Newly proposed “equine end of life counseling” regulations are forthcoming.
Here in Alaska, people still turn horses out for the winter in many areas. A few years back, one of my native neighbors had some of their horses picked up; stolen by Equine Rescue Organization. This lady in charge of this organization would pay guys to locate horses while avoiding the owner, load them up in trailer then haul them off under the guise of animal cruelty. They were then butchering the horses for meat. Lucky the state cops caught the horse trailer on the highway and pulled it over with horses loaded up. Enough of the neighborhood had seen the trailer on our road too and called the cops.
As much as the local neighborhood kinda didn't like the horses wandering loose, they sure got upset at that equine rescue more. The lady almost went to jail over it all and had to stop all her activities. I never heard any more problems with horse lover/horse butchering types ever again.