Posted on 06/06/2005 2:30:27 PM PDT by ktvaughn
Vote YES on Sweeney-Spratt Agriculture Amendment to End Horse Slaughter
The U.S. House is expected to vote on June 8 or 9 on the Sweeney-Spratt amendment to prevent tax dollars from being used to promote horse slaughter. Please take action right now—send an email and make a phone call to urge your U.S. Representative to vote YES on the Sweeney-Spratt Amendment.
Americans love horses—they are our trusted companions, our Olympic heroes, and our loyal work animals. Polls show time and time again that Americans don't support slaughtering our horses for foreign dinner plates. This travesty must be stopped...and by taking action, you can ensure that it will be.
You can reach your Representative by calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121. Your phone call could make all the difference. Not sure what to say? Here's a sample phone script for when you call:
We had bagels & lox....Mmm
Indeed! *LOL*
I've never tried horse before but am willing to give it a go.
Dogs? Anthing like mine....10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1.BAM!
You are correct. The little secret in all of this is that the price of a horse as meat provides a base level to it's value. The price of a pleasure horse on the market would drop if selling excess animals for meat were outlawed.
"I'm just not amused by all the people who think they're very cute to lob fun anecdotes into the thread like everyone eats horses without a thought. Not in this country we don't."
Seriously, why not?
If we can eat sheep, goats, pot bellied pigs, doves, geese, ducks, snails, oysters, lobsters, clams, mussels, crabs, crayfish, lovable little wabbits, and any processed unidentifiable toxic crap that comes in tins labelled Hormel, why not horses?
Take a look at your point of view. Next thing, you're going to be against eating squid. Or squirrel. Or seal or whale or dolphin, for that matter.
I'd be very grateful if someone could post a real valid and convincing reason not to eat horse.
Horses are not treated like cattle here. I believe we make a higher contract with them than food animals. We ask them to do things for us, we demand their cooperation and their obedience, they carry us, perform for us, and often injure themselves doing our bidding... It is for that they they deserve loyalty from us. Because ~we~ are better for returning their loyalty.
I think a higher level of care is our end of the bargain we make when we halter them and say "trust me, work with me, and I will not hurt you".
They give far more of themselves than our dogs do. And we don't eat Rover when arthritis takes him.
I've flown a number of times over "Flyover country" and can attest to the fact that there's a lot of room out there. I vote to turn them loose. Let Mother Nature take care of things. I cannot recall reading of rabid horses so its not like they're a danger to society. Turn a few hundred buffalo loose while we're at it. ;-)
LOL - these threads always have all those players in them ;~D
There are many who make pets of animals. Of course, loyalty to a trusted pet or pack animal goes far and I wouldn't expect a loyal and trusted lifelong friend to be killed and eaten - I'd be very suspicious of the person who did.
But if we are going to raise horses specifically for eating, then what's the issue? The Koreans (and ancient Aztecs) like dog. The Chinese like cat. Many Brazilian and Australian aborigines eat parrot. Many Africans eat monkey. So why are horses not treated like cattle here? Or right here, right now; they used to be eaten much more commonly in the west during colonial times.
Me, I just draw the line at cannibalism. And Spam.
We hunt deer. And elk and moose and bear.
If these horses are running free through God's green earth eating God's green vegetation along with the deer, the elk and the moose, then we, God's people ought to be able to put man's .300 mag to work.
And bison is good, too.
Contracts are agreements between rational beings i.e. humans. Disillusionment is unpleasant but.... horses don't write and don't sign contracts and Mister Ed couldn't really talk.
While dogs, horses, and other mammals have species-specific social skills which we tune into, being also socially conscious, they're not humans in a state of arrested development. They can make great pets and even be a great emotional comfort, but if you regard an animal as your best friend, woe unto you.
Excellent points. Thank you.
You summed up the whole situation pretty succinctly here.
Funding horse retirement homes is not an appropriate allocation of public money. If you want to keep horses on as pets, open your own wallet and pony up!
I disagree... when you train an animal, there is a contract between you, something expected in return for behaviors, that's why training works. There is trust. If you punish unfairly or act with inconsistency, training fails. I take that trust with all the honesty it is offered, and I honor it.
I think we are better for treating trained companion animals with more respect than wild prey or cattle. If you don't agree, that doesn't make me doubt my view at all. I still like my way better than yours.
We aren't doing that. We are talking about disposal of undesirable mustangs, that are the result of many many years of putting off the problem by BLM.
No one raises horses for slaughter here on any kind of scale. They are too long to grow to mature weight, and more expensive to feed and care for than the few hundred dollars you get for their meat. Even unregistered and mediocre horses are worth more as a riding horse than for slaughter.
There are a few classes of animals here that end up in slaughter.... The broken down old ones, the unruly or ruined attitude horses, The ones someone dumps in a hurry for a few dollars, and the premarin foals, who are another kind of waste altogether.
Horses can and do carry rabies.
It is usually associated with carnivores but any animal bit by a rabid carnivore can carry it.
Rabies in domestic, horses, and sheep have been reported this year in WVa, South Carolina, Tn and Pa.
Treat a horse with care and respect and it will reproduce itself and even kill itself for you.
Neglect and mistreat a horse and it will kill you....
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