Viva! 8 York Court Wilder Street Bristol BS2 8QH Tel: 0117 944 1000 Fax: 0117 924 4646 email: media@viva.org.uk web: www.viva.org.uk > Photo Gallery > Video > Viva! Reports > Leaflets > Campaigns Section
	24 October 2001 Wendy Turner and Cedric Say ‘No’ to Horse Meat Pet Rescue presenter Wendy Turner, along with Cedric the horse, will call for an end to the live export of horses for meat at 11.00 am on Wednesday, October 24 at The Kensington Stables, 11 Elvaston Mews, London SW7 5HY. Wendy and Cedric will be available for interview and will have available shocking video footage and still pictures of Poland’s horse meat trade with Europe. Wendy will be asking for British people to support animal group Viva!’s campaign to end this barbaric trade. Called Journey to Death, the video shows horses collapsed through dehydration and exhaustion, severely injured horses being trampled by their companions in overcrowded lorries, dead horses and donkeys being dragged from trucks and traumatised animals almost incapable of walking. Viva! is calling for an end to the trade in live horses from Poland to France, Belgium and Italy, which breaks both Polish and EU animal welfare regulations. Its 50-page report reveals that nearly 100,000 horses, ponies, donkeys and foals a year are subjected to horrendous journeys as long as 2,500 kilometres - often without food, water or rest. Seventy per cent of journeys result in fatalities. The majority are sent to Italy where survivors are dragged from the trucks and brutally slaughtered on arrival. "The suffering the horses endure is indescribable," says Kat Macmillan, Viva! campaigner and horse expert. "Both Polish and EU laws could be used to stop this trade dead in its tracks. The whole business operates illegally, without permits and with no veterinary control. Yet again it shows that where animals are concerned, rules and regulations mean absolutely nothing, particularly when profits are involved. Governments callously ignore the horse meat trade so we are looking to the British people to help us bring an end to this cruelty." Viva! has established a permanent office in Warsaw where it will be organising a mass consumer campaign against horse exports to cut off the trade at its source. It already has enormous support from Polish celebrities, much of the media and the Polish people, who respect horses deeply, do not eat horse meat and are keen to see a ban on live exports. Not being a wealthy country, British support will be vital in providing the resources to orchestrate this nationwide campaign in an act of solidarity. Many British celebrities have also pledged their support, including Sir Paul McCartney and his daughter Mary, Joanna Lumley, Twiggy, Wendy’s sister Anthea Turner and Jerome Flynn, who says: "Horses are extremely sensitive animals and the suffering they endure on these journeys is unimaginable. I urge everyone to support Viva!’s campaign to end this misery - now!" For copies of Journey to Death video, still pictures or Viva!’s 50-page report, contact Kat Macmillan or Tony Wardle on 0117 944 1000.