Horses Stolen In Florida, Suspected For Illegal Human Consumption
$25K reward offered for information on the theft, as local animal welfare group says the illegal yet lucrative horse meat trade in South Florida is being fueled with stolen horses.
Two horses stolen in Florida are suspected to have become the latest victims of the state’s illegal black market horse meat trade.
Two-year-old Venus and her young foal, 8-month-old Milagro, were stolen from their home in a late night burglary on August 11.
Upon discovering that the horses had gone missing, their owner contacted local animal rescue group Animal Recovery Mission (ARM). After investigating the scene, ARM noted that the back fence to the horse’s field had been knocked down, along with evidence of a hotwire being rigged up to lead the horses underneath.
Investigators from ARM say that they are “highly suspicious” that the theft is related to the illegal horse meat trade in Florida. The long-running illegal trade in horse meat for human consumption in Florida continues, after another case earlier this year saw two other horses, War and Sammy, also being stolen. Their remains were later found dumped along a canal in Homestead, Florida, a known horse slaughter hotspot.
The ARM group is now offering a $25,000 reward for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the criminals responsible for the theft and suspected butchering of the two latest horses Venus and Milagro.
“Horse meat is so lucrative in South Florida”
Having spent years investigating the illegal trade, ARM currently has 10 undercover operations trying to purchase horse meat in order to discover the perpetrators and tackle the problem.
“We have recovered carcasses with all of their edible meat harvested off their backs and that meat is part of the black market that we have in South Florida”, Richard Couto, the Founder of ARM, told CBS News, about his past experiences with the illegal trade.
Sadly, in cases like the recently-stolen Venus and Milagro, positive outcomes are rare as the price of the horse’s hide is greater than the horse being alive. Describing the trade in South Florida as “so lucrative”, Couto says that in the 15 years that ARM have been investigating the trade, they have never recovered a stolen horse.
Anyone with information relating to stolen horses is being urged to contact ARM directly via their ‘Report a Crime’ form.
Horse Consumption in the US - Is It Legal?
In the US, the slaughter of horses for human consumption was made illegal back in 2007. However, the law has been under scrutiny in recent years after a legal loophole was discovered to be allowing a significant number of horses being sent from America to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada.
Estimated numbers report that around 20,000 horses were sent across US borders to be killed for their meat in 2022.
Horses in this slaughter pipeline not only suffer painful and terrifying deaths, but they are also said to endure consistent suffering and cruelty during the long transport process that moves the horses across borders.
Credit: HSUS
In an attempt to close this legal loophole, the Save America's Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act was reintroduced earlier this year, and seeks to permanently prohibit the commercial slaughter of horses within the US and put an end to their export for such purposes.
"Even one horse sent to slaughter is too many. We have been fighting horse slaughter for years not only because it disregards the special connection that humans share with horses, but also because there is simply no way to kill horses humanely in a slaughterhouse,” Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), said in a statement. “Congress must pass the SAFE Act so no horse from the US is ever subjected to a grueling trip that only ends with a terrifying and inhumane death.”
Join Species Unite in urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to pass the SAFE act so that we can move one step closer to ending the cruel practice of sending American horses to slaughter. Sign the petition here.
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