17/06/2020

As reported in the national press on 6 June 2020, the NAS unit in Parma found 4 horses to have falsified papers in the course of an inspection in a slaughterhouse in Correggio. A man had brought them down from France as ‘sports horses’ and had taken them to the abattoir as animals for slaughter, having himself doctored their passports.

IHP immediately wrote to the NAS, declaring itsoffer to take legal custody of the animals (who could anyway risk slaughter, as animals destined for slaughter must by law then be slaughtered if they reach the abattoir).
At the same time, IHP launched an appeal on social media, in private communications, and to Associations, and eventually found a way forward through Progetto Islander, whom we thank for agreeing to host all four horses, pending the results of health and general condition tests. The Giubbe Verdi di San Martino (MN) and TNHekima (Brescia), both also offered help.

However, to date there has been no reply from the Reggio Emilia Prosecutor’s Office, to whom the NAS passed on our request for more information about the horses and the type of legal seizure they are subject to.

IHP President Sonny Richichi stated: “If what the press has said is true, then this would just be the nth example of how easy it is in our country to run frauds at the expense of horses, sending them to slaughter once they are no longer useful, and exploiting the many convolutions available due to an inadequate management of registration and traceability of these animals.
The appropriate Ministries need to take note of this strident failure of the system, which apart from anything else allows the entry onto the food market of potentially contaminated meat.
IHP is campaigning to put an end to the slaughter for meat of horses, animals which are still not considered by the law to be pets”.