Since all three U.S. horse slaughter operations were ordered closed last year, the number of ngựa exported to Mexico for slaughter has exploded. As of Dec. 20, 2007, 44,475 ngựa had been shipped to Mexico for processing for human consumption compared with 10,783 shipped at the same time in 2006—a 312 percent increase.

Especially troubling is the treatment of the ngựa once they vượt qua, cross the border into Mexico. In October, the Humane Society of the United States released a video hiển thị the brutal stabbing death of a fully conscious horse at a Mexican slaughter facility. "It is time for this...