Norfolk charity fundraising to care for horses rescued from being smuggling out of the UK
The money would go towards the animals' rehabilitation
An animal charity in Norfolk's hoping to raise £20,000 to care for a number of horses and ponies it rescued from being smuggled out of the UK.
World Horse Welfare, which is based in Snetterton, says it believes the 26 animals were going to be sent to Europe and slaughtered.
The money would go towards the animals' rehabilitation and to raise awareness of what they call the "tragic reality" of equine exports.
The charity says the animals were found crammed onto a transporter at a Kent holding yard when authorities discovered they were being smuggled out of the UK.
Only 19 of the animals had the necessary paperwork for the journey and many had health issues, making them unfit to travel.
World Horse Welfare Chief Executive Roly Owers said: “We applaud the authorities for taking action in this case and stopping the vehicle, but far too often these lorries cross borders unchecked.
"From our initial investigations, the horses were allegedly travelling from the Republic of Ireland to France, using Britain as a land-bridge.
"But they are all British-born horses with some being bought from sales in England shortly before supposedly being ‘imported’ back into the country.
“Regardless of whether the horses started their journey in Ireland or Britain, it is highly likely that they would have been travelled for hours to potentially end their lives in a European slaughterhouse.
"Some are pregnant mares, others had health conditions making them unfit to travel, with one having to be euthanised because it was in such a poor state. Worryingly 13 of the horses are signed out of the food chain.”
He continued, explaining the charity's long been campaigning for a ban on the live export of horses for slaughter from Britain.
Whilst Roly says the charity welcomes the forthcoming Animal Welfare (Live Exports) Bill, he argues this case demonstrates the need for secondary legislation that will introduce measures to help ensure the ban can be enforced: “This case highlights the tragic reality we believe countless equines have to suffer through being exported to slaughter.
"Drivers and vehicles are switched, horses pass through multiple hands, sometimes on fraudulent passports, and are moved between local authority areas and from country to country, before they are exported.
"All to make it harder to trace the people involved, the individual equines being moved and the long journeys that they are being subjected to.
"To put an end to these abhorrent movements and to protect our nation’s horses, it is imperative that the UK Government gets the Live Export Bill onto the statute book, finally implements a robust and digitalised equine identification system, and establishes an effective system for enforcing all equine legislation, so that smugglers can no longer hide behind a smokescreen of confusion.”