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Surge in Abandoned Horses Renews Debate Over Slaughterhouses
NY Times ^

Posted on 04/06/2009 10:35:23 PM PDT by Chet 99

April 7, 2009 Surge in Abandoned Horses Renews Debate Over Slaughterhouses By KATIE ZEZIMA

MURRAY, Ky. — Emaciated horses eating bark off trees. Abandoned horses tied to telephone poles. Horses subsisting on feces, walking among carcasses.

As the economy continues to falter, law enforcement officers in Kentucky and throughout the country are seeing major increases in the number of unwanted and neglected horses, some abandoned on public land, others left to starve by their owners.

The situation has renewed the debate over whether reopening slaughterhouses in the United States — the last ones closed in 2007 — would help address the problem. Some states, Missouri, Montana and North and South Dakota, for example, are looking at ways to bring slaughterhouses back.

An estimated 100,000 horses a year are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter, prompting Congress to consider a bill that would ban the sale and transport of horses for human consumption outside the country. But Arkansas, Georgia and eight other states are against such a ban, saying owners need affordable options for unwanted horses.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


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1 posted on 04/06/2009 10:35:23 PM PDT by Chet 99
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To: Chet 99

Dog food and glue and gelatin!


2 posted on 04/06/2009 10:36:01 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: Chet 99

There is a LOT of places on earth that will gobble up horsemeat.


3 posted on 04/06/2009 10:37:43 PM PDT by Eye of Unk ("If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." T. Paine)
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To: pissant

Cat food too


4 posted on 04/06/2009 10:37:50 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Beat a better path, and the world will build a mousetrap at your door.)
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To: Chet 99
You don't know what to do with your horse, so you tie it up and let it starve???? What the hell is wrong with everyone, I feel like I live in some kind of insane asylum any longer. It's like these bumper stickers I see on cop cars: "Don't abandon your baby." We have to tell people these things now?

I just threw in the terms "horse rescue" on google and got nearly 1 million returns. Is it really that difficult to come up with an alternative to starvation or Mexican slaughter houses??

5 posted on 04/06/2009 10:45:06 PM PDT by americanophile
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To: americanophile

It is unimaginable just how self-absorbed so many people truly are. The horse was there for THEIR pleasure, use and enjoyment. When they could no longer enjoy the horse, they were more than content to simply walk away “NOT MY PROBLEM.”


6 posted on 04/06/2009 10:47:56 PM PDT by Chet 99
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To: americanophile
I just threw in the terms "horse rescue" on google and got nearly 1 million returns. Is it really that difficult to come up with an alternative to starvation or Mexican slaughter houses??

What's wrong with just eating 'em? Why should a horse get a better deal than a cow or a chicken?

---

Send treats to the troops...
Great because you did it!
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7 posted on 04/06/2009 10:48:19 PM PDT by JCG
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To: JCG

What’s ‘wrong’ is that the concept of eating horses is largely foreign in our culture. They are not typically raised for food. People eat dogs in places too, but not here.


8 posted on 04/06/2009 10:53:04 PM PDT by americanophile
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To: americanophile
What’s ‘wrong’ is that the concept of eating horses is largely foreign in our culture.

So what? If we can slaughter and export them to France we'll make them happy and get their cash in return. We don't have to eat them ourselves.

---

Send treats to the troops...
Great because you did it!
www.AnySoldier.com

9 posted on 04/06/2009 11:10:56 PM PDT by JCG
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To: JCG
"So what...get their cash"

Yep, that's eveyone's attitude these days.

10 posted on 04/06/2009 11:13:51 PM PDT by americanophile
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To: Chet 99

It should be legal to humanely slaughter your own animal. When people can’t, they abandon.

I read the other posts about horse rescue. People may have many excuses. Maybe some are valid. To get your horse to a rescue means you have to find one, pay them (?), they need to be accepting, you need to be able to communicate details back and forth (have a working phone), you have to prove your ownership, you have to stay with your horse while arrangements are made, you may need to get them to the rescue place yourself somehow. . .in crisis situations I imagine that is not always possible.

