#StopHorseSmuggling

World Horse Welfare has sent out a mailing with the information that horses are still being smuggled out of Britain to European slaughterhouses.

They need the help of everyone who loves horses and cares about their welfare.  We need to put our love for them into action!

on Wednesday 19 April 2023

 Please write about it to the Prime Minister - 
you can find out how here

World Horse Welfare need our help for two things:

1. To pass the Kept Animals Bill to make export for smuggling illegal and
2. To get practical compliance and enforcement measures in place to stop horse smuggling.

The current government manifesto has pledged to make the Kept Animals Bill law.   This would make it illegal to export live animals from British shores for slaughter, including horses.  The bill has support across the parties and World Horse Welfare have been busy lobbying, but this law is still not in place, so horses can still be smuggled into Europe “under the radar”, as World Horse Welfare put it.

What’s more, many of the horses have been loved by families.  Some are ex-sports horses who can no longer compete.  There are young horses, too, who have no future as horses to be ridden.  Many of these horses have been sold on to what owners thought would be safe homes.

They can be issued with false documents which makes it impossible or very difficult to trace them.  They have to go on journeys with very poor welfare conditions.

World Horse Welfare have 3 aims with their fundraiser

The charity is aiming to raise £150,000 through this appeal.  The funds raised will enable them to do three things:

1. “Ramp up” pressure on the government to implement and enforce the Kept Animals Bill, so that it is harder for horses to be smuggled out of the country.
2. Expand their port investigations – currently these monitor ports in Wales and Scotland, but these ports need expanding so that World Horse Welfare can get empirical evidence that horses are being smuggled out without the right documents
3. Invest £20,000 in research and analysis – this is to identify trends in horse smuggling to better protect horses and support enforcement action.

Please donate if you can and help World Horse Welfare  #StopHorseSmuggling.  And please spread the word  Horses need our help as do other animals affected.

There are other ways to help on the World Horse Welfare website. 

You can see more about the work World Horse Welfare does - here's an example of a rescue from a Scottish island.

They also have a number of videos on how to care for your horse here.