‘It is so brutal’: New bill targets thriving illegal horse meat market

By Rachael Perry

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    PALM BEACH COUNTY, Florida (WPBF) — New legislation could be one step closer to putting an end to the horse meat industry.

The Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act was introduced by Florida Congressman Vern Buchanan and Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.

The legislation aims to permanently ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

The bill would also prohibit the export of live horses to Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses to be sold overseas.

WPBF 25 News has covered several stories over the years involving stolen horses and illegal slaughterhouses in South Florida. In 2023, two horses were stolen in Palm Beach Gardens before being found slaughtered in Miami.

The following year, three horses were reported stolen from properties in Okeechobee County and St. Lucie County.

WPBF Reporter Rachael Perry sat down with two animal activists to better understand the horse meat industry.

Animal Recovery Mission (ARM)

Richard Couto, the founder of Animal Recovery Mission, said despite strict state laws, the horse meat industry continues to thrive in South Florida.

“Palm Beach, Miami, Broward County is a very, very high market for horse meat,” Couto said. “People are eating it for medical purposes, right? They think that it has a magical cure-all, which it certainly does not. But people are that desperate to get their hands on the meat in South Florida in particular and beyond throughout the state.”

Couto said ARM has uncovered more than 200 illegal slaughterhouses in Florida alone.

“We’re guesstimating 30,000 horses in our state boundaries are being killed for the illegal meat trade per year,” he said.

Florida law states, “Any person who willfully and unlawfully, by any means whatsoever, kills, maims, mutilates, or causes great bodily harm or permanent breeding disability to any animal of the genus Equus (horse) or any animal of any registered breed or recognized registered hybrid of the genus Bos (cattle) commits a felony of the second degree.”

The penalties for violating that law include a $3,500 fine and a minimum of one year behind bars.

However, the law does not cover the transport of horses overseas.

“This new SAFE Act would protect Florida horses from crossing borders into other countries. So that would have a double effect of protection for our equines in the state of Florida if the bans are utilized,” Couto said.

He said tens of thousands of horses are being taken from the United States to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada each year.

“It’s not the slaughter part that is where the true brutality is seen on these horses, it’s the transports. It’s these horses sitting on transports with no food, no water, crammed; many of them are sick for days and days, and they’re dying on these transports before they even get to the slaughterhouse. That’s where the brutality hits the animals and that’s why the SAFE Act is so important,” Couto told WPBF 25 News.

ARM has gone undercover in several states and overseas to expose the illegal horsemeat market and how the industry operates.

“The way these horses are being killed is the real problem. They are being butchered alive. They’re being sectioned and skinned alive. It is so brutal how these horses are being killed,” he said.

As for why the market exists, Couto said it’s largely due to the profit that can be made and how some cultures, like the Cuban culture, view the meat.

“They’re consuming it for medical purposes, thinking it cures side effects and chemotherapy, that it cures AIDS and blood disorders. Males are eating it thinking that it helps the libido, like it’s stronger than Viagra. None of the above is true,” Couto said.

With it being so sought after, he said people selling it can make anywhere between $7 to $40 a pound on roughly 600 pounds of meat from a single horse.

“The profit margins, the return on investments are huge for these people, and that’s why they’ll go to the lengths of breaking into someone’s barn in the middle of the night and harvesting the meat from someone’s pet horse because of the value of the meat,” Couto said.

With so many horses being killed for their meat, Perry asked Couto where the slaughterhouses are hiding or if they exist in plain sight.

“Many of them are in plain sight, and many of them are actually posting ads in Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for their meat,” he said.

However, he explained that others are deep underground and extremely hard to detect. Couto said while ARM has been successful in shutting down several of those illegal slaughterhouses, they need the help of all local and state agencies to continue their work.

“It’s still a 50-50 shot when the animal recovery mission brings a case to a sheriff’s office if it’s going to be taken or not,” he said. They need to start treating this much more seriously right here in the state of Florida. 30,000 is a huge, huge number.”

