U.S. Equine Slaughter Legal Again

[Simple Living]

Just saw this on a friends page.

http://www.animallawcoalition.com/horse-slaughter/article/1887

Interested in others opinions.

[Livewater Farm]

I think it is great if it goes thru too many unwanted horses out there and hungry people also puts a floor on horse prices

[sickle hocks]

Sanity prevails. Don’t get me wrong, I love horses..I think they’ll be better off.

[Simple Living]

I think too many people are thinking this will be the “answer” to the horse market/unwanted/neglected horses. It could help. If you think about tome of the drugs that get pumped into horses, do you really want to eat them? I don’t believe that is what this is all about. Even though the opposition is using that as one of thier sticking points. As the article says, we don’t eat horse meat here in the states, (as far as we know anyway). Will this bring the horse market prices back? No. The economy has taken all the free horse/play money out of recreational horse owners pockets. High end breeders still get good (maybe not great) money for good horses. Well broke teams still command a good price as well. And people who use their horses make sure they take good care of them because they are a tool to their business.

What I do think this will help with is horses that have gone past their prime. Ones that are no longer viable. Is this a great way to treat our equines? Not really. Is this the way that most heartless people will go? Yes. Most will not take the time or spend the money to put a horse down proper. They will send it down the road and make it someone elses problem. Around this area all we see are signs and ads for “equine rescue” wanting money from people who don’t have it. They play on good peoples hearts and feelings. Problem is, are they going to take care of these horses till they pass on their own? All the while spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on horses that will do nothing but suck money?

I am not opposed to horse slaughter. I don’t think so. I am sure a couple I had ended up going that way after I had sold them. Out of my hands. Would I rather see a horse put down this way than starve or be abused. Hell yes.

Just some of my rambling thoughts on the subject. Hope to hear from others.

Gordon

[Ethan Tapper]

I can’t believe that this could actually be a solution for horses that are “past prime”… Given all the crap that most people give horses over their lifetimes (dewormers, etc.) I don’t want to eat that. I think a lot of the stuff we give horses we give them because we know we aren’t going to eat them. If we are we need to reevaluate all that stuff.

There’s a reason we don’t eat horses too, and I think it’s mostly because they’re super special animals, and you can form a partnership with them in a way that you can’t with most other animals. I’m not saying it’s wrong to eat them, but I might have a problem with it for just that reason.

Mixed feelings here.

[gwpoky]

I think this is needed, we work with some rescues ALL of our lesson horses and all of my wife’s Dressage and Jumping horses where rescues, but the rescue we work with has 90+ horses most of which will never be adopted. I have seen many horses “Put Down” with the use of a barbiturates and if you think this is “Humane” I would question if you have ever seen this done. I think a bolt or bullet properly placed is a much faster and humane choice. I know I am just rambling to he choir, but it was nice to get it out. We need slaughter as an outlet, also Mindful breeding would do great this for the equine industry, but that may be another thread.

Thank you.

[TanjaM]

I can not give you correct numbers, but it has been shown that since the states stopped the slaughter of horses for human consumption, that there have not been more neglect or more dying, nor have there been any changes in numbers of horses being slaughtered, only, they get slaughtered in Mexico and Canada…..I am in Canada just around the corner from Bouvry in Fort Macleod.

One thing I like to mention is that, and many people actually believe this to be the truth, that only the old ones get slaughtered. BS I call on this one. Every horse gets slaughtered and foals as young as 4 months are being shipped to Japan alive in wooden crates for their sushi.

Do you really believe that Europeans and Japanese will eat old and sick horses? Do you really think Bouvry has a market for the old and sick other than dog food? Bouvry himself breeds his drafts for meat and thousands of them, in matter effect he breeds 30% of all the meat he slaughters.

The rest are good horses, young and healthy, many with good background, foals, race horses, pet horses, PMU foals and mares etc, the list goes on and on.

The business of the horse slaughter, the necessary evil as the pro like to call it is nothing but a hoax as is brings right now in our country a whopping 70 million annually. Canada makes money on the slaughter because Europe and Japan pay big bucks for horse meat and this is why we keep on slaughtering them.

I have the fields full of mares with foals at side, mares in foals, right here along the highway. Old and sick horses? Those foals are doomed to be sushi, their moms are meat for over seas.

Humane? Have you ever watch one of those videos they got where you see how humane they actually slaughter those horses? Do you think you can be humane if you shoot one horse every 90 seconds? Do you think a horse is like a cow and walks up to the stun gun and waits for it? BS again my friend. You go and see one of those videos, see the draft having been stunned 11 times before she went down, a young 13 year old work horse, nobody wanted anymore.

Horse slaughter can not be humane if it is done in a commerial way. Yes I agree, if it is old or sick, take the gun and shoot it between the eyes, make dog food out of it, at least it comes to good use, but to send it off to slaughter and the agony those horses have to endure till their heart actually stops to beat is nothing I ever would wish on my greatest enemy.

Slaughter is not the answer, because it will never end and this because people who think they are “breeders” keep on throwing those horses on the market, which in return brings prices down for the well bred horses, but will feed the demand for horse meat. We need regulations for breeding, licenses, fees etc.

With the dogs and cats we have failed and we euthanized thousands in north america daily in shelters, abandon them, starve and neglect them. We have to be smarter with the horses. They are no meat animal, they are a companion that without, we wouldnt be here today.

And while we are at it. Did you know that the states have banned the drug Phenylbutazone in the 1950’s because of a study that has been made regarding the effects of this drug. The states won’t even allow horses to be used for dog food if treated with bute, this is why bute is not alloud in use of food animals, and yet, we sell the tainted meat to europe, lie to them wth fake and false EID documents, take big money for the meat and poison innocent people. WE should be ashamed and in the end, the only people who make a profit on it is the government and slaughter people and nothing changes mean while.

[Andy Carson]

Tanja,
Your arguments could be made against the slaughter of any and all animals. Industrial scale animal raising and slaughter is fraught with images that many Americans find disturbing, and horses are no exception. It would be consistent to rail again industrial slaughter, and I think you have an excellent point there. I could also see a good argument to be against the slaughter of any and all animals, and leading a purely vegetarian lifestyle. Not my choice, but it is consistent and logical in many ways. To propose that horses are somehow different from “meat animals” is completely absurb. What makes horses so different??? Humanity certainly owes a greater historical debt to cattle than horses, and we eat them all the time. Pigs are often sited as the most intelligent farm animal, but we eat them all the time too. It’s hard to find a farm animal friendlier or with more “personality” than a goat, and many people eat these too, wihtout widespread uproar. So what is it that makes horses so “special”??? Have you actually thought about this, or is it simply that horses feel special TO YOU? These are perfectly find feelings to have, but you can’t expect other to share your subjective feelings and they are certainly not a good basis for law.

[Pete]

Like it or not we need it.

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