RSPCA Australia admits it sends horses to be slaughtered for pet food

Broken-down thoroughbreds are being sent by the RSPCA Australia to slaughterhouses where their carcasses are turned into pet food, it has been revealed.

It is the first time they have admitted to doing this, despite previously criticising the transportation of retired racehorses to knackeries or abattoirs.

The animal welfare organisation’s New South Wales branch says it has no other option but to send animals to be turned into meat if they are ‘very diseased, unwell or aged’.

One pet food factory it has used in Sydney was successfully prosecuted by the RSPCA over the way it treats sheep and cattle.

Burns Pet Foods in Sydney was also allegedly found to be slaughtering horses on a mass scale in a recent expose by ABC.

An invoice seen by Daily Mail Australia shows RSPCA NSW paying AU$300 (£158) to transport two horses, one of which was a thoroughbred mare going to ‘Burns PF’.

In September the pet food producer in Riverstone, New South Wales, pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated animal cruelty and failing to provide veterinary treatment.

But there is no suggestion the horse sent by the RSPCA in 2012 was mistreated.

A spokesman for the animal rights group said it was possible that the horse was put to sleep before being transported so its suffering was cut short.

He pointed out that since 2017, there has been a obligation to re-home retired thoroughbreds under Racing NSW rules.

But despite this, an undercover investigation in October showed horses being mistreated in an abattoir in south-east Queensland.

It alleged animals were kicked and beaten as they lay dying and repeatedly stunned with electric prods.

In the space of 22 days, more than 300 racehorses were slaughtered, according to ABC’s 7.30 programme.

This flies in the face of Racing Australia data which says fewer than 1 per cent of ex-racehorses were sent to knackeries or abattoirs, which would only amount to 34 every year.

Veterinarian Paul McGreevy said ABC’s findings of ‘appalling treatment’ would ‘shake the industry to its core’.

Responding to the probe, RSPCA Australia’s action CEO Bidda Jones said she was ‘shocked and horrified’ and blamed an oversupply of horses which the industry refuses to acknowledge or control properly.

She branded Australian race authorities as ‘experts in ignoring the obvious, because it doesn’t fit with their desired image’.

The RSPCA has called for an urgent investigation by the Australia’s Department of Agriculture into the claims.

But when questioned a spokeswoman for the New South Wales branch said it occasionally sends horses ‘of all descriptions, including thoroughbreds’ to abattoirs and knackeries but did not say how often.

Commenting on the ‘many thousands of stock animals’ taken into their care every year, she added: ‘The decision as to how to maintain the animals, in what circumstances, for how long, and whether they should be euthanised is determined by the purpose for which they come into our custody, and a variety of other factors.

‘That includes determining whether the animal is in a condition which requires immediate euthanasia, in which case the stock will be humanely euthanised, and then either buried or transported to appropriate facilities for disposal.’

The RSPCA makes these decisions based on guidance from experienced vets and in some cases by a stock welfare panel.

Sometimes, if the option of agistment isn’t available, animals are deemed so malnourished or weak that there is no other option but to send them to an abattoir.

The spokeswoman added: ‘RSPCA NSW believes that the implementation of legal welfare standards for racehorses, to eliminate practices that cause injury, pain, suffering or distress, is an urgent government priority.

‘We believe provisions should be made to ensure thoroughbreds are not sent to abattoirs or knackeries.’

Initially responding to the ABC programme, Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys said he knew nothing about thoroughbreds being sent to slaughterhouses in the state.

He warned the ‘full, force of the law’ would be used against anyone found breaking the rules.