once it s hanging here, it s already food. reporter: food to be sold for human consumption overseas. santos says he has no interest in selling horse meat to americans which remains illegal. evidence of horses being slaughtered under horrific conditions helped persuade congress to outlaw the $65 million a year u.s. industry in 2006. they smell blood. they panic. it s not it s pretty gruesome. reporter: recently congress lifted the ban. some say it actually caused more suffering. last year 170,000 american horses were slaughtered in mexico and canada. recession-strapped horse owners either abandoned or starved countless others like charlie who came to this horse rescue ranch on the brink of death. he had been starved to the point that he was just a stel ton. reporter: charles graham has saved scores of horses, yet he favors lifting the slaughter ban. if we re going to send 170,000 horses out of the united states to be slaughtered, we lose control of those horses whenever th