Horse slaughter evokes outrage

[douglas9]

Source: San Antonio Express-News

AUSTIN — A surge in exports of unwanted horses across the border for slaughter has horrified animal welfare advocates, who say they will redouble efforts for a law to ban shipments of horses to Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses.

Court rulings this year closed the only three American horse-slaughter plants, including two plants in North Texas.

Since January, so-called "killer buyers" who buy unwanted horses at auctions have shipped 48,000 horses to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. The horse meat is consumed in Mexico, Europe and Japan.

U.S. exports to Mexican slaughterhouses are up by 369 percent.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA100207.01A.horseslaughterfolo.3488d6c.html

[cosmik debris]

1. So, what do we do with 48,000 unwanted horses?

Who is responsible for their care and feeding? Who will provide pasture and shelter? What is your excuse for not adopting 48,000 horses?

[AngryAmish]

2. I don't have a yard

I think the downstairs neighbors would get mad at me for keeping one on the deck. On account of the flies...

[SayWhatYo]

6. I'm sure you have a carport, right?

or at least a parking space... There ya go.

[AngryAmish]

7. No carport but we have a parking space.

But the flies, you see...

[Igel]

3. Let's see .,.

"reduce, reuse, recycle."

Reusing seems to be pretty much ruled out.

"Recycle" could have a nasty implication. Of course, eventually they'll die and be recycled.

That leaves "reduce". Lots of geldings.

I'm not going to adopt a horse because I don't think either the gerbil or the hermit crab has enough spare room.

[damntexdem]

5. How big a bowl does a horse need?

Should the bowl be filled right to the top?

[KathieG]

15. On the subject of "unwanted horses"...

I usually just lurk here, but this is a subject I know a little something about as someone who owns a farm and has experience in horse rescue.

In the early 1990s, over 300,000 horses were slaughtered annually in the US. Due to a decreasing demand for horse meat in Europe, that number dropped to 50,564 in 2003. No special infrastructure was created to absorb the thousands of “unwanted” horses that were not slaughtered during this time. Instead, horses were kept longer, were sold to another owner or, in some cases, were humanely euthanized and buried or rendered.

I believe the answer is to reduce breeding...especially by "back yard" breeders". I know that at one point the percentage of horses being slaughtered was approximately 1% of the overall horse population in the US. Reducing breeding by 1% would certainly help, and would not be difficult to do. Many large TB and QH breeding operations breed excessively, then pick the "cream of the crop" out of their foals, only to discard the others to feed lots where they go on to slaughter. At many feed lots you will see young, healthy, papered stock...they are bred, and discarded...what a waste. You also see many horses that have been pets, show animals, and racing stock. Most are not old, and sickly as some would have you believe. Fat, healthy horses are preferred by slaughter plants (for obvious reasons).

[spotbird]

28. The horses breed in the

wild in the western desert and encroach on public lands that ranchers use to graze cattle. The ranchers hate them, so they are moved, at government expense, to other ranches where they are tended for a fee.

[vicki9]

18. So, what do we do with 48,000 unwanted horses?

If the horses were unwanted, why do the kill houses have to pay for them? <Who is responsible?> The owners are responsible.

[spotbird]

27. Wealthy ranchers

take care of them for around $1.25 a day, maybe more by now, the taxpayers fund it. It adds up when you have thousands of them. During much of the year the horses don't require a terrible amount of care, but during the winter and during droughts it's a big deal to tend them.

It is mind boggling that wild horses have a higher priority in the government than children.

[Freddie Stubbs]

30. Elmer's Glue?

:shrug:

[damntexdem]

4. If they want to stop the outsourcing of horse slaughter, ...

then repeal the stupid law that outlawed U.S. slaughter.

[TexasBushwhacker]

14. I have to agree

At least when they were slaughtered here, it was regulated.

[KathieG]

16. Actually it was poorly regulated...

The USDA was resistant to implementing any new rules and regulations, and was not reinforcing the rules that were already in place. The transportation of horses to slaughter was especially abhorrent, and their treatment at the plant was no better.

For some reason...the USDA didn't seem to want to "bother" the foreign-owned slaughter plants.

[KathieG]

20. All U.S. slaughter plants were foreign-owned, there were no U.S.-owned plants...

the horses are now being shipped over the border to other foreign-owned plants. It wasn't regulated properly here, and I'm not sure how it's regulated in Canada. I have heard the Mexican plants are terrible.

[sutz12]

8. Is this like an annual topic that get's recycled every year? nt

[spotbird]

31. One of these years

someone might notice the line in the budget which funds all those horses and wonder what the fuck we are doing. So these emotional stories about Mr.Ed are floated to drown out any potential objection to the boondoggle.

[dbackjon]

9. What's the big deal?

As long as they are humanely treated on the way to the slaughter house?

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. So what's the big deal?

Are horses special because they're pretty?

[KathieG]

17. No, not because they are "pretty"...

We own horses in this country as pets, and for sport and recreation. We don't eat horse meat here. The animals we do raise for human consumption aren't given the love, care, and attention that horses are given. To me, it's disturbing that a horse or pony can be in a little girl's backyard being "loved on" one day, and in a slaughter plant the next. To me, it's a betrayal of trust. It's an animal that has bonded with humans.

[colorado_ufo]

22. Horses are intelligent animals and have emotions.

I have owned them (several at a time) for almost a quarter century. They suffer not only physically, but emotionally. They bond to their offspring, their owners, and their other horse "friends." Anyone who spends any amount of time around horses will attest to this.

However, those people who see horses strictly as a business harden themselves to the truth, or maybe they just have hard hearts, period. They sell unwanted horses to slaughter because you can't run a business by feeding pets or giving away the inventory.