When it comes to the SAFE Act and the impact it could have on South Florida, Couto said he’s hopeful the regulations on transporting horses across U.S. borders will make a large difference.

“This is going to be more of a regulatory issue looked at through the animal transport companies, the auction houses, and our border patrol, ensuring that tractor trailers now are not crossing into Canada and Mexico,” he said.

Saying that alone could curb the majority of the issue.

“Because right now you have double-deckers that are crossing into Canada and Mexico from the U.S. on a daily basis and being documented by border patrol. Once those borders close for U.S. horses, it’ll solve the problem,” he said.

A list of resources and examples of the work ARM is doing can be found on the Animal Recovery Mission website.

Stolen Horse International

Debi Metcalfe, founder of Stolen Horse International, shared concerns similar to those of Coudo.

“I’ve been doing this since 1987, 27 years, going on 28 years, and horse slaughter has been an issue ever since,” Metcalfe said.

She said horse slaughter was even more prevalent in the United States before the last USDA-regulated horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. were shut down in 2007.

“It was in the United States first, and then it was discontinued, and then it went across the border. So I can’t tell that it’s ever, ever slowed down,” Metcalfe said.

Metcalfe founded Stolen Horse International after her own horse was stolen. Thankfully her horse was eventually recovered and unharmed. However, she remembers thinking the worst at the time.

“When your horse is taken, and you start thinking about all the horrible things your horse is going through. I mean it’s been 27 years, and I still can’t talk about it on a personal level, what it did to me and my husband, thinking that our horse, Idaho, had gone through these things. Luckily, she didn’t,” Metcalfe said.

Ever since, she’s worked to help reunite owners with their missing horses. While she always hopes for the best, she’s seen the other side as well.

Metcalfe recalled the time a woman from South Florida reached out about her horse being stolen around the holidays.

“I told her to check the neighboring fields, and I remember this so well because I was shopping, Christmas shopping, and I came out of a store and called her to check on her to see if she had done that, and while I was on the phone, she found the horse in a neighboring field. The scream I heard was beyond gut-wrenching. I’ll never forget that,” she said.

While she personally feels the SAFE Act is a step in the right direction, Metcalfe said there needs to be more education on the topic.

“This is a brutal crime, but it gets overlooked most of the time, I think, because ‘it’s just a horse,’ but it’s not just a horse to me. It’s not just a horse to the victims. And it’s not just a horse to millions of horse owners,” she told WPBF.

She said oftentimes, when a horse is stolen and they suspect it may have been slaughtered, the owner never gets a firm answer.

“You really don’t know anything until you get the final clue, and that leaves a lot of victims out there never being able to give up on the loss because they don’t get the completion of the case,” she said. “You’ll look forever for that horse if you haven’t got that closure.”

Metcalfe said while she feels the SAFE Act will do a lot of good, she’s heard from others who disagree with it.

“On the flip side, I hear people go, ‘OK, we keep all these horses here. What are they going to suffer now? We already have a problem with not being able to take care of horses and abuse, and the horses starved. If these horses are not crossing the border and cutting down the numbers, who takes care of these cases?'” she said.

However, on a personal level, Metcalfe feels the only humane way to end a horse’s suffering is through euthanasia.

For people wanting to contribute to getting the SAFE Act passed, Metcalfe said to use your voice and help make a difference.

“Nobody wants animals abused, and without this act, that’s exactly what’s going to happen and continue to happen. So even if you don’t have a horse, you’ve got eyes, you’ve got fingers on a keyboard, you can help. You can help with donations, you can help with your actions, spreading the word, all you have to do is just love an animal. That’s all you need, really,” she told WPBF.

Resources for horse owners and different methods to keep their animals safe can be found on Stolen Horse International’s website.

Lawmakers hope to include the SAFE Act as part of the 2025 Farm Bill when it is considered by Congress later this year.

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