![]() ![]() "We don't have the resources to get every horse in New South Wales to see if it's alive or passed away." The NSW regulator, Racing NSW, told the ABC it is committed to rehoming horses but raised resourcing issues. "In the order of at least 4,000 horses," he said.īut the national regulator, Racing Australia, introduced a traceability rule three years ago to track the whereabouts of horses from birth to retirement. He said the number of horses disappearing each year could be in the thousands. "If my concerns are substantiated, then we're talking about a large number of horses that are meeting a very grisly end." "That's what the industry is assuring us of." "The industry tells us that 0.4 per cent of horses leaving the racing industry are ending up in a knackery or an abattoir, which I think equates to 34 horses per year," Professor McGreevy said. Last financial year the industry produced 14,000 foals.Įach year, around 8,500 horses are retired from the track.Īccording to the racing industry less than 1 per cent are ending up at a knackery or an abattoir. ( ABC News)Īustralian horse racing is a big business that requires big breeding. "It's absolutely unacceptable that we could let our equine athletes down in this way." Industry 'wastage'Ī branded thoroughbred horse after being slaughtered at Meramist Abattoir. "That's disgusting," he said, tears welling in his eyes. Professor McGreevy is shocked by the practices. One worker can be seen repeatedly slamming a gate into a group of horses, another beats the horses with a hose. Others are kicked and suffer electric shocks while confined in the kill box. The covert cameras record horses being beaten and abused, bolted to the brain repeatedly and ineffectively killed. The vision obtained by the ABC also shows abattoir workers tormenting animals before they are killed. "The Commission works closely with partners including the RSPCA to investigate reports we receive about the treatment of racehorses and Standardbreds whether they are currently racing or retired," he told the ABC in a statement. The Queensland Racing Integrity Commissioner Ross Barnett said that it encourages the racing community and the public to report all animal welfare concerns. The Coalition figures are at odds with the racing industry's data and with Racing Queensland's Animal Welfare Strategy to "minimise the 'wastage' of racing animals". "(That) equates to about 4,000 race horses killed in this one abattoir," Mr Celotto said. On one day alone, covert cameras record more than 40 racehorses being slaughtered. They had won combined prizemoney of almost $5 million. The process has revealed around 300 racehorses went through Meramist Abattoir in just 22 days. ![]() ![]() Thoroughbreds identified at Meramist in the last 18 months Using the vision recording brandings and the methodical scanning of microchips, the ABC has forensically cross-matched horses slaughtered to the industry's official online record of thoroughbreds, the Australian Stud Book. That vision has been provided to the ABC and we've agreed to protect the investigators' identities. Separate to the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses monitoring, a team of undercover investigators has entered the abattoir recording more than a thousand hours of covert vision documenting the horses that have passed through the abattoir and their treatment. Elio Celotto and the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses have been monitoring Meramist Abattoir for two years. ![]()
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