*Warning: the video above contains graphic footage*

Each year, about 18,000 racehorses are shot and killed -- most of them bought by meat buyers and turned into pet food.

This footage was taken during Melbourne Cup week: beautiful racehorses were being hoarded into cages not much bigger than the size of their own bodies -- and shot in the head. Some lay twitching and struggling until a final shot by the handler killed them. 

Thousands of horses are slaughtered each year like this -- simply because they've lost their 'profitability.'

Our spring carnival is internationally renowned. The nation stops on Melbourne Cup day to watch these majestic animals perform. But it's just unthinkable that this industry tries to portray itself as animal lovers. And Racing Victoria knows it -- they've even suggested in the past they might introduce an owners levy to fund a new horse welfare plan. 

It's time the racing industry honours the responsibility they have to look after every animal for its entire life, not just while they're profiting off its talents.

Please watch the video. Share it with your friends. And sign our petition urging the racing industry to immediately commit to fund a horse welfare plan. 

It is important for people to understand that behind all the beauty and glamour of horse-racing that if the horses don't make enough money for the greedy owners, they are sent to be put up for sale. However, most of the horses end up in slaughter houses where thy are beaten, tortured and often left to bleed to death.

What sort of horses end up being slaughtered? A study from 2008 into horses at an Australian abattoir included some limited information on breeds. The study found: 40% of the horses in the study had thoroughbred racing brands 12.9% of the horses in the study had standardbred racing brands An estimated 10% of horses slaughtered in abattoirs were brumbies (although other sources, including RIRDC, have published estimates of 20%) This leaves a remainder of between 27.1 – 37.1% of horses slaughtered estimated to be from other domestic sources, including pleasure, performance, station bred, working horses and potentially some thoroughbreds and standardbreds that were not branded.

Abattoir or Knackery? The export abattoirs require a certain standard of meat quality, and so prefer young healthy horses in good body condition. Knackeries, by contrast, can “process” horses, ponies, donkeys and other equines that are aged, sick, neglected, etc, as well as healthy ones. Grey horses, for example, are not slaughtered in abattoirs due to health risks of malignant melanomas, as grey horses are more prone to cancers. So, if a grey horse is slaughtered it will be in a knackery.

In a study in 2008 of an export abattoir, it revealed that

-59.8% of the horses were aged 7 or under

-40.2% were over the age of 7 (of which only around 4.5% were over the age of 15)

-Out of the horses that had been branded,they found that 60.9% of the thoroughbreds and 55.8% of the standardbreds were aged 7 or under.

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 By Jessie Luo