Bo Derek fights slaughter of horses in Canada

Over the past few days, major newspapers have spotlighted the consequences of the end of horse slaughter for meat in the United States. At The Rural Blog, we've dubbed it the horse crisis, and now the animal-welfare side of the argument is getting a celebrity spokeswoman in actress Bo Derek. The star of the movie "10" has helped launch a campaign against horse slaughter in Canada, reports Agence France-Presse. (France is a leading consumer of horsemeat from North America.)

"Derek, who has been active in the U.S. campaign against horsemeat for six years, warned that the lack of US legislation against shipping horses for meat could lead to the slaughter of 100,000 the animals in Canada this year," AFP reports. (AFP photo)

Derek, who owns five horses, announced the campaign by the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition at a lunch in Vancouver. "It's very brutal," she said. "We've been breeding our livestock to be docile and manageable, and it's quite the opposite with horses. They're meant to be fast, and beautiful. They're simply not set up for the process of slaughter." (Read more)