Posted on 12/30/2003 4:37:20 AM PST by rooster1
An Education in the Unthinkable
Driving up in the afternoon I watch the horses graze carefree in the pasture. Once a naive horse owner I am now all too aware of the horrors of the slaughter industry in the US. There are two horse slaughter plants operating in the US currently, both in Texas and named Bel-Tex and Dallas Crown.
With both plants so far from South Carolina, it seems unlikely to most horse owners and lovers that we would have a problem with our beloved horses ending up at a plant, but it is not far fetched. How many of us, I included, have stopped by an auction house and looked through the horses awaiting their turn at sale? Never staying to buy, but just seeing what was there. On any given night there are "kill buyers", those who go to buy the cheap, the old, the underweight for very little money. Like cattle they will stay in feedlots and be fattened up and then make the trip to Texas.
Horror stories about the trucking companies have led to some minor changes but still no victories for the horses. Sometimes hauled for several days, they are denied water, are crowded with mixed sexes. Mares, foals and stallions all fight for room. Some horses never make the trip and are trampled to death on the trip or suffer injuries for which they will receive no care.
Breed, size, color, or tempermant mean nothing to the slaughter house buyer. Once faithful friends of someone, wild horses who slipped through the cracks, unwanted, or stolen horses all await the same fate. Undercover footage has shown the brutal process of butchering for meat. Horses struggle in the chute where a captive bolt gun is applied to their head. It is supposed to insert a bolt to split the animals skull rendering it unconscious before it is strung up and it's throat split. Imagine the horror in the horse's mind as he hears the others, and scrambles on blood soaked floors trying to escape the inevitable. Undercover investigations have caught on tape horses being strung up fully alert, and being cut open before being dead.
Horses in the US played such a valuable part of our country's birth. We built roads, cleared forests, carried mail, battled for freedom, created towns and plowed fields for food all with the horse. As Americans we do not dine on our equine friends. Most people are appalled at the idea. Yet, we kill our horses to feed the Japanese, French, and other European and Asian nations.
Even famous horses are not spared. A Blood Horse reporter uncovered that beloved Ferdinand, a Derby Winner, was "disposed" of in a Japanese slaughterplant after he failed to be a productive stud. Racehorses are so full of heart and determination. They are used and abused, they make men rich, they offer the chance for the socially elite to show off their best, and yet the reward they receive is put out or be rid of.
The demise of the 1986 Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner and 1987 Horse of the Year signaled an end to whatever innocence may have remained in the Thoroughbred business. While it is easy to point fingers at the Japanese culture that holds monetary issues above emotional ones, the story of Ferdinand also ends the era when North American interests can sell bloodstock without taking responsibility for the ultimate disposition of the animals they've brought into this world. While it numbs the brain that Ferdinand was passed from farm to farm and agent to agent throughout Japan with nobody thinking to contact people in the United States who'd bring him back home, it is also mind-boggling that nobody here inquired into what happens to stallions who have outlived their breeding usefulness overseas.
Ferdinand's story became a big news story thanks to the extensive and meticulous reporting by Barbara Bayer, who spent several months tracking the path of shame that marked Ferdinand's last days. After The Blood-Horse broke the story in late July, other industry publications attempted to discredit Bayer, The Blood-Horse's Japan correspondent, as a "freelancer." They said she lacked proof, that the timing was wrong for this type of story (as if there's ever a right time), and that the horse's fate was uncertain. They were wrong on all counts.
Bayer, through her intimate knowledge of Japanese culture, got it exactly right. She knew just what it meant when she was told Ferdinand had been "disposed of." In fact, he had been killed late in 2002, the victim of two societies all too willing to rid themselves of what is no longer money-producing.
After failing to make the desired impact as a stallion at Claiborne Farm (also his birthplace) near Paris, Ky., Ferdinand was sold and arrived at Arrow Stud in Japan in 1995 with high expectations. His covers, which peaked at 77 in his initial year, plummeted in subsequent seasons. By 2000, his final season at Arrow, he covered 10 mares. He moved to a smaller operation, Goshima Farm, where he covered six mares in 2001 and two in 2002. Then he passed into the hands of a dealer, whose job it is to get whatever he can for unwanted bloodstock.
That dealer initially lied to Bayer several times when she inquired as to Ferdinand's whereabouts. The story evolved from "he'd been given to a friend" to "he's at a riding club far away from here" to, finally, "he isn't around anymore. He was disposed of."
Thank God their are agencies in place trying every day to save horses from this fate. From lobbying to letter writing. Those in the "trenches" daily buying horses from kill buyers, establishing retirement options and racehorse retirement. And there is more.... there is you reading this article. Please call, fax or write your US Congressman and urge them to cosponsor the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (HR 857). Let them know how recent efforts to legalize horse slaughter in Texas met with overwhelming opposition from the public. Tell them about the survey conducted last month that showed that 72% of Texans oppose horse slaughter.
HR 857 prohibits the transport of horses across state lines and international borders for the purpose of slaughter and also prohibits the sale or transport of horsemeat for human consumption. If passed, HR 857 will put an end once and for all to the slaughter of American horses both in the U.S. and in foreign countries.
Next time you drive by a field of horses, think if that one will be there tomorrow. WIll he be there ten years from now, or will he be in the stomach of a man far, far away. Our horses deserve better, we do not slaughter our dogs and cats in this way to feed other countries. We value their lives and care for them and at the right time humanely euthanize them. We have shelters in place to care for those who need help and who can over see a humane end if need be. Blood money is what prevents the horse from having the same basic rights. The strong and beautiful horse who America owes so much too, dies today to line the pockets of a few greedy individuals who see them only as a money making business for countries overseas. Don't you think it is time to put an end to this horror? How many more will have to die? I will go kiss my horses tonight and whisper a prayer for the others who won't be getting the love and care I shower upon mine. It is time now for us to take a stand and speak for those who cannot.
Leigh Anne O'Kelley
www.rescuewishes.com
www.rescuewishes.com/allanimals
Under that logic any crime that is already over isn't worth prosecuting if the suffering is already over. We fret because there will be more.
I am apalled that you would have so much as mentioned it to her then... Is hurting your friends always amusing?
Then do what with the carcass?
If you have enough land you drag it in the back forty and wait for the coyotes to clean it up. But it is still a big skeleton.
Sure they may trust you and depend on you for food and shelter, but they would know no different if they were loosed to roam wild.
Being turned loose to roam wild isn't a choice that is before us. What is before us is how to 'dispose' of the ones that have spent their life in our service.
I acknowledge that it is harder to spend dollars on a vet to have the animal put down and then to dispose of the body either with rendering truck or with a backhoe. I acknowledge that it would be 'easier' when the horse breaks down and can't work any more to just haul him off to a meat auction and leave before the ugly stuff happens.
I just find that 'easy' way out to be abhorrent and not worthy of the loyalty and life work those horses gave us.
It's always amazed me when people who "love" their horse sell it at auction for $500 and think that it's going to a good home. Way too many people keep horses who cannot afford them. They don't love anything but themselves.
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