DESPITE BEING illegal in the UK, the live transportation of horses to slaughter across Europe is an on-going contentious issue, and this week saw animal welfare supporters all over the UK gather for a "day of action" to stop live transport .

On mainland Europe, around 50,000 horses are transported long distances to slaughter each year and under existing EU legislation, horses can travel for up to 24 hours before they are unloaded for a rest. Despite transporters legally being required to make hour long stops every eight hours to give the horses food and water, whether this is adhered to depends on the level of enforcement which differs from country to country.

In January this year, Conservative MP Theresa Villiers led a debate on animal welfare standards post leaving the EU and raised her concerns over the suffering that can be caused by long-distance transport: “Once exported, animals can be in transit in crowded and stressful conditions for protracted periods. As we have heard, enforcement of welfare rules in Europe is patchy, which means that there is a risk that animals will suffer from extremes of temperature or be left without sufficient food, water or rest. We cannot always be confident even that welfare rules regulating slaughter in the country of destination will be complied with.”

Although the number of horses being transported yearly in Europe has dropped from 165,000 in 2014, the transport process continues to present welfare challenges, with many horses travelling for arduous long journeys in tightly packed conditions, with little food and water.

World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers said: “We have been campaigning for 90 years against needlessly long journeys for slaughter in terrible conditions. Horses destined for slaughter in Europe are no longer loaded onto vessels by crane, nor left in trains for days on end at borders – and with the partitions we helped to introduce, significant injuries and fatalities are far less common.

“It is completely unacceptable that the very legislation put in place to protect animal welfare would allow so many thousands of horses to be subjected to journeys as long as 24 hours at a time when the evidence is clear that such long journeys are bad for horse health and welfare.”

Demand for horse meat in Europe remains high, with Italy as the largest consumer, horses often travelling thousands of miles to provide fresh meat to meet with local demand. Horses aren’t slaughtered locally as they can return a higher price by selling to slaughterhouses in Italy, although production costs are cheaper outside in countries such as Poland. There is also a consumer demand for fresh local horsemeat and traders can mislead consumers by labelling Polish horses slaughtered in Italy as an Italian product due to a lack of “country of origin” on horse meat labels.

Scientific evidence shows that horse welfare deteriorates significantly when they are travelled long distances leading to dehydration, extreme fatigue and exhaustion, illness, injury and above all, stress. Despite EU legislation stating horses must be taken off lorries after 24 hours of travel and rested for 24 hours, there is no limit to the amount of times this cycle can be repeated on one journey. World Horse Welfare is calling on the EU Commission to impose a maximum journey limit of 9-12 hours.