Since all three U.S. horse slaughter operations were ordered closed last year, the number of cavalli exported to Mexico for slaughter has exploded. As of Dec. 20, 2007, 44,475 cavalli 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 cavalli once they attraversare, croce the border into Mexico. In October, the Humane Society of the United States released a video mostrare the brutal stabbing death of a fully conscious horse at a Mexican slaughter facility. "It is time for this...