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Local Restaurant At Center Of Online Petition After Serving Horse Meat

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- When we as Americans think of horses, we think of them as a companion or a pet, a racehorse or even a work animal. But to eat?

"I don't think most people in PA know that horses are consumed as human food. I know statistically most people don't agree with horses being served as food," horse welfare advocate Joy Braunstein said.

Joy Braunstein spends a large part of her time rescuing horses.

"We don't have any slaughter plants open in the United States because Americans don't think horses should be slaughtered," Braunstein said.

They're shipped to Canada or Mexico to be slaughtered, then served as food. When Braunstein heard that Cure served horse tartare on its menu during a special event on Monday, she was outraged.

"I was sent a number of screen shots from different people about their post they made about serving horse tartare," Braunstein said.

Braunstein's main concern is the large amount of toxins they carry

"They're given an awful lot of medication from wormers to antibiotics to fly spray. What we apply to our horses is all toxic for human consumption," Braunstein said.

Cure released this statement from chef/co-owner Justin Severino:

"On Monday night we hosted a collaborative dinner with chefs from Canada, a Québécois feast. One of the courses included horse tartare, which is traditional Québécois. It was sourced from a sustainable horse farm in Alberta, Canada. This dish was available for one night only and it is not part of the Cure menu."

It's not uncommon for horse to be served in Canada and other countries.

Braunstein started an online petiton. She said she hopes to get 500 signatures calling for no horse meat to be served in restaurants across Pennsylvania. The petition is set up to go directly to Governor Tom Wolf's desk.

The petition can be found on Change.org here.

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