Photo from www.paulickreport.com
So…I live in Iowa.
A story that has been on the local news lately is in regards to a
company that wants to open a slaughterhouse for horses. What on earth could they want to open one of
these for? When I think of horse
slaughterhouses I think of thinning herds of wild horses, sick animals, dog
food, and glue. However, I have done a
little research and found out more about this.
Horses are slaughtered, not because they are wild, old, ill,
or for dog food, but to produce meat for consumption…by humans. They don’t want sick animals. They want healthy ones. I was aghast at this. But then my boss asked me a question that got
me thinking. Why is slaughtering horses
so bad? What is the difference between
this and slaughtering cattle or pigs?
Why is the thought of slaughtering horses’ taboo? He
was playing devil’s advocate, but you know…he has a point.
Photo from www.democraticunderground.com
Human beings have consumed horse meat since caveman
times. Some cultures still hunt horses
on a daily basis. According to Wikipedia, “Most horses bound for slaughter are
brought to the slaughterhouses by contract buyers, also known as kill buyers, who drive around the
country buying horses at auction.” The sale of horse meat for
consumption is illegal in the United States because of medications used on
horses not approved for livestock, however this meat can be exported. According to Wikipedia, 10% of the meat from slaughtered
horses are sold to zoos while 90% of the American horsemeat is exported
overseas. The majority of the American population is against the slaughter of horses, including me.
There are
approximately 10 million horses in the US.
One percent of those end up going to slaughterhouses every year. The average age of horses sent to slaughter
are 4-6 years old, over 90% of those are perfectly healthy animals. Only 4% of the horses slaughtered are over 9
years old…which is still young for a horse.
Photo from www.paulickreport.com
According to
the Huffington Post, the slaughter of horses was effectively banned in
2006 when Congress said the USDA could not spend any money to inspect the
plants. This ban was extended every year
until 2011 when this statement was not included in the funding bills. Since that time a plant in New Mexico is the
only one that has passed the USDA inspection to slaughter horses. Now Sigourney, IA has been approved and a
Missouri company is waiting for approval.
According to the Sigourney company, “We
believe it is our responsibility to restore the value of the horse industry”,
because there are 90,000 to 100,000 unwanted horses annually.
UPDATE: I just heard on the news this morning that the Sigourney company has decided not to slaughter horses and will retool their plant for beef. They state it is due to the concerns of animal rights groups. See...You can make a difference. :)
UPDATE: I just heard on the news this morning that the Sigourney company has decided not to slaughter horses and will retool their plant for beef. They state it is due to the concerns of animal rights groups. See...You can make a difference. :)
I think horses
are some of the most beautiful majestic animals on earth. We do use them to assist us in our daily
lives and for pleasure. But does that
mean we should eat them? The fact that
there are 90-100 thousand horses unwanted in the US annually is also disturbing. Aren’t there more humane solutions? The economy also plays a big part in the
number of horses sold to slaughter houses. There is no doubt about it, horses are
expensive to maintain. A lot of them are
given up, sold, or abandoned because people can’t afford to maintain them. I’ve also learned that hundreds of horses are stolen
every year and sold in auction to slaughter houses. When California banned horse slaughter in
1998 horse thefts dropped by 34%.
Photo from online.wsj.com
In doing my research
for this blog I came across an article in The Hill’s Congress Blog by Former
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.
In this article he speaks about his ‘personal evolution’ when it comes
to horse slaughter houses. His son Chet
opened his eyes to alternatives for rescuing horses. He states “His experience showed me that live, active horses support an important
infrastructure of jobs and economies in the United States. A live horse needs
to be fed, groomed and trained, as well as receive vet care, among other
things. This in turn creates and maintains a viable and enduring way of life in
rural America.”
Photo from www.freerepublic.com
If you had the
opportunity to eat horse meat, would you?
Do you think slaughterhouses for horses should be allowed in the US? Does the thought of slaughtering horses disturb
you as much as it does me?
Be Well &
Be Happy,
Pet~Pourri
P.S. I decided against showing photos of horse slaughtering
operations, because quit honestly…they made me ill, but here
is a link if you do want to see the disturbing photos.
I wouldn't eat horse meat, but of course I am a picky eater and won't even eat chicken. However, even if I thought it was wrong to eat horse meat does NOT mean that I would try to push my views on other people by saying it is wrong to slaughter horses for human consumption. I will never send my cat or dog to slaughter, but I don't think its wrong for countries to legalize the slaughter of them.
ReplyDeleteSlaughtering horses in the U.S. should be allowed, and the thought of it does not disturb me.
One thing that pisses me off is how our country is allowing people like PETS, HSUS, and Carrie Underwood to rule us! They are people who don't have a clue; the only way they find out any information is by "researching" what they see and read online (at unreliable sources such as Wikipedia) or by the bologna somebody (like a politician feeds them). The fact of the matter is that if you have been spent time living and/or working on a farm, you really don't have a clue or sense of reality at all. Until a couple years ago, I have lived and worked on a farm my entire life. I don't have much experience with horses, I will admit that. I am also a animal lover; I was the kid who tamed several stray cats that showed up on the farm. Animals that don't like other people usually like me. Horses (just like other animals out there) are taken care of by humans, but once the humans can no longer to afford to pay for feed, they unfortunately, allow the animals to starve and become unhealthy. It seems far more humane, to me, to allow horse owners who, for whatever reason, can no longer provide food for the horses to send it to a slaughter house (maybe because they lost their job and believe feeding their children is more important than feeding their horse). Everything on this earth dies at some point, why not let it die humanely (while it's still healthy), than let it suffer and starve.
Have you ever even seen a packing plant? I've been in them several times. I saw my own 4-H hogs butchered and hanging on a hook. Just a few years ago, I went to a big packing plant and saw EVERYTHING (from killing to packaging the meat)! I watched them gas the hogs, which put them to sleep, hung them by the legs, and slit their throat. A real education doesn't come from what somebody tells you or what you see on the internet or in a book; a real education comes from first-hand experience. I have a t-shirt that reads "All I need to know I learned on the farm," and that is the truth. I have a BS degree in agriculture. I didn't hardly learn squat in my classes; I learned A LOT more (than what I already knew) form the lab work (hands-on experience).
Just to make it clear, I don't think that letting your animals starve because you can't feed them is right. However, I have seen first-hand that when people are desperate they do desperate things, and they don't care who or what they hurt.
DeleteAlso, I know that most packing plants don't gas the animals before killing them. I think the small packer near where I live uses a bullet, quick and instant, to get the job done.
I think this is SICK !!!! Horses are pets. They r for riding not eating....
ReplyDelete