#StopHorseSmuggling

The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act 2024, which bans the live export of horses, ponies and donkeys for fattening and slaughter from Great Britain, came into force last year. It was a monumental victory and a historic milestone for animal welfare because, for the first time, it made this trade illegal.  

Prior to this, other laws had been brought in to make the export of horses to slaughter challenging, but it could still happen if the horses were valued over a set amount.   

In recent years, only one or two horses have been declared as moving to slaughter, but we know thanks to good intelligence, that many more have been smuggled out of the country to end their lives in slaughterhouses abroad.  

We catch up with our Head of Public Affairs, Kim Ayling, to find out how we are gathering evidence on these under-the-radar movements and what our charity is doing to further protect horses caught up in the horse smuggling trade.  

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Firstly, for anyone who isn’t familiar with our #StopHorseSmuggling campaign, what is horse smuggling and why does it happen?  

Horse smuggling in general describes the illegal movement of horses, ponies and even donkeys, often across country borders. Not only are these movements illegal but they put horses at high risk of injury, disease and neglect. As for why it happens, well, it’s really challenging to truly know all the reasons; the people smuggling them are clearly violating laws that exist to protect the health and welfare of the animals. Sadly, we do know that one of the main motivations is money, and that some smugglers may be linked to organised criminal activities such as money laundering. 

Why hasn’t the ban on live exports to slaughter stopped British horses being smuggled? 

Unfortunately, despite the ban being a significant first step towards disrupting this horrific activity, it has not stopped British horses from entering the horse smuggling trade.  

There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, the legislation is only effective if the enforcement agencies have the powers and resource to implement the ban. And although secondary legislation to enforce the ban was introduced last year, this focused primarily on livestock – not horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids – and is underpinned by a requirement for every livestock movement to be documented. Which brings me onto my second point – horses are not traceable, despite being one of the most frequently moved animals. This makes it extremely challenging for enforcement agencies as they do not have the horse movement data needed to identify patterns and target illegal transports, while not unnecessarily holding up compliant movements – which also has welfare risks to the horses being transported.  

Thirdly, the trade is hugely complex as not every horse smuggled abroad is going directly to slaughter, so the ban will not apply to them. Some may be used as cover for other activities and moved from dealer to dealer in poor welfare conditions, while others are given new identities and sold on for a purpose they are not fit for, perhaps due to injury or age. Finally, as I’ve already mentioned, horses are frequently moved across borders, particularly into the European Union, and British laws cannot protect them there.  

This does not take away from how important the ban is, it demonstrates the UK Government’s commitment to ending live exports for slaughter and fattening and allows us to push for the laws, powers and resources needed to implement and enforce it. 

How does our charity gather evidence to show that horse smuggling continues to happen and how smugglers evade these laws?  

We pride ourselves on being an evidence-based organisation and have researchers that are gathering information on this trade to uncover the various loopholes illegal traders are exploiting that allow them to continue to move horses in poor welfare conditions to uncertain fates.  

We collect this information via different channels: our investigation into the Dover 26 and Trafficked 20 groups of horses that were stopped at Dover port, information received from our welfare line and Field Officers, reports from members of the public through our Tell Us form, Freedom of Information requests to government bodies and enforcement agencies, monitoring of publicly available online activity and observations at British and European ports and markets. As part of this, we also work alongside enforcement agencies at British ports which enables us to speak with horse transporters, gathering their views and an understanding of the scale of horse movements and the levels of compliance with current legislation.  

Our researchers then prioritise and analyse this information, finding links and patterns that will help us to demystify this trade and ensure that unscrupulous traders are held to account. While we gather information on all aspects of the trade, given its scale and complexity we cannot look at everything in detail at once – as much as we would like to.  

We are initially focusing our efforts on movements through, to or from the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands and/or France. Although any intelligence that could help with enforcement is passed through to the relevant agencies for them to act on. Our understanding of the trade has been hugely helped by our findings from the two cases of smuggled horses that we have taken into our care – the Dover 26 and the Trafficked 20. They have given us a good insight into how Great Britain is used as a landbridge for movements from or via Ireland to the rest of the EU – allowing smugglers to avoid robust checks, evade taxes and pay less for documentation due to these movements being classed as intra EU movements.    

