Horse-slaughtering law alarms activists

The Centre Daily Times ^ | Thu, Feb. 24, 2005 | SCOTT SONNER -- Associated Press

[free_european]

"No! I have no obligation too. "

I bet that took a lot of consideration on your part, pretty witty too.

[HairOfTheDog]

I prefer the civilized and asthetic nature of an American culture that values these animals as having a higher purpose than food when in our care. This is an optional limitation to place on ourselves, I know, but one I am happy to have. Those places you speak of certainly aren't better than us in any other way, I prefer our sensibilities on the subject of eating pet animals too.

[elbucko]

I agree with your entire post and wish only to elaborate on a few points.

It is a betrayal of the trust we asked them to put in us when we first haltered,..

Yes, and I believe we betray ourselves in doing so. Those opposed to our point view maintain that humans are worth more than horses, which is to state the obvious. Any moron can state the obvious. I maintain that to sell a domesticated, healthy horse to slaughter, in some way injures the humans involved, seller, buyer, transporter. That is not so obvious, but none the less so.

Betrayal is not the same in the case of the Mustang...

I agree.

But it is an abomination of nature that we have let this situation grow into a problem of this magnitude. There is no excuse for creating a scene where this many animals will die. It certainly can't be called management It's just cleanup after mismanagement. People have really screwed this up,...

Exactly. And it has been done by people who should know better, people who were supposed to be the "experts". The need for slaughter in Mustang herds is made necessary by the very same people that were supposed to prevent it.

And I am not ashamed of that, I like the me that cares about them. I certainly wouldn't like the me that felt nothing.

Me too.

Better ideas for the future are needed.

Yes, better than the ones now proposed. If allowed to go ahead, there will be no political pressure for the BLM bureaucracy to improve.

[elbucko]

I bet that took a lot of consideration on your part,..

'bout as much as you deserve. If you were a horse, I'd sell you to slaughter.

[elbucko]

"but your not from Ireland"

Oh yeah? How do you conclude that?

Well, maybe "Stab City".

[MississippiMan]

Perfect example of the absolute IDIOCY of our government. Huge numbers of mustangs would be in the hands of private owners who WANT them yet aren't willing to jump through the myriad hoops put in place by the government in order to obtain one. Make it incredibly difficult to get one, then complain that there are too many. Their solution? Kill 'em. Absolute shame.

MM

[free_european]

More stinging wit!

[elbucko]

I prefer the civilized and aesthetic nature of an American culture that values these animals as having a higher purpose than food when in our care.

I agree. Had Paul Revere decided to eat his horse, instead of ride her, we would all be speaking Chinese, if we were even here at all. As well, the Founding Fathers, notably Washington, were horseman, by choice or necessity. They wrote a Constitution that still exists. The countries that eat horses, dogs and cats, still eat horses, dogs and cats and still do not have a any constitution.

Bon Appetite!

[Outlaw76]

"The unadoptable horses sitting in holding pens, the idea that wild horses are rounded up to make room for private cattle on public lands, the sale of any horse to slaughter makes me sad."

Judging by the 'Saddle Club' pic you have I'd guess you are a horse owner. I can't tell if you raise them or not, nor how long you've been the business of horses, but I do know one thing: The price on horses is about to go up again. I saw it dip in the past when there wasn't anyway to profit off of old worn out horses other than to bury them so they didn't take money away in feed costs. I think this will help horsemen and ranchers out a bit.

I understand how that can sound cold and unfeeling - I love horses and spent a great deal of my youth raising and training them. The fact is that there comes a time when your appaloosa, quarter horse, pinto etc.. has just ran out of gas and is no longer fit for anything more than eating feed. At those times you make a choice throw good money after bad on vet bills and feed, or send the oat burner on to the pasture in the sky. Now, you have a choice to sell it. You might be able to afford some new tack or a young mare from promising blood lines.

For those who raise them as a means of making a living, this is a good thing.

[HairOfTheDog]

There very well may be a lot of restrictions... the only one I have heard that is hard for people to meet is the fencing requirement, which is not an asthetic demand, but a practical one. Wild horses can't just be turned out in electric or barbed wire fences. The fences won't hold them, and the horse may not survive the encounter.

[elbucko]

More stinging wit!

I rather thought that you would find some perverse pleasure in the zap of a verbal cattle prod, if you think horses should like it. N'est ce Pas?

