No more horse slaughtering in the US!!

9 Responses

1. Randy Shackelford

   December 11th, 2007 at 11:16 am

   1

   It is a shame that the slaughter houses have closed. Now, 80,000 horses a year will be sent to Mexico in double decked trailers, under deplorable conditions, without food or water to await their fate. At least in the U.S. veterinarians supervised the humane slaughter and the animals were treated with dignity and were fed and watered. In Mexico they are subjected to the most inhumane suffering. Don’t you wonder why every single livestock organization was FOR keeping the slaughter houses open?

   Horse processing is the most tightly regulated of any animal slaughter, and the only animal that has its transportation to slaughter regulated. If horse processing plants are forced to close, the Horse Welfare Coalition estimates the 60,000 to 90,000 unwanted horses annually would be exposed to potential abandonment and neglect.

   The 60,000-90,000 additional unwanted horses each year would compete for adoption with the 32,000 wild horses that U.S. taxpayers are already paying $40 million to shelter and feed.

   The nation’s inadequate, overburdened, and unregulated horse rescue/ adoption facilities can not handle the influx of the 60,000+ additional horses each year that would result from a slaughter ban, according to the Congressional Research Service.

   Many zoo animal diets rely on equine protein because it mimics what the animal would receive in the wild. Veterinarians and animal nutritionists say it’s the healthiest diet for these big cats and rare birds. If legislation shuts down horse processing facilities, the only USDA-inspected source for this meat will be eliminated.

2. HippieLisa

   December 19th, 2007 at 8:48 am

   2

   Thank you so much, Randy - for telling us all about the other side of the argument. I really do appreciate that. It’s so hard to judge sometimes, when things that both sides are saying make so much sense! You know what I mean?

3. vicki

   January 2nd, 2008 at 12:20 am

   3

   Randy, I suggest you do a bit of research. You are repeating old, tired pro material that has been proven wrong over and over again. There are not 60,000 to 90,000 unwanted horses. The horses going to slaughter are not rounded up. If they were unwanted, the meat men wouldn’t have to pay for them. There are several resources available that prove there is no correlation between abuse/neglect and slaughter. Here is one excellent analysis - http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/features/horseslaughter-123.shtml. Abuse and neglect had been happening when the kill houses were open. The people abusing/neglecting their horses were not sending them to slaughter. The majority of zoos in the US do not use horse meat and stopped long before the kill houses shut down. Pet food no longer contains horse meat. All of the kill houses could have remained open to slaughter horses for non human consumption. One kill house – I believe Beltex, stayed open for one or two months and then shut down.

   Surely you jest about the horse slaughter industry being regulated. They broke every regulation on a regular basis. Lame, blind and late term pregnant mares were not to be sent to slaughter. Would like to explain how two foals were born on the kill house floor at Cavel? Would you like to explain why vets that are required to be present during slaughter were often not there? Double-decker trailers were banned in December of 2006. Would you like to explain why truckload after truckload were accepted and why the USDA inspectors did nothing? Would you like to explain how using a captive bolt that was designed for cattle is humane? Have you seen any of the videos? Many of the horses were fully conscious when being butchered and the USDA inspectors did nothing. They broke every rule in the book including EPA regulations.

   Are you aware that all three kill houses were foreign owned and didn’t pay any federal tax. Oh, I forgot, Beltex paid $5.00 one year. Are you aware that all the profits went to Belgium and France? They made fools of us and laughed all the way to the bank. As far as the exports, call your senators and ask them to cosponsor S 311 – that will stop the transports. Are you aware that exports were going on every year the kill houses were open? Are you aware that 2007 is not the highest count going to Mexico? Where was the outrage in past years? Why are the pro folks now making this an issue? They didn’t seem to care when the kill houses were open.

   Here are two good resources, with facts, that dispute your comments. http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/features/horseslaughter-132.shtml
   and http://amghorsesetc.livejournal.com/5863.html

4. HippieLisa

   January 2nd, 2008 at 7:58 am

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   Thank you so much, Vicki - for taking the time to give us all that information - I truly appreciate it!

