Animals' Angels uncovered grave issues within the USDA Market News Service showing there is absolutely no transparency regarding their protocols for determining the slaughter horse export figures on their weekly Market Reports. The USDA's inability or unwillingness to release copies of documents, along with the reporting agencies' admitted irregular record-keeping (counting donkeys and mules as horses), makes the accuracy of the export numbers completely suspect. It's important for both the general public and those in the animal advocacy world to realize that with no verifiable protocols in place, and no internal records kept, there is no way to confirm that the information provided by the USDA Market News Service every week is accurate.

For more details, please read our full report here. 

An undercover investigation carried out by Animals' Angels and their Swiss partner Tierschutzbund Zuerich found yet another way that horses are being exploited purely for profit.  Shocking evidence has been uncovered that proves the existence of "blood farms" in the U.S. as well as in countries like Argentina and Uruguay. We were glad to be able to raise awareness to these "invisible horses" who are exploited and abused simply to increase the production of another slaughter-bound animal. With no oversight and no enforcement, even in the U.S. where one would expect regulations, these animals are at the mercy of the profit-oriented companies behind these "blood farms."

Read the disturbing details here.

New Holland Sales Barn was convicted of animal cruelty for an incident of horrific neglect. The case hinged on an investigation conducted by Animals' Angels that included footage clearly showing a sheep with strong signs of hypothermia, flat on its side and barely alive, along with a goat that had something terribly wrong with its legs and was unable to get up. Both were thrown away like trash and left to die on a "dead pile," in the middle of other, already dead, animals. 

An investigation of the horse slaughter industry in Uruguay and Argentina found similar conditions as those seen in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.  As can be expected, slaughter horses in Uruguay and Argentina are not treated humanely, either during transport nor at the slaughter plant. 

We have learned from these investigations that regardless of location, regulations or enforcement, horse slaughter is much the same everywhere. It is a predatory, cruel, and profit-driven industry that needs to be stopped.

Read the detailed reports here and here.

Animals' Angels continues the fight for dairy cows. While we have not been able to make all of our investigations public just yet, we continued our dairy cow initiatives from 2014 to garner justice for these poor creatures.

Our in-depth investigations uncovering appalling abuse at the Escalon Livestock Auction in California have, unfortunately, shown quite clearly that law enforcement is unwilling to pursue charges even when the documented cruelty and abuse is overwhelming. However, our undercover team has worked hard to obtain new evidence and will continue to apply pressure  until justice is served. Please stay tuned as we will be releasing another report on Escalon shortly.

Read about Escalon here.

  

As promised in 2014, we have been hard at work tracking and investigating puppy mills. Our investigators have been in the field in Missouri, a state known to have a great number of "problem" mills with substandard conditions. Unfortunately we cannot make these investigations public as of yet because they are still ongoing. Oftentimes these investigations can take some time and we definitely don't want to jeopardize any charges we might be able to secure against the perpetrators. 

Our footage was featured in three superb anti-horse slaughter documentaries: Kill Pen, Saving America's Horses, and Their Last Ride. Over the past year, each of these films was highlighted at numerous festivals, including the well-attended Equus Film Festival in New York.

Our footage and research was also used in a three-part documentary series by Alex Brown entitled Horses: Sports, Culture, and Slaughter.

Our founder and President, Sonja Meadows, was invited to be a panelist for the Horse Defenders Panel at the 2015 Equus Film Festival. This interactive panel gave us the opportunity to discuss our horse slaughter investigations in front of an interested and packed audience. It's imperative to reach out to new audiences and seasoned advocates alike in every possible venue.

We hope this article will be successful in raising much needed awareness amongst the Thoroughbred community as to the fate that awaits any horse sent to auction.

You can read the article here.