I have never, ever sent a horse to slaughter, even when the horse was no longer rideable or was costing me a small fortune in vet bills, feed, etc.

The answer to 48,000 unwanted horses is to:

1 - Educate new owners.
2 - Encourage breeders to geld or spay as many horses as possible before sale.
3 - Breed much more selectively (this is good business, anyway) and discourage uninformed people from breeding horses.
4 - Take the time and effort to locate buyers instead of "dumping" horses. Be extremely careful about giving away horses, which often wind up at slaughter or abused.
5 - At an end point, it is far kinder and more humane to have a vet euthanize a horse than to send it to the terror of a slaughterhouse. (They are NOT nice places.)

[colorado_ufo]

23. They are much more intelligent than cattle

and suffer accordingly. Even cattle stress terribly at a slaughterhouse, but the terror that horses endure, when they smell the blood and the fear, is indescribable.

[Crayson]

26. Did you do an IQ test

Is there any study that proofs your claim independantly?

Have you EVER looked into the eyes of a cow?
They look about the same intelligence to me.
And they also taste good both.

Sorry, I can't have all that emotional ********.
People eat what they want.
Humans are natural hunters and scavengers, they eat everything they can get.

[colorado_ufo]

33. Yep.

I have often looked into the eyes of a cow, as I live in an agricultural area. (You know, the kind that allows you to have a bunch of horses?) And I do, indeed, recognize their suffering as well. Most of my meals are vegetarian, but not all.

Most certainly, humans are capable of eating a wide variety of foods, and I am not arguing that everyone become vegetarian (you wrote that into the discussion, somehow). However, since we humans seem to be in charge of the food system, and are supposed to have more intelligence than horses OR cows, I believe we have a responsibility to be humane whenever possible. We do not require horses in our diet. By your argument, we should also make dogs allowable food items, as they are in some countries. That would certainly clean out those dog pounds and save cities lots of money.

Some people call it emotional ***********; some call it compassion.

[Hawkowl]

36. Are you on the menu?

Because you don't sound very bright. Moron, it's what's for dinner.
Seriously, you do see the problem about IQ testing what you eat?

If you have never worked around horses, you just won't understand. Do you have any pets? Would you advocate that the humane society start butchering cats and shipping them to Asia?
Horses are widely acknowledged by animal behaivorists to be very smart, and extremely emotionally sensistive. Think of them as super big, super smart dogs. Humanity would never have progressed to it's current point without the partnership of horses.

[Cronopio]

40. Had one of my neighbor's feisty little pit bulls on a spit last week. Goooood eatin'.

And about this IQ testing for dinner idea - I'm all for that. With the price of cow meat skyrocketing right now, it's a good way to thin the conservative herd. And they'd be the first to admire your courage and hardnosed pragmatism.

[pookieblue]

41. I grew up around horses and cows

and I will agree that horses are smarter than cows. not saying that both of the animals don't have feelings...they do.

however my main point is...what if we replaced the animal in the headline to unwanted dogs (or cats). How would people feel then. Like you said what if we started sending the unwanted dogs and cats overseas...

in any case, from what I read, the treatment of animals who are going to the slaughterhouses is inhumane. it borders along the lines of torture in some cases.

[spotbird]

29. Horses are special because

they help more rich Republicans feed from the government troff.

[Javaman]

13. You're a lady of few words.

I'm not really clear on your opinion, could you please clarify it?

[Cronopio]

12. If it were 48,000 people trying to get a rise of out of animal rights advocates, it wouldn't be.

(:sarcasm:)

[Socal31]

19. Dumb law.

It is hurting horses more than it is helping.

[yewberry]

21. They're not.

And the "slaughtering" is often torture.

[colorado_ufo]

24. People who make a buck from horse slaughter

are not especially interested in their well being. They are packed into trucks - all sizes, ages, and states of health - in an effort to maximize the economy of the trip. Many die on the way to the slaughterhouse.

The slaughter process is appalling. And horses do scream.

[leftyladyfrommo]

32. They're Not. n/t

[Crayson]

25. I like Horse meat...

It's very tasty, low fat, good muscle meat.

Quit the emotional thing please.
I'm eating salad too, and it has feelings, you know! It only tries to grow from a seed towards the sun and get as much sunlight as possible and them some farmer comes and cuts it out brutally!!

People EAT. Period. Let everybody eat whatever they want, as long as it's not OTHER people or species that are about to be extinct!

Only because one rides a horse and gives it a name doesn't mean another can't kill and eat a horse.

It's all about cultural differences.
And America is so much built on horses that for an American it's so outrages to eat a horse as it is for an indian to slaughter a cow, or for a Muslim to eat pig meat.

Don't we have any other problems than going on a crusade about who may eat what?

[Cronopio]

34. I like conservative redneck meat.

It's a little fatty, and the muscle is a bit like veal, but it's good now and then as a treat, or on the holidays.

They're easy to locate too - just look for a 4x4 with one of those "W" stickers in the back. It might as well say "USDA 100% prime beef".

It's all about cultural differences.

[Canuckistanian]

37. Oooookay... (steps away slowly)

Good luck with that.

[Cronopio]

39. Just my way of laughing at the "Have an animal rights activist for lunch." freeper crowd.

A few of which drop in to DU for a visit from time to time.

Besides, nutrition is nutrition. You can't have hangups about it.

[demgurl]

35. When gas runs out we will find many people desire a horse.

Wish we could use them now.

[ozone_man]

38. We have bikes now.

The advantage of a bike is that it provides exercise and emits no carbon other than your own CO2. All of our roads need bike lanes, more like Europe. It may take a while to catch on in horse country out West, but ...

I guess regarding eating horses, it's a cultural thing. I think cows are pretty cute too, but I like a good steak once in a while.