Texas Kill Buyer & Horse Broker Trent Ward
This summer, Animals’ Angels carried out an extensive investigation in Texas, giving us the opportunity to witness and document the current situation faced by animals trapped in the state’s slaughter pipeline.
As our team of undercover investigators visited several horse auctions, export pens, and kill buyer collecting stations throughout the state, they kept their primary focus on Trent Ward, a long time kill buyer from Kaufman, Texas.
Animals’ Angels has gone undercover at Trent’s operations several times in past years, documenting severely emaciated and sick horses trapped in appalling conditions, and witnessing first-hand his complete disregard for the animals he buys and sells.
Our latest investigation once again revealed the deplorable conditions and exposed the deceptive tactics his online broker program uses to target and manipulate animal lovers.
We urge all our supporters to share this month’s newsletter with as many people as possible in the hope that together we can continue to raise awareness about the sad fate of horses trapped in the slaughter pipeline.
Trent & the Texas Slaughter Industry
Trent Ward has been making money off the slaughter and suffering of horses for decades.
In the beginning, back when the horse slaughter plants in Texas were still open, he partnered with notorious kill buyer Mike McBarron to run the T&M Horse Company, routinely supplying horses to the Kaufman slaughter plant.
After the plants in Texas were closed down in 2007, Trent continued in the horse slaughter industry as a kill buyer, callously sending horses to a certain death by selling them to his old partner McBarron and supplying them to the slaughter plants in Mexico.
Over the years, he committed many violations and incurred hefty fines, including a $21,450 fine by the USDA for shipping injured horses and non-segregated stallions.
Then, several years ago, as the slaughter industry began its decline and as kill buying profits began to dry up due to years of advocacy efforts, Trent Ward jumped on the latest industry trend and started a supplemental horse broker program.
Teaming up with younger partners, he rolled out the tried-and-true ploy of advertising his horses online while threatening buyers that they needed to hurry up and save the horses from slaughter because “the truck is coming.”
Trent’s “Kemp Kill Pen” has since become well-known online for its infuriating fundraising schemes, like the time they fundraised using a group of eleven horses, threatening that if all eleven horses were not purchased, then all of them would be shipped to slaughter, ensuring that none of the animals would be saved.
The horses he can’t sell online via his horse broker program, and those which he can’t sell through other avenues, are sold off to slaughter without hesitation.
Records obtained from the Mexican border show that Trent ships all his horses through the infamous Presidio Export Pens, receiving on average 54 cents/lb.
In addition to Trent’s current kill-buying and horse broker activities, he also operates his own sale, the Cleburne Auction, where he serves as auctioneer while also bidding on his own behalf, and where he acquires many of the horses he sells online or sends off to slaughter.
The weekly auction is known for accepting horses in deplorable condition, adhering to a “no questions asked” policy that enables him to sell approximately 150-200 horses, mules, and donkeys per week to a roster of notorious kill buyers, including the O’Dwyers, Mike McBarron, Denis Winn, Terry Saulters, and Gary Morris.
The Latest Update from Trent’s auction in Texas
In recent months, as part of our investigation into the Texas slaughter industry, Animals’ Angels made two undercover visits to Trent’s horse auction.
After finding animals in deplorable conditions during our first visit, our team was outraged and expressed grave concern. Their concern only deepened during the second and latest visit on July 17, 2024, when our investigators found the following:
- Several extremely thin horses whose ribs were clearly showing.
- Some very thin mares who had tiny foals by their side.
- A small, emaciated donkey with hooves so long that they were curling up.
- Several horses exhibiting signs of strangles, which is a highly contagious disease. Even though the horses were coughing and had puss dripping from their eyes, they had still been penned in with many other horses.
- Horses suffering in a dusty, sweltering, messy pen area where, despite the excessively hot temperature, no water was available. Many of the horses had arrived early in the day, with the auction lasting until 12:30 a.m., which made this blatant neglect especially cruel.
During the auction, our team noted that the prices paid for grade horses and donkeys at the sale were quite low, ranging from only $300-$800 for the horses and $75-$250 for the donkeys. As usual, Trent bid on several of the animals, who we’ll undoubtedly be seeing advertised on his online broker program with a “save or send to slaughter” threat attached.
In the meantime, Animals’ Angels will continue to closely monitor Trent’s activities and will immediately report all violations to appropriate authorities.
Help Us Stop Kill Buyers & Brokers like Trent Ward
We encourage you to share this month’s newsletter about Texas kill buyer and broker Trent Ward with as many people as possible in an effort to raise awareness about his self-serving efforts to profit off the suffering and slaughter of innocent animals.
With your help, we can stop unsuspecting animal lovers from falling for deceptive online broker programs like the one highlighted in this newsletter, putting an end to their greedy practices for good.