The evidence our researchers have gathered and analysed is fundamental to understanding what will disrupt – and ultimately stop – this trade. While we are still working to understand this cruel activity, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we’ll need to strengthen or introduce multiple laws in the UK and the European Union to ensure vulnerable horses are truly protected from horse smuggling. 

What is World Horse Welfare doing to stop the horse smuggling trade? 

We are campaigning and influencing changes to laws to better protect horses.

In the UK and EU, we are engaging with decision makers like MPs and MEPs to raise awareness of horse smuggling, and the threat it poses to the health and welfare of our equine population.  

We recently hosted a drop-in event in the UK Parliament on horse smuggling, asking MPs to come and meet us and find out what they can do. It was great to see over thirty MPs, or their staff, engage on this issue and some very constructive conversations were held on the need for digitised equine ID and greater traceability and well as equine-specific legislation to enforce the ban specifically for horses. We will continue to build on the success of this parliamentary event, with parliamentary questions tabled in the UK Parliament on horse smuggling and follow-up meetings with engaged MPs. In the EU, we are asking citizens to sign our petition, and we have been raising awareness about horse smuggling among MEPs and member states and seeking a better regulation on the transport of horses that improves standards, is more enforceable and is enforced. 

We have also taken the evidence we currently have and developed a policy position, with clear recommendations. Behind the scenes, our Public Affairs team has been responding to relevant UK and EU consultations, sometimes working in conjunction with industry and other equine welfare organisations. Working collaboratively where possible, gives us a more powerful voice and we are very fortunate that the equine sector works so well together. It is fantastic that the UK Government also recognises the importance of collaborative working, and we were part of the co-design group that developed recommendations on secondary legislation for the enforcement of the ban on live exports to slaughter specifically for equines, which has gone to the Defra Minister for animal welfare to consider. We now need the Minister to act on these recommendations and put forward legislation to give enforcement agencies the powers needed to implement the ban effectively – something which is currently missing.   

It’s important to remember that not everyone involved in this trade is a criminal. For example, there are those who sell their horse to someone on the promise that they will find them a loving new home, yet the horse ends up with a trader who is involved with horse smuggling. Alongside our campaigning work, we are also identifying what advice is most helpful to horse owners to ensure they do not unintentionally get conned by those involved with the horse smuggling trade.  

How can people become involved with our #StopHorseSmuggling campaign? 

There are a number of ways that people can become involved with our campaign.  

Firstly, we are only able to gather the much-needed evidence, identify the solutions and campaign for change that will truly make a difference to the equines caught up in horse smuggling, due to the kind donations of our supporters. So, a huge thank you to everyone who has donated to us, fundraised for us or left a legacy in their Will. Every penny will make a difference to the vulnerable horses we help either directly or indirectly through our work.   

There are other ways you can take action too and become part of the movement to stop horse smuggling. To shed light on this murky trade we need information, and members of the public can play a key role in this. If you see or hear anything that you think could be related to horse smuggling, such as groups of horses that keep changing on a regular basis or reports that a trader is buying horses to sell to slaughter abroad then please let us know via our Tell Us form. If there is an immediate risk to a horse’s welfare, then please report it directly to us via our website. 

You can also join our amazing campaigners. Many of the MPs we met at our recent UK parliamentary event said they only attended because one of their constituents asked them to meet with us. Every email or signature counts, and we can only achieve the legislative change needed to stop horses being cruelly treated at the hands of horse smugglers with the support of our campaigners.  

Keep a look out in our email newsletter and on our social media channels for upcoming campaigns in the UK. If you live in the EU and haven’t already signed it, then please sign our petition calling on European decision makers to prioritise horse welfare, including the introduction of a digitised equine ID system and improving welfare during transport for all horses. 

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As a charity we are dedicated to putting a stop to horse smuggling for good and we can only do that with your help, for which we are so very grateful. Through research, advocacy, and public engagement, we are working to ensure that every horse is given the protection they deserve and no more end up being transported to an unknown fate.