Arden says that raw horse meat is considered a delicacy in Japan. “It’s a status thing,” she told Daily Hive in a phone interview. “It’s not an everyday-man food. It’s not on the table of the average hardworking Japanese family.” She compares it to a Canadian eating lobster or truffles on a daily basis. According to a petition supported by the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC) that’s aimed at ending this export, large draft horses over 17 hands high are being air-shipped annually from Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg airports to Japan for human consumption. Three to four horses are loaded into crates smaller than a single horse stall, which creates a lack of sufficient head clearance.