Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC) Responds to Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada (HWAC)
On November 20, 2010, the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada released its Recommended Handling Guidelines and Animal Welfare Assessment Tool for horses
On November 20, 2010, the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada (HWAC) released its Recommended Handling Guidelines and Animal Welfare Assessment Tool for horses, along with the Certified Assessor Standards, a 2-page document detailing the 12 tenets for Certified Assessors which was written to provide comprehensive, consistent animal welfare standards for the handling of horses at processing (slaughter).
Although ill-defined, we can interchange "assessor" with "slaughterhouse personnel". Essentially, this document is the closed-shop equivalent of a confidentiality agreement between Bouvry Inc. and their employees. By affiliation, we can also deduce that the Canadian government arm and working partner of HWAC, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), endorses this document and HWAC's largest partner, Bouvry Exports Ltd., either gave the nod or were the biggest contributor to its content.
Wading through all the hyperbole, it is interesting that while HWAC demands assessors "make findings, conclusions and decisions based on fact and current science based information," HWAC and the CFIA consistently ignore and deny scientific studies such as the Dodman/Blondeau/Marini report on drug contaminants (Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk; journal Food and Chemical Toxicology).
Historically the CFIA reverts to in-house drug testing instead of using outside drug monitoring that would render the process transparent and largely infallible. Meantime, Claude Boissoneault, CFIA National Specialist, Red Meat Program, indicated to the CHDC in October 2010 that in the past 5 years, 698 samples of equine meat was submitted for phenylbutazone testing. According to Agriculture Canada slaughter numbers, that is 0.18% of 385,339 horses slaughtered in 5 years - an abysmally weak cross section of testing.
And while they demand that their employees "reveal all material facts known to them" in the likelihood "fraudulent practices" are concealed, both HWAC and the CFIA have continually distorted and denied allegations of cruelty and inhumane practices at the Bouvry slaughter houses. Case in point, in February, 2010 with the release of the CHDC footage (and several years ago with the atrocities at the now-defunct plant in Neudorf, Saskatchewan).
HWAC and Bouvry even went so far as to deny the authenticity of the footage, instead calling the cruel practices portrayed as "fabricated" and could not have come from the Alberta Bouvry plant. It has since been proven and acknowledged that the footage was indeed very real and showed real time cruel and ineffective horse slaughter practices at the Bouvry plant.
There is also an intimidating demand for assessors "not to accept anything of value from anyone that would "impair their professional judgment" - the key word here is "value" - are we to interpret this to mean money or bribes from an outside source? Surely, the most valuable commodity is knowledge and the implication is for the assessor to remain not only dumb to the internal workings of the plant but mute as well.
Mystifying is the statement that assessors "not represent their acts or statements in such a way as to lead others to believe that they represent HWAC." They do represent HWAC; they receive certification by HWAC/CFIA. The agreement is to be signed by an 'auditor' and dated. In fact, this statement is tantamount to saying: Although you are a member of our affiliation and you meet our required standards, you do not in any way represent our organization.
If intended to be ambiguous, it is not. This statement is not only a double standard but also precludes HWAC of any future responsibility should their employees deem to represent themselves as, heavens forbid, their employees. Quite a neat loophole that protects HWAC from being held responsible for any actions taken by their certified assessors or any consequences that may arise due to their actions. Equally mystifying are the demands for the employee to "strive to use their knowledge and expertise to enhance the welfare of animals...and the agriculture industry." What expertise? Slaughter plant workers are a largely unskilled and under-educated work force, with little if any animal husbandry skills. Witness the cruelty of plant personnel exposed time and time again by undercover footage by the CHDC, Canadians for the Ethical Treatment of Food Animals (CETFA) and Animals Angels. Witness the malice and sheer indifference to animal suffering caught on tape ad nauseam and explain what expertise is at play.