[HairOfTheDog]

IMHO, there are not a lot of horsemen who really want or can handle mustangs... they are a specialty that I can imagine there is limited demand for. There is demand, but I fear there will always be more horses than homes, even after this (hopefully) one-time bubble of overpopulation is eliminated.

[elbucko]

...The fact is that there comes a time when your appaloosa, quarter horse, pinto etc.. has just ran out of gas..... Now, you have a choice to sell it. You might be able to afford some new tack or a young mare from promising blood lines

. You actually believe that the proceeds of the sale of an old Appy to the killers will result in enough money to afford anything but a cheap Mexican saddle or some body's back yard yearling. You will have to sell off a lot of old plugs to be able afford a bloodline foal. It's no wonder that so many horse people are poor, in more ways than money.

[free_european]

Who says i think they like it? Im sure they don't, moreover, Im sure horses that are slaughtered are often subjected to distress needlessly just as hogs, cows and sheep are.

[free_european]

Ironically, Stab City (Limerick) is a big center for horse trading in Ireland.

[HairOfTheDog]

The fact is that there comes a time when your appaloosa, quarter horse, pinto etc.. has just ran out of gas and is no longer fit for anything more than eating feed. At those times you make a choice throw good money after bad on vet bills and feed, or send the oat burner on to the pasture in the sky. Now, you have a choice to sell it. You might be able to afford some new tack or a young mare from promising blood lines.

Meet my 23 year old Arab gelding there on the right. He is also the horse pictured in the saddle club graphic.

Yes, one day soon he will need to be retired, and some time after that, if natural causes don't take him suddenly, he'll be put down by my vet, without pain, without suffering, without me selling him off for a few hundred lousy bucks where he'll spend his last days trying to cooperate with people who see him only as meat. He's earned that from me.

He'd deserve a peaceful end even if he hadn't given a lifetime of service and companionship that is far more than what would be expected... The fact that he is who he is means the question doesn't even need to be asked.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

"I love the horses, however proper management is the solution, rather than absolute protection."

I agree! And why on Earth should these horses be a problem to anyone? Wisconsin is smaller than those wide-open Western states, and there's not enough room for 30,000 wild horses? For Pete's Sake! We have a Whitetail Deer population in the MILLIONS. Could they manage the horse herd through public hunting?

I mean, it seems weird to me to hunt a horse, though I have no problem shooting deer. I think it's because we feel protective (?) and proprietory of the types of animals that we humans have domesticated over the years.

But on the other hand, we don't cry over domesticated pigs and cows and chickens being killed, do we?

My brain hurts now, LOL!

[Outlaw76]

I don't generally like to say this about folks, but you've gone beyond sense into full zealotry on this issue. In the last 5 or six posts I've read of yours I haven't seen an intelligent thought added to the discussion, nor any room for debate.

When reading your posts I perceive that you are driven solely by your feelings for horses. I won't mock those feelings, but feelings alone are not a cause for legislation.

Oh, by the way, I'm happy you are so successful and your operation is so well funded that additional revenue vs. additional expenses isn't something you are concerned with. The fact is, some folks scrape by and to them, new tack might mean a good stretch of rawhide and promising means just that, promising - not accomplished. As in, Daddy was a great cutter and Momma had a wonderful temperament around cattle. The arguments you've put forth so far are limousine liberal diatribes.

[HairOfTheDog]

Correction: The fact that he is who he is ... and I am who I am means the question doesn't even need to be asked.

I realize he is lucky. Many just like him get sold short by people, I know that. I think it's to their shame.

[colorcountry]

The issue has dogged the Interior Department and Congress since Nevada's Velma Johnson, also known as Wild Horse Annie, and a legion of schoolchildren persuaded Congress to outlaw the use of motor vehicles to hunt the mustangs in 1959. That was followed by the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 1971.

This is the crux of the situation - people managing the herd with their emotions. There is the famous (but often forgotten)story of Teddy Roosevelt and the deer herd of the Kaibab (Arizona). In his attempt to protect the deer, Roosevelt stopped hunting and terminated natural predators. The result was a population explosion that ultimately led to the starvation death of 100,000 mule deer. Let the past serve as an example - let's take emotion out of the equation and deal with management in a way that is suitable (not perfect) to all sides involved.