I do not believe in cruelty to animals. However I do believe shooting a horse is kinder than abandoning him to starve or die of thirst.


11 posted on 04/06/2009 11:25:18 PM PDT by Marie2 (The capacity for self-government is a moral quality. Only a moral people can be free.)
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To: americanophile
What’s ‘wrong’ is that the concept of eating horses is largely foreign in our culture.

We generally don't eat snails, either, but they're yummy, and there's nothing wrong with that.

12 posted on 04/06/2009 11:25:31 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Obama is dead wrong on the first principle of justice: innocent human life deserves protection.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

...snails are grown for consumption there, and in any event aren’t typically pets. Does not anyone else but me think it’s odd to eat pets? Why don’t we ship dogs and cats to China and Korea then? After all, we can make $$$$$$$$


13 posted on 04/06/2009 11:28:33 PM PDT by americanophile
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To: americanophile
Is it really that difficult to come up with an alternative to starvation or Mexican slaughter houses??

Why not reopen the domestic slaughterhouses and regulate them to prevent cruelty?

14 posted on 04/06/2009 11:28:58 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Obama is dead wrong on the first principle of justice: innocent human life deserves protection.)
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To: Chet 99

Here’s how I see it.

I have horses and they are not pets, even though I love most of them. They have given me countless hours of enjoyment. BUT, they are livestock..they are not pets. I treat them like pets but they are classified as livestock.

Some of our horses are wonderful and will never see the canner. They will be put down by our vet when it is time. No canner for them.

Some have been crippled or sick and have been put down by our vet. No canner for them.

Some have been a nightmare and after countless hours, days, week and months of working with them by professional trainers and me they are still a nightmare. Guess what...they are now dogfood...or foreign steaks. I really don’t care. If they are outlaws and I worry for my kids or my safety, they go to slaughter.
They are livestock, after all.

Flame away.


15 posted on 04/06/2009 11:31:06 PM PDT by MTMS
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To: americanophile
What's "wrong" is the anthropomorphism of animals. No one had a problem with the humane disposal of animals before idiots like PETA started campaigning.

Sending a horse to a glue factory was not considered a crime. People who own domesticated animals that are of no use should not be forced to keep them. While Americans have not eaten horse meat, they have certainly sold it throughout history.

16 posted on 04/06/2009 11:31:34 PM PDT by antidisestablishment (Our people perish through lack of wisdom, but they are content in their ignorance.)
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To: MTMS

We live just south of the Canadian border so the canner horses go up there. And, there are lots of canner horses being sold every month around here.


17 posted on 04/06/2009 11:33:52 PM PDT by MTMS
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To: americanophile
Does not anyone else but me think it’s odd to eat pets?

Most horse owners don't think of horses as pets the way they think of cats and dogs. They're commodities, for the most part, like cattle and sheep. Sure, some folks become emotionally attached to them, but nobody's forcing them to sell their old horses as food.

As for your idea of sending dogs and cats to China and Korea, you may be on to something...

18 posted on 04/06/2009 11:34:21 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Obama is dead wrong on the first principle of justice: innocent human life deserves protection.)
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To: MTMS
They are livestock, after all.

That's what I was trying to say.

Why waste all that meat and incur all the expense of disposing of Mr. Ed's horsey carcass when there are hungry dogs in the world?

19 posted on 04/06/2009 11:37:06 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Obama is dead wrong on the first principle of justice: innocent human life deserves protection.)
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To: antidisestablishment
"People who own domesticated animals that are of no use should not be forced to keep them"

They're not. As I mentioned, there are a million alternatives...if you're the kind of person that can love a pet one day, and sell it for glue the next, then so be it.

20 posted on 04/06/2009 11:43:34 PM PDT by americanophile
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