Both HWAC and its resource partners, the CFIA and Bouvry Exports, infamously interchange words in their vernacular to put a party dress on the sordidness of horse slaughter. The last point of these Standards refer to the assessor's "responsibility to the profession." This is not a profession. Horse slaughter plants are a de-sensitizing and de-moralizing environment by their very nature and in no way can these jobs be misconstrued as a career choice. With the exception of degree-toting personnel that do not enter the kill floor, the jobs are temporary and are used as a stopgap for employees before they move on.
The Certified Assessor Standards are thinly-veiled rules explicitly intended to exploit, bully, intimidate and cloister slaughter personnel. Considering that most slaughter plant workers are itinerant, untrained blue-collar workers substantially made up of an immigrant population, it is highly unlikely whether they would even grasp the gist of the document.
One would wonder why HWAC would even release this document if for no other reason than to hang out their shingle that it's "business as usual" for horse slaughter in Canada - and to publicly advertise how supposedly stringently controlled it is. This is of little value to the workers and the partners, but perhaps of greater interest to their targeted audience, the European Union (EU). But if the EU is their targeted audience, they are seriously underestimating not only the EU's scope but their integrity and intelligence as well.
We would like to thank you for your continued support both for the CHDC and for the horses that we are trying to save.
Sincerely,
Your friends at the CHDC.
Working to end horse slaughter in Canada forever
On November 20, 2010, the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada released its Recommended Handling Guidelines and Animal Welfare Assessment Tool for horses
On November 20, 2010, the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada (HWAC) released its Recommended Handling Guidelines and Animal Welfare Assessment Tool for horses, along with the Certified Assessor Standards, a 2-page document detailing the 12 tenets for Certified Assessors which was written to provide comprehensive, consistent animal welfare standards for the handling of horses at processing (slaughter).
Although ill-defined, we can interchange "assessor" with "slaughterhouse personnel". Essentially, this document is the closed-shop equivalent of a confidentiality agreement between Bouvry Inc. and their employees. By affiliation, we can also deduce that the Canadian government arm and working partner of HWAC, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), endorses this document and HWAC's largest partner, Bouvry Exports Ltd., either gave the nod or were the biggest contributor to its content.
Wading through all the hyperbole, it is interesting that while HWAC demands assessors "make findings, conclusions and decisions based on fact and current science based information," HWAC and the CFIA consistently ignore and deny scientific studies such as the Dodman/Blondeau/Marini report on drug contaminants (Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk; journal Food and Chemical Toxicology).
Historically the CFIA reverts to in-house drug testing instead of using outside drug monitoring that would render the process transparent and largely infallible. Meantime, Claude Boissoneault, CFIA National Specialist, Red Meat Program, indicated to the CHDC in October 2010 that in the past 5 years, 698 samples of equine meat was submitted for phenylbutazone testing. According to Agriculture Canada slaughter numbers, that is 0.18% of 385,339 horses slaughtered in 5 years - an abysmally weak cross section of testing.
And while they demand that their employees "reveal all material facts known to them" in the likelihood "fraudulent practices" are concealed, both HWAC and the CFIA have continually distorted and denied allegations of cruelty and inhumane practices at the Bouvry slaughter houses. Case in point, in February, 2010 with the release of the CHDC footage (and several years ago with the atrocities at the now-defunct plant in Neudorf, Saskatchewan).
HWAC and Bouvry even went so far as to deny the authenticity of the footage, instead calling the cruel practices portrayed as "fabricated" and could not have come from the Alberta Bouvry plant. It has since been proven and acknowledged that the footage was indeed very real and showed real time cruel and ineffective horse slaughter practices at the Bouvry plant.
There is also an intimidating demand for assessors "not to accept anything of value from anyone that would "impair their professional judgment" - the key word here is "value" - are we to interpret this to mean money or bribes from an outside source? Surely, the most valuable commodity is knowledge and the implication is for the assessor to remain not only dumb to the internal workings of the plant but mute as well.
Mystifying is the statement that assessors "not represent their acts or statements in such a way as to lead others to believe that they represent HWAC." They do represent HWAC; they receive certification by HWAC/CFIA. The agreement is to be signed by an 'auditor' and dated. In fact, this statement is tantamount to saying: Although you are a member of our affiliation and you meet our required standards, you do not in any way represent our organization.
