Brena Kramer lives in a remote area in Zephyrhills, Florida. She believes she was targeted by horse thieves because there are so few people around her.

Kramer never saw the thieves she says entered her property in January, but the evidence remained – cuts near their eyes and rope burns near their mouths. One horse had a rope still tied around its neck.

Many of us might think: Why? Who steals a horse just to harm it?

A recent spate of crimes tell the tale – 3 horses in 3 counties over the course of 3 weeks, all seemingly slaughtered for their meat.

“It is common down south, it’s something most horse owners know about, especially in Florida,” Kramer said. “They will bleed them out and start butchering while the horse is bleeding.”

While it may be stunning to those not in the know, horses are sometimes illegally slaughtered so their meat can be sold on international markets – most commonly to Canada and Mexico. In some countries, horses are raised as meat, but not in the U.S.

Some of this – along with the U.S.’s own complicated history with horse meat consumption – came to light for the rest of us when The Atlantic published a story on it in 2017. It coincided with Donald Trump’s proposing to lift the country’s restrictions on the sale of American mustangs to horse meat dealers abroad.

Slaughtering horses for meat is not technically illegal in the U.S., rather we’ve ended FDA inspections for their meat (making it illegal would entail going up against very powerful lobbyists for industry titans). Without inspections, the meat can’t be sold on the market, so the industry shut down as a result. But like all other forsaken industries, there is still a small subset of dealers who operate in the shadows.

Most of us don’t need to be convinced not to eat horse meat, but the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals explained why it’s downright dangerous:

“(Horses) are routinely administered numerous drugs, including phenylbutazone (bute, aka horse aspirin),” the SPCA said. “The claim that the levels are too low to be dangerous have no basis in fact. Furthermore, bute is a known carcinogen with serious, long-term health effects. These drugs are so toxic to humans that the FDA bans their use for food animals.”

Of course, that didn’t stop the alleged horse thieves on Kramer’s property.

She’s pretty sure she knows what did stop them though – her two Rottweilers that patrol the property. Kramer believes they bit the intruders and scared them away.

In fact, her 3-year-old pup, named Dallas, had puncture wounds on his head as if he had been injured in a struggle.

Kramer knows it’s necessary to remain vigilant against horse thieves, who can make quite a bit of money this way.

“This is more of a black market thing. It depends on where you go and who you know as to how much it sells for per pound,” she told the local news matter-of-factly.

While she’s dealing with injured animals, she’s also very thankful to her two big Rottweilers for doing what they’re trained to do – confront intruders. She credits them with saving her horses.

Meanwhile, the SPCA has also noted that there are no humane ways in place in the U.S. to slaughter horses. The stun guns sometimes used before cows and pigs are slaughtered are not designed to be used on horses and are often ineffective.

Be sure to scroll down below for an interview with Kramer.

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Source: Fox 13 News, Click Orlando, The Atlantic