British Ponies Land on French Dinner Tables

L O N D O N, Feb. 12 -- Herds of wild ponies in Britain's New Forest may be the latest victims of the mad cow scare. Not because they are threatened by the disease — but rather because they are not — and their meat is seen as "safe."

In Paris meat markets, buyers line up to buy cheval — the French term for horse meat.

The panic in Europe over BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), commonly called mad cow disease, is changing consumer eating habits.

The French government reports beef consumption has dropped more than 40 percent in the past three months — while demand for horsemeat has jumped close to 60 percent.

"People were coming to me saying 'we don't eat beef anymore, we eat horsemeat,'" says Paris butcher, Remy Gautier. "Customers were panicking and we were too. We couldn't produce all [the horsemeat] that was needed."

British Horrified

While eating horsemeat has been part of French, Belgian and other cultures for generations — it is not done in Britain.

So when a British animal rights group tracked wild ponies from Britain's New Forest in Hampshire being rounded up, auctioned and shipped off to slaughterhouses, it caused quite a stir.

"People in Britain have been horrified," says Justin Wilkes representative from Compassion in World Farming. "What we are seeing in effect is a farming of horses in the U.K. for French and Belgian consumers. British horsemeat is now firmly on the French dinner table. "

British Customs figures confirm the export of horse and pony meat to Europe has doubled in the past five years.

Bullfighting BSE

In Spain, where 17 cases of BSE have been reported since November, the mad cow scare is threatening long-standing traditions.

The victorious matador, promenading in the bullfighting ring, can no longer throw the ear of the vanquished bull into the crowd.

Not with the news rules regarding testing for BSE

Every year 40,000 bulls are fought and killed in Spain's Fiesta Nacional. Tradition calls for the bulls to be butchered ringside and their meat sold as a delicacy.