If intended to be ambiguous, it is not. This statement is not only a double standard but also precludes HWAC of any future responsibility should their employees deem to represent themselves as, heavens forbid, their employees. Quite a neat loophole that protects HWAC from being held responsible for any actions taken by their certified assessors or any consequences that may arise due to their actions. Equally mystifying are the demands for the employee to "strive to use their knowledge and expertise to enhance the welfare of animals...and the agriculture industry." What expertise? Slaughter plant workers are a largely unskilled and under-educated work force, with little if any animal husbandry skills. Witness the cruelty of plant personnel exposed time and time again by undercover footage by the CHDC, Canadians for the Ethical Treatment of Food Animals (CETFA) and Animals Angels. Witness the malice and sheer indifference to animal suffering caught on tape ad nauseam and explain what expertise is at play.
Both HWAC and its resource partners, the CFIA and Bouvry Exports, infamously interchange words in their vernacular to put a party dress on the sordidness of horse slaughter. The last point of these Standards refer to the assessor's "responsibility to the profession." This is not a profession. Horse slaughter plants are a de-sensitizing and de-moralizing environment by their very nature and in no way can these jobs be misconstrued as a career choice. With the exception of degree-toting personnel that do not enter the kill floor, the jobs are temporary and are used as a stopgap for employees before they move on.
The Certified Assessor Standards are thinly-veiled rules explicitly intended to exploit, bully, intimidate and cloister slaughter personnel. Considering that most slaughter plant workers are itinerant, untrained blue-collar workers substantially made up of an immigrant population, it is highly unlikely whether they would even grasp the gist of the document.
One would wonder why HWAC would even release this document if for no other reason than to hang out their shingle that it's "business as usual" for horse slaughter in Canada - and to publicly advertise how supposedly stringently controlled it is. This is of little value to the workers and the partners, but perhaps of greater interest to their targeted audience, the European Union (EU). But if the EU is their targeted audience, they are seriously underestimating not only the EU's scope but their integrity and intelligence as well.
We would like to thank you for your continued support both for the CHDC and for the horses that we are trying to save.
Sincerely,
Your friends at the CHDC.
Working to end horse slaughter in Canada forever
http://www.defendhorsescanada.org/
State regulations shut down the US Slaughter plants. However, American horses have always been and still are exported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter for human consumption. Now the pro slaughter side is attempting to reopen slaughter houses in the USA! State by state..... it all started in ND read more details below.
On March 30, 2010 the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition released its latest investigative reports on two of Canada's largest horse slaughter plants, Bouvry Exports in Alberta and Richelieu Meats in Quebec:
Chambers of Carnage - A Sweeping Undercover Investigation of Canada's Leading Equine Slaughterhouses
Video cameras captured footage at both facilities in late February 2010. What is happening to our horses in these plants is horrible beyond words. The footage is difficult to view as they contain images of horses meeting their end at the barrel of a gun. Those fortunate enough to go down quickly are spared the suffering of many that do not meet their end so quickly or painlessly. If you find it hard to watch the footage, there are also footage indexes that you can read instead.
From World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) "The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is appalled by evidence of grossly inhumane slaughter of horses taking place in Canada. We have been sent video footage that is stated to have been taken recently in Bouvry Exports Calgary Ltd slaughterhouse in Fort Macleod, Alberta and Viande Richelieu Inc./Richelieu Meat Inc. slaughterhouse in Massueville, Quebec.
It is clear that neither the facilities nor the behaviour of the personnel shown are suited to the humane slaughter of horses, and that extreme suffering results for many individual animals. Problems include failure to restrain each animal's head properly before shooting, shooting from too great a distance, shooting in the wrong part of the head or body, failure to follow up with an immediate second shot in animals that were not killed by the first, hoisting apparently conscious animals, and - in the case of the Richelieu plant - cruel handling and treatment of the horses, including excessive whipping and overuse of an electric prod as well as an apparent callous disregard for the animals' suffering. An additional cause of very major concern is the presence of what appear to be either plant supervisors or inspectors who observe the employees' actions and yet do nothing."
