Korean Air and All Nippon Airways (ANA) have facilitated the air transport of live horses from Canada to slaughter in Japan. Through cargo operations associated with these airlines, heavy draft horses are shipped on long flights to Japan before being fattened and killed for meat.

We are calling on both airlines to end their role in this trade — and until they do, we are calling for a boycott of Korean Air and All Nippon Airways – both airlines offer passenger flights originating in Canada and the USA.

If you are ready to speak up, the easy-to-send email tools below allow you to contact their leadership directly and make your position clear.

If you’re new to this issue and would like more background first, keep reading — the full explanation follows.

If you’d like to understand exactly why this boycott matters — and what these flights involve — we’ve laid it out clearly below.

Most Canadians do not realize that horses are not only slaughtered within Canada — they are also exported live by air for slaughter overseas. Japan is the primary destination.

The horses shipped from Canada for slaughter are heavy, muscular draft horses — including Belgians, Percherons, and draft crosses — bred for showing, driving competitions, farm and carriage work, and sale into Amish and Mennonite communities as working horses.

For years, the public was told these horses were purpose-bred for meat. But in an interview with the publication, ‘Ontario Farmer’, Kevin Wilson — widely described as the largest facilitator of these exports — referred to many of them as “surplus” horses.

That word ‘surplus’ matters.

Because horses not originally raised within a meat production system are not managed under strict food-animal drug protocols. They are treated as horses — with wormers, anti-inflammatories, and phenylbutazone (“bute”), medications clearly labeled as not permitted for animals entering the human food chain.

When those same horses are later deemed “surplus” and redirected into the export pipeline, they carry treatment histories that were never intended for meat production.

The way these horses are shipped bears no resemblance to the care given to race or sport horse traveling within Canada or internationally for competition or sale.

Performance horses travel in individual metal air stalls, fitted with protective gear, accompanied by dedicated grooms, monitored throughout the journey, and provided regular food and water.

Draft horses bound for slaughter are loaded three or four at a time into wooden crates and transported as cargo.

From the time they leave the feedlot for the airport, through loading, flight, unloading, and transfer after landing in Japan, they are not provided food or water.

Canadian regulations permit horses to be transported for up to 28 hours without feed, water, or rest — and flight schedules and delays can push transport times to, and many times beyond, that limit.

This is not what humane transport looks like.

Two of the airlines that have facilitated these shipments are Korean Air and All Nippon Airways (ANA).

These are not obscure freight operators. They are major international passenger airlines with recognizable brands and loyal customers.

All Nippon Airways operates direct passenger flights from Vancouver to Tokyo and serves major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Houston, and New York.

Korean Air operates passenger routes from Vancouver and Toronto to Seoul and flies extensively from U.S. hubs such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, and Honolulu.

These are airlines families use for vacations, business trips, and visits with loved ones.

Most passengers have no idea that the same corporate entities have facilitated the transport of live horses from Canada to slaughter in Japan.

But once we know, we have a choice.

Airlines respond to revenue and reputation. When customers speak clearly — and when enough customers choose differently — companies listen.

We are calling on Korean Air and All Nippon Airways to end their role in transporting horses from Canada to slaughter. Until that happens, we are asking travelers to book with other airlines and to make it known why.

If you are planning travel to Asia, choose an airline that does not participate in this trade.

If you care about animal welfare, share this information and start the conversation.

If you want policy to change, lend your voice to the growing call for transparency and humane reform.

Ending live horse exports from Canada will require public pressure, political will, and corporate accountability.

That pressure begins with informed consumers.

And it grows when people decide that convenience will no longer outweigh conscience.

P.S. If you believe this work matters, please consider supporting it.  We are a volunteer-run organization — no salaries, no paid executives — and every dollar goes directly toward public education, outreach, research, and policy advocacy aimed at ending slaughter of horses within Canada and live horse exports from Canada for slaughter.

Your support helps keep this issue in front of decision-makers and moves us closer to real reform.

Every year thousands of horses are routinely slaughtered in Canada, for human consumption, but you can help us ban horse slaughter in Canada and beyond.

Some of the meat is consumed in Canada, and much of it is shipped to the European Union, and other markets, including Japan.

This barbaric practice is currently not legal in the United States, so horses from the United States are shipped to Canada, and to Mexico, to be slaughtered.

In addition Canada allows for the transportation of live horses to Japan to be slaughtered for human consumption, and unfortunately the transportation of horses destined for slaughter within Canada, and by air to Japan for slaughter, is far from humane.

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We are 100% volunteer & crowdfunded.

0% goes towards salaries. Yes, ZERO.