At just nine years of age, Jasmine a beautiful thoroughbred mare was sold for slaughter while pregnant.  At the time, she had a still-nursing four month old foal which was viciously torn from her side in the auction ring as they were both sold to separate buyers.  While her foal was sold to a private home, Jasmine was sold to meat dealers.  RASTA was able to intervene saving both Jasmine’s life as well as the life of her unborn baby.  Little Saffy was born September 10th 2001 at the RASTA Sanctuary back in Alberta.

Sadly, many people are unaware that Alberta is in fact the kill capital in North America for Horse Slaughter.  With numbers as high as 750 horses slaughtered daily at the Fort MacLeod slaughterhouse, less than 10% of the animals killed are old or unsound.  The majority are young healthy horses disposed of by various sporting industries such as rodeos, chuckwagons, thoroughbred racing, equestrian events, etc, as well as animals that were once beloved pets.

The majority of the horse flesh is sold to countries like Belgium and France for human consumption while some is used in pet foods.  Some people may be surprised to know that a lot of by-products like gelatin (used in making jell-o) and glycerine (used in many soaps, shampoos, creams, etc.) are actually derived from dead horses.  Cruelty-free alternatives are possible as gelatin can easily be substituted by agar agar and it is possible to find vegetable-based glycerin, it just requires reading the ingredients label prior to purchasing a product.