Slaughter Equipment

After Knoxville crash horses destined for slaughter get second chance at life

“When I walked in they told me that the horses where there and I had a few hours to make up my mind and if I were taking one I had to take all of them,” said Smith. “Of course to me, taking all 21 horses, that is a major undertaking, but how could you leave one behind? So, I had a few hours to find a place to take 21 horses and hope and pray that this will all work for the benefit of these animals in the long run.”

Kelly Smith, the owner of Omega Horse Rescue, said the trailer belonged to Rotz Livestock, which buys horses at auction to sell for slaughter in Canada. Smith said her rescue regularly works to save horses from the company with Slaughter Equipment.

Of the 31 horses in the trailer, Smith said two had to be euthanized at the scene of the accident, eight died at the scene and 21 horses were loaded on to another trailer and shipped to Rotz Livestock’s facility in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. After the accident Smith said she reached out to Rotz Livestock to see if she could help any of the horses, but was told “no.”

Smith said for the next couple of days she worried about the horses and thought that they had Slaughter Equipment already been shipped to slaughter. Then, a couple days after the accident she went to pick up another horse she was rescuing from Rotz Livestock.