Urgent! Sign Petition Urging Edmonton International Airport In Canada To Stop Supporting The Shipment Of Live Horses To Japan For Slaughter

Animal advocates are demanding that the Edmonton International Airport stop sending live horses to Japan for slaughter.

As of this morning, 84,805 people have signed a Care2 petition but more signatures are needed to urge the airport to “make the ethical choice to not support live export!”

Edmonton Airport aids this horrific industry by allowing Korean Airlines and other live shippers such as Nippon Air and Atlas Air to operate out of its facility.

The petition, launched by the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition and Voice For Animals, claims that “Edmonton Airport is complicit in this violent and unsavory industry by making money from the take-off and landing fees paid by these air cargo companies and airlines.”

The Canadian Horse Defense Coalition has been working to expose the horse slaughter industry and the live shipment of horses to Japan from Canada. Work by animal advocates and investigators have been helpful in exposing this practice which is abhorrent and not supported by the majority of Canadians and other countries around the world.

It has been revealed that the shipments occur out of Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg International Airports.

What has also been exposed is the lack of adherence of shipping regulations put forth by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Images and video footage captured at Calgary and Edmonton Airports fully support the allegations of non-compliance.

Unfathomably, horses in overcrowded crates are denied food and water for up to 36 hours within Canada. Horses spend many hours in transit by truck and then in crates at the airport waiting to be loaded into the aircraft; shipments happen in all kinds of weather.

Making the cruel situation even worse, the subpar Canadian regulations cease to be in effect when the horses leave Canada; meaning that the poor animals confinement and lack of food and water can continue for much longer as they face at least another 10 to 13 1/2 hours of flight time and ground transfer to Japan.

As per the petition, the Canadian government continues to do nothing about the infractions and is actually working to remove the regulations that have been put in place to protect these horses.

Since horse slaughter is unfunded in the United States and has essentially ended there, horses from the racing, rodeo and the pet trade, as well as feral horses who have been sent to auction, are purchased by kill buyers who ship them to Canada for the horse meat and live export trade.

Canadian horses are also exploited and slaughtered in this industry. This is a lucrative, secretive industry worth upwards of 80 million dollars per year in Canada.

Buyers in Japan purchase the animals, strongly preferring draft horses for a delicacy called basashi, thinly sliced raw horsemeat, eaten like sashimi. Our horses are being turned into a food fetish.

Insist that Edmonton stop allowing live horse shipments out of Edmonton International Airport EIA by signing the petition HERE!