Every year, forty thousand horses are slaughtered in Australia, for human consumption, pet food and other products. Over 3% of Australia's horse population are slaughtered each year.

The RSPCA have a policy in regards to humane killing which states “An animal must be either killed instantly or instantaneously rendered insensible to pain until death supervenes” however, the captive bolt does not kill instantly or instantaneously and causes the horse extreme pain before death. We have been informed by the Western Australia Government that they will not take into consideration the USA study because it was not conducted on Australian soil even though the process is exactly the same.

The RSPCA have another policy which states “Handling of animals prior to killing must also be humane and as stress-free as possible” however, these animals are subject to long sometime interstate transporting to one of the two licensed abattoirs in Australia who kill horses for human consumption without rest, food or water, not to mention the state of the horses in sale yards, the transportation issues and treatment in knackery’s of horses killed for pet food (but this is a different issue). In Western Australia there is no licensed abattoir for slaughtering horses for human consumption and no details have been confirmed on where these animals are being killed, however we have been informed that they are being killed in a knackery licensed to slaughter for pet food but we have been unable to confirm this.