Horses injured in Tennessee trailer crash rejected at Mexican slaughterhouse

The story of the horses who were injured in a trailer crash in Tennessee this past January went viral, and so later did the stories of where the horses ended up. Three were euthanized due to the injuries they sustained. The remaining horses were later reloaded and continued on their journey to Texas.

We did our best to track them, hoping to intervene on their behalf. It was not to be. The driver must have traveled through the night, without stopping, to reach the horses’ grisly and final destination. Our investigator told us there was only one conclusion to reach. The decision made to take the remaining horses directly to a Mexican slaughterhouse bypassing the feedlot. Based on what he saw and heard, it was his opinion that it was handled in such a way to avoid any further adverse publicity and the horses’ rescue.

About the same time, different accounts began popping up on Facebook of what happened to at least some of these horses, saying they were in various states across the country. Since our investigator was going on hearsay, and not able to document that the horses were slaughtered in Mexico at that time, we were unable to contradict these false reports.

NBC station WSMV, Channel 4 Nashville, who followed this story from the start reports:

New documents uncovered by the Channel 4 I-Team indicate that in January, several horses from Three Angels Farm in Lebanon were so badly injured that they were not allowed to enter Mexico, where they were expected to be sold to a meat-packing company.

Mexican documents show that four injured horses from Three Angels Farm were rejected by Mexican veterinarians at the border, just two days after a Three Angels Farm trailer wrecked on the interstate in Tennessee.

The records show that three horses that arrived on Jan. 18 had injuries to their legs and a fourth had an eye injury. It’s not clear where the horses went after they were refused entrance into Mexico.

The night of the wreck, reporters were told that three horses had to be euthanized and one had a slight injury. The owner of Three Angels Farm, Dorian Ayache, told reporters that the surviving horses were headed to a farm in Oklahoma after the accident.

However, documents on file in Mexico show 34 horses were sold in Mexico to Inter Meats, an exporter that frequently ships horse meat to Belgium. According to an invoice, Ayache sold the horses for 37 cents a pound, for a total of $11,100.

Ayache declined to talk to Channel 4 about the shipment.

From what we understand, horses rejected for slaughter at the Mexican border are simply abandoned. So the horses who endured this horrific crash, then made a painful journey with no food or water to Mexico, have mostly likely died of starvation and dehydradation by now.

For anyone who thinks that their country can slaughter horses better, that it is more humane in some countries than others, wake up to the facts.

This story began with a killer buyer in the U.S. and ended in Mexico. It would have been no better if these tragic horses had been driven across the country and butchered on U.S. soil. What happened in this heartbreaking story is an example of what horse slaughter is all about, and can take place anywhere.

We are grateful to Fugly Horse of the Day who updated us on this story. They have a great analysis of these events, and we recommend you read it. It is entitled fittingly “Lucifer was an angel“.