Shocking documentary reveals the cruel reality behind the export of horse meat from Argentina

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Shocking documentary reveals the cruel reality behind the export of horse meat from Argentina

29 September 2020
AWF
News
The film that seeks to put pressure on the Argentinian government to immediately ban equine slaughter and the export of horse meat, shows the work of the NGOs Fondation Franz Weber in Argentina, Tierschutzbund Zürich (TSB) in Switzerland and our member Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF) in Germany.

At present, Argentina exports 60% of the horse meat consumed in the world; however, its consumption within the country is prohibited and there are no specific places where horses are raised for this purpose. So where do the 200,000 horses that are slaughtered annually to produce the meat exported to the European Union come from?

Premiering globally today and produced by the multimedia company Posibl, the documentary “Cinco Corazones” narrates the true and cruel reality behind the lives of Argentinian horses, which suffer all kinds of abuse from their birth to the moment of their death.

Equine slaughter has been practiced in Argentina for more than 100 years. Despite the closure of some slaughterhouses that used to carry out these cruel practices, four plants are still EU-approved and export around 10,000 tons of horsemeat to Europe each year.

“Stolen horses, discarded sport horses, mentally and physically destroyed rodeo horses, worn-out blood mares and rubbish-collection horses are collected by dubious horse traders and sold on to slaughter“, says Sabrina Gurtner, project manager of AWF|TSB, who has been investigating the cruel production of horsemeat in South America since 2012. Their dignity is not even respected at the end of their lives, when these horses are slaughtered and transformed into meat, a product destined to enter the European market. “So far, the EU Commission has only stopped the import of horse meat from Mexico and Brazil. Import bans against Argentina and Uruguay must urgently follow”, Sabrina Gurtner calls upon the European Commission. 

So far, the EU Commission has only stopped the import of horse meat from Mexico and Brazil. Import bans against Argentina and Uruguay must urgently follow.

Sabrina Gurtner, Project Manager of AWF|TSB

In 2017, we began a deep investigation that lasted 3 years and revealed the extreme cruelty suffered by horses in Argentina. Cinco Corazones is a film that forces us not to be indifferent to their pain and to redouble our efforts so that these nefarious practices end. Argentinians deserve to know what happens to horses in their own country, and Europeans deserve to know the atrocities hidden in the meat they put on their plates and in their mouths. It is time to say enough and to allow this noble animal to live in a noble society too”, says Martin Parlato, CEO & Founder of Posibl. and Director of the film.

The film shows shocking images of the equine slaughter and of what happened in the “field of horror” in Ezeiza. It narrates about the theft of horses, the complicity of the authorities and the cruel business of blood farming for eCG production. As stated by the Argentinian actress and animal rights defender Liz Solari, who also provided the voice-over for the documentary: “Cinco Corazones is a documentary that awakens, disturbs and deeply shocks you. It is essential to see it”.

In turn, the film also shows the work of activists and various NGOs based in Europe and Argentina, who have worked for years to obtain a ban on equine slaughter for human consumption abroad. “The horse today is the victim of all kinds of abuses based on the absolute denial of its natural ethology. Locked in pits, living in isolation, used for work, they end their lives most of the time bled to death in a slaughterhouse and their body in pieces displayed in the shelves of European supermarkets... There is nothing worthy in the deal that we give them. Abolishing equine slaughter would be a fundamental step to give back these animals what we took from them. And it would prevent hundreds of thefts of horses that are sold to slaughterhouses”, expressed Alejandra García, Director of the Equidad Santuario and Director of Franz Weber Argentina.

WATCH THE FULL MOVIE HERE