From Nicholas H. Dodman, D.V.M., one of the world's most noted and celebrated veterinary behaviorists, a founding member of Veterinarians for Equine Welfare and Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine Professor “Noise, blood and suffering is what you get at the Bouvry equine slaughter plant: Horses kicking after they have been shot, sinking down and rising up; sometimes periods of struggling or paddling before a second or third shot has to be administered. This atrocity goes against all veterinary guidelines for humane euthanasia. Terror and suffering is the rule at this equine house of horrors ... and all in the name of the gourmet meat market.”
From Alberta Veterinarian Dr. Debi Zimmermann "I conclude that the wary and flighty nature of the horse, coupled with the poorly designed kill plant systems currently in place at Bouvry Exports and Viande Richelieu, results in unacceptable levels of suffering endured by horses (both in number of horses and degree of suffering), and poses inherent dangers to plant personnel. The shooters are seldom able to adhere to the required protocols for euthanasia by firearm, due to a combination of horse and human factors."
The CHDC asks you to take action and let the CFIA know that this suffering will not be accepted! Horses cannot be humanely killed in an assembly-line fashion. This evidence makes it abundantly clear
On March 30, 2010 the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition released its latest investigative reports on two of Canada's largest horse slaughter plants, Bouvry Exports in Alberta and Richelieu Meats in Quebec:
Chambers of Carnage - A Sweeping Undercover Investigation of Canada's Leading Equine Slaughterhouses
Video cameras captured footage at both facilities in late February 2010. What is happening to our horses in these plants is horrible beyond words. The footage is difficult to view as they contain images of horses meeting their end at the barrel of a gun. Those fortunate enough to go down quickly are spared the suffering of many that do not meet their end so quickly or painlessly. If you find it hard to watch the footage, there are also footage indexes that you can read instead.
From World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) "The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is appalled by evidence of grossly inhumane slaughter of horses taking place in Canada. We have been sent video footage that is stated to have been taken recently in Bouvry Exports Calgary Ltd slaughterhouse in Fort Macleod, Alberta and Viande Richelieu Inc./Richelieu Meat Inc. slaughterhouse in Massueville, Quebec.
It is clear that neither the facilities nor the behaviour of the personnel shown are suited to the humane slaughter of horses, and that extreme suffering results for many individual animals. Problems include failure to restrain each animal's head properly before shooting, shooting from too great a distance, shooting in the wrong part of the head or body, failure to follow up with an immediate second shot in animals that were not killed by the first, hoisting apparently conscious animals, and - in the case of the Richelieu plant - cruel handling and treatment of the horses, including excessive whipping and overuse of an electric prod as well as an apparent callous disregard for the animals' suffering. An additional cause of very major concern is the presence of what appear to be either plant supervisors or inspectors who observe the employees' actions and yet do nothing."
From Nicholas H. Dodman, D.V.M., one of the world's most noted and celebrated veterinary behaviorists, a founding member of Veterinarians for Equine Welfare and Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine Professor “Noise, blood and suffering is what you get at the Bouvry equine slaughter plant: Horses kicking after they have been shot, sinking down and rising up; sometimes periods of struggling or paddling before a second or third shot has to be administered. This atrocity goes against all veterinary guidelines for humane euthanasia. Terror and suffering is the rule at this equine house of horrors ... and all in the name of the gourmet meat market.”
From Alberta Veterinarian Dr. Debi Zimmermann "I conclude that the wary and flighty nature of the horse, coupled with the poorly designed kill plant systems currently in place at Bouvry Exports and Viande Richelieu, results in unacceptable levels of suffering endured by horses (both in number of horses and degree of suffering), and poses inherent dangers to plant personnel. The shooters are seldom able to adhere to the required protocols for euthanasia by firearm, due to a combination of horse and human factors."
The CHDC asks you to take action and let the CFIA know that this suffering will not be accepted! Horses cannot be humanely killed in an assembly-line fashion. This evidence makes it abundantly clear
CAUTION VIDEOS ARE GRAPHIC
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