5. windyridge

   February 5th, 2008 at 7:56 am

   5

   In the state of NY horse slaughter transportation at least is tightly regulated. No more double decker trailers and so forth. The legislation is reasonably new. If we didn’t have horse slaughter we’d have a lot of starving horses falling down dead because the reality is people get horses all the time, get in over their heads and then let them starve, get sick or hurt. I’ve seen it first hand and still see it. I love horses and have had many myself and am not against horse slaughter because of the tortured lives some of them lead while alive. Which is worse? Inhumane treatment for a short period of time in those houses that aren’t following regulations (not all are bad) or a lifetime of starvation and cruelty? It’s the best of two evils I’m afraid.

6. melissa

   February 27th, 2008 at 5:42 am

   6

   yesss.
   horse slaughtering is an outrageous thing because i would just let horses die on their own or just killing them because they didnt win that big race for you.

   well its a RETARDED thing.

7. Richard

   April 18th, 2008 at 10:50 am

   7

   I have seen a lot of information from both sides of this issue, but make no jokes about it the groups on BOTH sides are going to produce a worse case senario to boost there veiw. On the bolt stun gun, common sense will tell you if you put a steel rod threw your brain you will die if it were not the case try it and let me know how it turned out. it is time for some common sense to be used here.

   This is more of a presonal property issue. This issue is about what the Goverment deciding how you can dispose of your property. Would you support a goverment ban that said you can not put garbage out to go to the landfill, or your car can not be sent to scrap yard, or you dog can not be sold must be given to an Approved Center of course not… this is the same thing. I have horses and I have taken care of horses that have been mistreated and I have sent a horse to slaughter. I have been inside these facilities and the discriptions of these are not accurate. Yes they get dirty they are cleaned on a regular basis yes an animal is going to soil itself standing in a line when was the last time your horse was potty trained.

   Yes, these are foreign companies and maybe they did not pay taxes but there employees did in form of payroll and unemployment taxes which by the way the are now being used.

   How I dispose of my property is my business as long as it is legal. If I give it away, sell from my farm, take to auction or to slaughter it is my business not the goverments.

   All these so called horse lover need to look at the bigger picture horse prices have been steadly declining the last 10 years today you almost can’t give on away you will see in a few years the problems this will cause.

   Time to wake up and not believe everything that goes around and do your own checking first hand and make discision based on what you find out not what other people or organizations want you to know the stream works both ways.

   Use common sense
   when common sense makes the best sense there is no other sense.

8. Joana

   April 18th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

   8

   How I dispose of my property is my business as long as it is legal. If I give it away, sell from my farm, take to auction or to slaughter it is my business not the goverments

   While I totally agree with that statement I can’t help but to point out that that is the exact same argument that slave owners used back in the day as well.

   Frankly, when it comes to horse slaughter, I’m at a loss. How is it any different than cow, pigs, and sheep? Just because the US citizens do not include this meat in their diet, does it become wrong? Horse meat is a good source for animals and makes it’s way into a lot of pet products. So does that mean that it’s one more thing the US will have to import now?

   On the other hand, as someone who has ridden horses and has had friends with horses I have a hard time looking at them and thinking of them as someone’s dinner.

9. Kas

   May 12th, 2008 at 2:02 am

   9

   I’m doing a research paper on this for school and it was very hard to pick a side. I think horses slaughter should be opened but used to help keep the wild herds from causing problems or getting them for that matter. Wild horses are running out of room, having birth defects because of inbreeding, and getting sick. You can’t just put them to sleep because chemicals can leak from the body and into the ground when they are buried, which could cause other problems with other animals. On to the topic of unwanted horses. PEOPLE PLEASE IF YOU DON’T WANT YOUR HORSE YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN’T HAVE BOUGHT IT. Pease don’t take that the wrong way…I wasn’t yelling at anybody….just stating my opinion. Stallions should be gelded if they are and undesireable stalion. another thing is that mean and aggresive horses are onlythat way because they feal threatened, if that horse has no way to fix it’s problem then maybe he should be sent to a slaughter house. I’ve trained several different horses that weren’t so nice to people and now i own them.

   this is just my opinion please don’t be mad.

   thank you,
   Kasandra