Investigators visited the premises of Rio Grand Classic in El Paso, TX. The facility, which is only a stone throw away from the Mexican border, holds a monthly horse auction and also serves as a collecting station for slaughter horses before they are being shipped to Mexico. The Rios family continues to operate the sale and the slaughter business despite the 2022 passing of kill buyer and patriarch Joe Rios. Records obtained by Animals’ Angels from custom authorities confirm that in first four months of 2024 the family already shipped slaughter horses worth $220,000.00 to Mexico via the Santa Teresa Export pen, receiving on average 55 cents/lbs for the animals.
Our investigators arrived at Rio Grand Classic while the horse sale was ongoing. It was a busy sale and horse traders from all the surrounding states as well as Mexico were in attendance. The majority of the horses offered were high-end ranch horses, but there were also large groups of burros and Mustang foals in the pen area, most likely brought down from one of the Indian reservations roundups. Investigators noted that a representative from the Texas Animal Health Commission was present and was carrying out an inspection at the sale. All the animals present were in good condition and most of the pens had hay and water available for the animals, which might have been due to the health inspector’s presence. The sale started on time at 1:00pm, which the most expensive horse selling for $15,500. The average price for a horse was $5,000, the cheapest horse was 400. The sale ended at 5:00pm and loading of the animals began immediately.
Investigators noted that many of the animals that they had seen in the pen area did not go through the sale, which leads to the conclusion that those horses (among them the Mustangs and burros) were present for another purpose. Animals’ Angels will continue to monitor this operation.