For many of us, horses are associated with happy memories -- maybe your first pony ride at a birthday party when you were young, or horseback riding lessons at the local stable, or seeing fields speckled with grazing horses on a family roadtrip.
But unfortunately for the horses of Italy, another more bleak association exists --
horses as food.That's right. In the year 2026,
horses are still slaughtered for human consumption across Italy, despite 83% of the country's population reporting that they do not eat horse meat.Luckily,
there is a bill that would end all of this. If passed, it would reclassify horses from livestock to pets, and thus make it illegal to kill these precious animals.
Sign the petition and tell the Italian government to listen to the people and ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption!There is absolutely no reason for horses, along with donkeys and mules, to still be killed for their meat. These are animals that have domesticated for centuries to serve as humans' companions and workmates.
They are highly social, incredibly intelligent, and have deeply complex emotions.Studies even show that horses recognize humans important to them based on a person's face and voice.
As the author of the bill, Michela Vittoria Brambilla, puts it:
"friends are not to be eaten."While horse meat has historically been seen as a traditional food in Italy, the fact that 83% of Italians do not eat it should tell us everything we need to know -- some traditions should be retired in the name of a better, more compassionate future.
While
the bill is overwhelmingly supported across Italy's political parties, there is still some opposition from the far-right, who want to keep Italy stuck in the past -- killing horses for consumption with no regard for the cultural shift towards empathy. That's why we must make our voices heard and support the people of Italy in protecting their nation's horses!
Sign the petition and tell Italy's parliament that it is time to protect horses! Pass this bill!