So, you can imagine that that's a recipe for disaster. And I've seen horses go down in the trailer being trampled to death.

And then you have the lack of food and water, because at the auctions they're already deprived of water a lot.

Then you have the long distance transport from north to south, for example, where there's also these drastic temperature changes, So, I've seen transports start out in the snow in Ohio and then end up in 100 degrees in Texas. They’re transported in aluminum trailers, which means inside those trailers, temperatures can soar even higher and dehydration is a real concern. A lot of horses don't even make it to the end of that trip. Those those left are lingering again at a feedlot or an export pen where they're again receiving very poor care if any.

Veterinary care is usually not existent. I hear so often - even from people that are tasked to protect these animals - like veterinarians or law enforcement, they’ll say: “This is a slaughter horse. It's going to be dead anyway.”

Sonja Meadows:

I would advise going several days in advance before you actually sell your horse to look at suspicious buyers. A kill buyer usually buys more than one horse. So, if there's anybody who buys 5 - 10 horses or more, that's certainly a red flag and, somebody you shouldn't sell your horse to. And so I always tell them to act with caution. And worst case if somebody like that buys your horse, to “no sale” the horse then, which is an option that you have at every sale barn.

Tessa Archibald, HHC:
At AWI, we co-lead and founded the Homes for Horses Coalition. We have over 550 nonprofit members located around the country you can reach out to, all helping - from rescuing, to taking in owner surrenders or offering owner assistance programs to help an owner keep their horses through periods of financial hardship, offering rehoming services, and even counselling for owners who are not sure what the right next step is for their horse or donkey. There are certainly many tremendous equine rescues and sanctuaries. I encourage people to google and see which ones are working in your community.

Three resources with a nationwide network to help include:
https://homesforhorses.org/

https://aspcarighthorse.org/helpforhorses/

https://horseshelternetwork.org/directory/

Click here for an Excerpt Slide showing a Chart of shippers

The information is provided by Animals’ Angels Inc. - a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in Maryland with full-time investigators working throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. They publish an annual State of the Horse Slaughter Industry Report. They are the only U.S. organization ever invited to address the EU Commission about horse slaughter, helping secure an EU ban of horsemeat from Mexico, saving 56,000 horses since 2015.

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Click here for the full report: Animals' Angels l 2026 State of the Horse Slaughter Industry Report

Sonja Meadows:

Europe banned the import of meat from Mexico. So right now we're looking at Japan as the new remaining market for horse meat. The donkeys are slaughtered for their hide, which is used for Chinese medicine, and that's a concern, especially in Mexico.

Click here for an Excerpt Map from Animals' Angels State of the Slaughter Industry Report.

Shelby Bobosky, Esq.

"In a time when all of us feel very divided politically, this is something that is bringing everyone together. It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican. Over 83% of citizens support this law. Because even when you look at the Senate co-sponsors and Sponsors, you have someone like Lindsey Graham on the same bill as Sheldon Whitehouse... Our Senators definitely care about what their constituents want. We as Americans decided a long time ago to get rid of slaughter here. And now we say: not in our backyard. We don't want this. Why is it okay to do it just across the border? It's not. And that's why we need to end it."

Shawn Smeallie:

"Americans have always had a love affair with horses. It’s why we don’t eat horses... I think the torture thing really resonated with people – because I don’t think there was an understanding of that... Ashley Avis did a great job discussing what actually happens from the kill pen to when they cross the border. I don't think anybody knew how gruesome it is, and I think that it changed a lot of people's minds...Having people reach out, you know, education really works with these members. And listen, the greatest thing we have on our side is the passion we bring. A member and a staffer knows when there’s passion, it makes a difference."