CNN has posted a heartbreaking series of photos by photographer Hajime Kimura showing what happens to thoroughbred horses in Japan. In all cases, they either race or go to slaughter. For these animals, there are no other choices. Even Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand, who was sold to Japanese horse breeders when he finished racing in the U.S., was eventually slaughtered, as are many American-bred thoroughbreds who are sold to Japan.
While Kimura laments that he was never allowed inside a horse slaughterhouse, PETA investigators traveled to Japan in 2009 and came back with the first-ever video taken inside one these facilities, which shows the terrible end for so many racehorses.
Read more about the racehorse industry.
