Time Line

1927 – Ada Cole founds the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) after seeing many work-worn horses awaiting slaughter on the docks in Antwerp.

 

1937 – The Exportation of Horses Act is introduced to protect the welfare of horses destined for the slaughterhouses of Europe. This introduces the concept of ‘Minimum Values’, which effectively stops the export of live horses for slaughter from Great Britain.

 

1949 – Our first horse rehabilitation centre opens in Britain.

 

1985 – Our first international training course takes place, in Morocco.

 

1994 – Proposals are made to the European Commission to improve the current Transportation Directive (91/628/EEC). World Horse Welfare (then ILPH) makes recommendations. To demonstrate public feeling, we hand a petition containing 3,286,645 signatures to the European Parliament.

 

2002 – The World Horse Welfare Transportation Awareness Ride starts in Scotland and ends at Downing Street, where we hand over a report detailing further recommendations for changes in transport legislation.

 

2007 – On 1st January, Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 comes into force*.

 

*NB This legislation still does not go far enough to safeguard horse welfare during long-distance transportation to slaughter in Europe, and World Horse Welfare is continuing its campaign for improvements - click here for details of our Make A Noise campaign.

 

2008 – The charity changes its name from ILPH to World Horse Welfare on 1st May. World Horse Welfare funds a ground-breaking scientific research project on the effects of long-distance transport to slaughter. The results form the backbone of the charity’s Dossier of Evidence on the trade, which is presented to the European Commission in November 2008.

 

2009 - The Make a Noise petition, which collected 132,565 signatures in support of ending the long distance transportation of horses to slaughter in Europe, is handed to the European Commission.