was priced differently in Paris and London. Controversy In some countries, horses are perceived as gods or as deserving of humane consideration because of their roles as working animals and for sport. This perception may be greater in countries where horses are not bred or raised for food. According to a 2012 UK MORI survey, 50 percent of respondents in France as well as 51 percent in Belgium and 58 percent in Italy thought it acceptable to eat horses. Several equine and animal-welfare organizations oppose slaughter or support a ban on horse slaughter, but other animal organizations and animal-agriculture groups support the practice. According to livestock-slaughter expert Temple Grandin, horse slaughter can be humane with proper facility design and management. Included in animal-agriculture groups supporting horse slaughter are organizations representing the interests of traditional food-animal industries such as cattle, sheep and pigs, who are concerned that banning any animal for slaughter will lead to outlawing all meat production. Stolen horses have been sold to auctions, where they are bought by "kill buyers" and shipped to slaughter. Auctions enable horses to be sold without owner consent, by theft or misappropriation. According to California Livestock and Identification Bureau statistics, the 1998 ban on horse slaughter in California was followed by a 34-percent decrease in horse theft. Long-distance transport One concern about the welfare of horses destined for slaughter is the long distances the horses are sometimes transported to a slaughterhouse. In 2013, 32,841 horses were slaughtered in Italy; of these, 32,316 were transported from other EU states. Ireland In 2019, Ireland's Department of Agriculture released figures on the numbers of horses slaughtered at government-approved abattoirs for human consumption. The numbers peaked in 2012, but significantly decreased the following year due to stricter regulations put in place after the 2013 horse meat scandal in Europe. United States Food safety Horses in the United States are not bred or raised for meat. Nearly all equine medications and treatments are labeled, "Not for horses intended for human consumption." Meat from American horses raises a number of potential health concerns, primarily due to the routine use of medications banned in food animals and a lack of tracking of such use. Unlike livestock raised for food (where all potential medications are tested for withdrawal times and vigilantly tracked), there is no way to guarantee which medications have been used in a particular horse. During November and December