On January 6, 2025, Bouvry Exports Calgary Ltd (Bouvry) was sentenced in an Alberta courtroom on charges stemming from the transport, suffering, and death of five horses. Bouvry’s Alberta slaughterhouse is the largest horse slaughterhouse in Canada. The company is also a lead player in live horse export for slaughter, shipping gentle draft horses on gruelling flights to Japan to be fattened, slaughtered, and eaten as a raw delicacy.
Government records obtained by the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition show that on July 18, 2021, nine horses were transported to be slaughtered at Bouvry’s Fort Macleod slaughterhouse. After stopping at a nearby feedlot for the night, one of the horses was found dead the next morning, with foam coming out of their nostrils. Though the horse’s cause of death was unknown, the remaining eight horses were trucked to the Bouvry feedlot the next day on July 20, 2021. Based on the animals’ branding, it appears that they originated at Willjill Farms Inc in Ontario, one of the largest suppliers of horses exported from Canada for slaughter overseas.
Government records show that the person transporting these young horses, aged one to two years, referred to them as “cripples” and “canners”. Five of them arrived at Bouvry in awful condition, with varying degrees of “lameness”, and were clearly in pain. Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) agents who were present warned Bouvry of the horses’ poor welfare but did not take further action and the facility left the animals to suffer overnight. Unfortunately, it appears these compromised horses were not assessed or segregated upon arrival, nor were they monitored overnight.
Upon returning the next day, CFIA agents found one of the horses trapped under a fence. It appeared the animal had been trapped for hours, struggling in vain to get free. The horse was shot, along with one other who collapsed and was unable to stand. Despite their continued poor condition, the remaining horses were sent for slaughter.
The federal Health of Animals Regulations allow horses to be transported for an agonizing 28 hours without food, water, and rest. Even for healthy horses, transport can be extremely stressful. Injured or sick animals are at a heightened risk of severe distress along the journey and their poor conditions can worsen due to rough movement of transport.
Because of the increased risk of suffering, the Health of Animals Regulations set out additional requirements for the transport of “compromised” horses. For instance, they are to be segregated from one another for the journey and must be afforded “special provisions” to minimize stress and discomfort such as providing them with more space, special handling, extra bedding and shorter journeys.
Photos from access to information documents obtained by Canadian Horse Defence Coalition.
A Slap on the Wrist for Horrific Animal Suffering
On September 8, 2023, the CFIA announced that it had laid 12 charges against Bouvry under the Safe Food for Canadians Act and Regulations and the Health of Animals Act and Regulations.
Many of the charges focused on animal suffering, alleging that Bouvry:
- failed to handle an animal in a manner that does not cause avoidable suffering, injury, or death;
- failed to assess whether an animal was showing signs of suffering or injury upon arrival at its facility;
- failed to immediately alleviate an animal of their suffering;
- caused a compromised animal to be loaded, confined, transported or unloaded and failed to take necessary measures to prevent the animal’s suffering, injury, or death; and
- caused a compromised animal to be loaded, confined, transported or unloaded and failed to transport the animal directly to the nearest place where they could receive care or be humanely killed.
On January 6, 2025, Bouvry was set to face a lengthy trial in the Alberta Provincial Court in Fort Macleod. But in the end, Bouvry reached a plea deal, with the company pleading guilty to only a single charge for failing to verify that paperwork involving the shipment of horses was accurate. In exchange, the remaining cruelty charges were withdrawn and the company was fined a mere $17,000—a far cry from the $250,000 maximum fine available for that offence under the Safe Food for Canadians Act.
Bouvry Has a History of Animal Cruelty
Bouvry has a history of lawlessness. In 2022, the CFIA suspended Bouvry’s slaughter licence over food safety concerns. And the more recent charges are also not the first time concerns have been raised about Bouvry’s treatment of horses. In 2023, Animal Justice filed a complaint urging authorities to investigate Bouvry after shocking footage from Animals’ Angels and the Animal Welfare Foundation showed horse carcasses strewn about the Bouvry Exports Prime Feedlot near Granum, Alberta. It also showed horses confined in crowded and filthy conditions, with many suffering from severe injury and illness. Several horses also had overgrown hooves and painful hoof conditions such as laminitis.
Hidden camera footage in 2010 showed abusive slaughter practices at Bouvry’s Alberta slaughterhouse, with the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition asking authorities to investigate what appeared to be conscious horses hoisted upside down by one leg to have their throats cut.
Animal Justice is disappointed that Bouvry was fined a mere $17,000 given the excruciating and prolonged suffering that these five horses endured. Though horses continue to be violently killed in Canada’s domestic horse slaughter industry, there is hope for horses exported by Bouvry and other companies for slaughter overseas. The government promised to end this cruel practice during the last federal election and, while time is running out to pass the ban before the next election, there is still time to act. Please take action now and tell Canada to make good on its promise to end the cruel export of live horses for slaughter once and for all.
