For years, the Humane Farming Association has circulated this undercover tape showing workers in Texas hitting horses with a bolt gun often three and four times before the horse is stunned unconscious. The contention is horse slaughter is not humane. We showed this tape to Geert Dewulf, the manager at a Belgian-owned slaughterhouse in Texas called Dallas Crown. Today he insists hitting horses more than once is not tolerated. Slaughter, when done correctly, he says, is a humane ending for horses that are past their prime.
Horse slaughter serves the purpose of disposing of the unwanted animals.
In 99 percent of the cases, we do not receive any animals that really can be saved. Yeah, it's recycling unwanted animals. That's not the issue. To the Youngs, all of these horses can have useful second lives. She's determined not to have their last ride end in a restaurant in Paris.