‘Assist the Dutch illegally kill Irish racehorses for consumption’

Numerous Dutch horse merchants are concerned within the unlawful slaughter of discarded racehorses, says Home of Animals. The Dutch animal rights group has investigated this in collaboration with Irish journalists.

in keeping with Tv program RTÉ investigates 1000’s of Irish racehorses disappear from registration methods yearly. A few of them find yourself in an unlawful European circuit. There, the animals are killed for consumption beneath a brand new identification, even when they don’t seem to be appropriate for this.

“The animals are sometimes drugged to carry out at races,” stated Karen Soeters from Home of Animals (HoH). Criminals give these horses a brand new chip and passport, after which they qualify for wrongful killing. Based on the group, at the very least three Dutch merchants and a slaughterhouse are concerned in these practices. The meat would find yourself in snacks, resembling bitterballen.

The Dutch Meals and Shopper Product Security Authority (NVWA) says they haven’t any indication that illegally slaughtered horse meat is at present available on the market within the Netherlands. The spokesperson can not give a stable reply to questions on particular person corporations or merchants.

The regulator confirms that it has transferred a current investigation into horse passport fraud within the Netherlands to the Public Prosecution Service. “That meat has been faraway from the market,” the spokesman explains. Different European international locations have additionally been warned.

Based on HoH, this EU-wide warning in 2022 was a couple of slaughterhouse in Kerkdriel. The group did undercover filming at this firm in the course of the investigation they usually say there’s animal abuse. “In the long run, 52 horses have been killed that morning, and it is okay the place they got here from.”

The NOS tried to achieve the slaughterhouse in Kerkdriel for a solution, however they have been unsuccessful. Regional broadcaster L1 has been in touch with a horse dealer from Meijel talked about by HoH, however he stated he didn’t wish to reply at the moment.

An already convicted Dutch horse dealer can also be accused of involvement with an animal rights group. Final yr, this man in France was given a jail sentence and a fantastic of 75,000 euros for his involvement in horsemeat tampering.

The Irish broadcaster RTE refers back to the EU’s month-to-month report from April 2024. It says that 51 horses from Holland and Italy have been killed illegally. However it isn’t clear from the doc when this drawback was recognized, or on the dealer.

HoH says he has indications that much more Dutch persons are concerned within the unlawful slaughter of racehorses. The group believes that the NVWA is significantly failing in its work to search out and cope with this. The governor denies this and says that there are strict controls within the Netherlands.

This isn’t the primary time that horse slaughterhouses have been discredited within the Netherlands. For instance, between 2019 and 2021, two males turned jail sentence as a result of they bought horse meat like beef.