Agriculture Canada reports  that over 3.5 million animals arrive dead or dying at federally inspected slaughterhouses each year. These animals are known as downers. This number becomes dramatically larger when the animals that are transported to provincially inspected slaughterhouses are factored in.

Farmed animals in Canada face routine abuses and traumas during transport such as beatings and electric shocks, denial of food and water, extreme temperatures, journeys up to 72 hours, overcrowding, and fatigue. Animals that collapse during transport as a result are dragged off the truck with electric winches and chains.

Despite the prevalence of abuse, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (a department of Agriculture Canada that oversees animal transport) convicts and fines a mere 6 truckers each year for violating the law. Given the more than 500,000 truckloads of animals on the road in any given year en route to slaughter, these convictions are an empty gesture at best.

The Canadian government has turned a blind eye to the suffering of hundreds of millions of animals, while the meat, dairy and egg industries profit from their pain.

Please take a moment to learn more about animal transport and what you can do to help millions of abused animals by reading some of our fact sheets.