Legislation that seeks to ban the export of horses for slaughter to Japan is stalled in the Senate and may fail to pass before the session ends.
Two Manitoba senators are sparring over the issue, one a former broadcaster who proposed the ban, the other opposed to the legislation.
Senator Charles Adler said the horses are being abused.
"Once the doors are closed in Canada and the plane is in the air, Canada, the department that is responsible has absolutely no way of knowing what happens to those horses," Adler said. "There is a high probability these horses will suffer or sustain an injury during this process or worse."
Conservative Senator Don Plett invited Adler to go with him to the airport to see how the horses are handled.
"You insinuated, Senator Adler, that these horses are suffering on the tarmac. They are being cruelly put into crates where they cannot turn around, where they cannot lay down, which isn't true," Plett said. Adler declined.
Animal Justice, an animal rights organization released documents from the Japanese government showing at least one horse died after suffering injuries during a June flight to Japan. Several others collapsed en route.
In September, the advocacy group provided documents revealing at least 21 horses died during or in the days after being flown from Canada to Japan between May 2023 and June 2024.
But the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said In February that it knows of only five horse deaths related to air shipments since 2013.
The CFIA told CBC News it has reviewed the documents provided by Animal Justice and, as a result, now requires exporters and air carriers to document the start and end times of each stage of shipment from Canada, as well as the total transport time.
It has received a contingency plan from the air carrier that includes measures to mitigate animal suffering in case of delays.
The CFIA said it found only one death and eight serious injuries that occurred in flight or were observed upon arrival between June 2023 and June 2024. The additional cases happened after the horses were in Japanese quarantine.
Canada can't compel Japan to report any incidents after the horses are off-loaded from the cargo planes so the CFIA said that won't be included in its reporting. As of September, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) is providing Canada with that information.
Canada can't compel Japan to report any incidents after the horses are off-loaded from the cargo planes so the CFIA said that won't be included in its reporting. As of September, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) is providing Canada with that information.
