Proposed law banning equine slaughter

The legislative proposal put forward by Paola Frassinetti, vice president of the Italian government's Culture Committee in November 2009, is meeting with mixed results. The aim is to transfer horses, and equines in general, from the category of "productive livestock" to that of "domestic animals", such as cats and dogs, as stated by the State Secretary for Health with responsibility for animal welfare, Francesca Martini. Unfortunately, "the groundwork is not yet complete, so we need to start with the basics", according to Martini. The main obstacles seem to be of an economic nature, closely followed by cultural issues. The Minister for Agriculture, Luca Zaia, has also come out in favour of this proposal and above all is against equine slaughter which "would be banned".

The consumption of horse and donkey meat is concentrated in a few areas: Puglia consumes 32% of the national total, Lombardy 14.3%, Piedmont 10.8%, Emilia Romagna 9.2%, Veneto 7.6% and Lazio 5.5%; this consumption is decreasing (the average per capita is almost 1 kg), the sign of a cultural evolution which is probably connected with an increasingly broad identification of the horse as a "companion" animal.

We must also not forget that the consumption of horse and donkey meat is a typically Italian phenomenon, as it is rarely eaten in the rest of Europe, and usually goes hand in hand with local traditions.

Police checks constantly reveal the suffering and cruelty involved in the transport of live horses destined for slaughter. Community legislation (1/2005) stipulates that equines should travel in single stalls and have the opportunity to rest, as well as sufficient food and water. This is regularly ignored, particularly when the animals are coming from Eastern Europe. This year, the EU will propose new, stricter legislation for reducing the journey times and load density of live animals destined for slaughter. The current hope is that these journeys of suffering will soon cease, at least in Italy.