Beats finding them in their bed
Posted on 01/05/2011 8:06:31 AM PST by 1rudeboy
Animal-Welfare Groups Are Joining Ranchers in a Push to Revive an Industry That Died in 2007
Less than four years after the last equine slaughterhouses in the U.S. closed down, an unlikely coalition of ranchers, horse owners and animal-welfare groups is trying to bring them back.
The group, gathering in Las Vegas this week for a conference called Summit of the Horse, aims to map out a strategy for reviving an industry that slaughtered as many as 100,000 horses a year in the U.S. before it was effectively shut down by congressional action in 2007.
Advocates say the slaughterhouses could bring an economic boost to rural areas and give owners who no longer have the means or inclination to care for the horses an economical and humane way to dispose of them.
"We believe that humane processing is absolutely a moral and an ethical choice," said Sue Wallis, a Wyoming state lawmaker who organized the event.
Ms. Wallis is working on bringing a slaughterhouse to her state, but said her coalition first must overcome what she called "the 'ick' factor."
Indeed, animal-welfare activists opposed to the resumption of slaughter say the public will rally to stop it, since many Americans grew up with such books as "Black Beauty" and TV shows like "Mister Ed" and consider horses companions, not meals.
"Public opinion is with us," said Patti Klein Manke, executive director of the Hooved Animal Humane Society.
Pressure from animal-rights groups and from undercover videos that circulated on the Internet and showed apparent cruelties in the horse-butchering process prompted Congress to shut off all funds for inspecting equine slaughterhouses in 2007. That dealt the industry a fatal blow, as federal inspections were required by law before the meat could be exported for human consumption.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Though horse lovers cheered when the last slaughterhouses were shuttered, some now say they may not have thought through the consequences.
"Feel good" legislation doesn't work? Who could've known?
Newly proposed “equine end of life counseling” regulations are forthcoming.
This is a very emotional issue. I never thought I’d say this but if done in a humane way with humane transport methods it would probably be the kindest thing that could be done. Some folks are having a hard enough time feeding their families and can’t afford their horses and have resorted to turning them loose in the desert out west or in strip mines in the east. That’s not a kind fate either.
As for myself, I’ll work as many jobs/hours as I need to in order to keep mine well fed and cared for.
Individuals have the right to treat them like humans if they wish, but that doesn't change the fact that they are livestock.
Imbue livestock with the same rights as humans, and soon humans will be considered nothing more than livestock.
I remember when Fernando, the horse that won the Derby, was slaughtered in a horsemeat slaughterhouse. I don’t think it was the US, but I remember being disturbed by it, on a purely emotional level. I had watched the Derby he won.
If I recall correctly, a restaurant advertised his meat as a special meal. People find that distasteful.
I think that may have been the event that gave impetus to the legislation.
Conversely, if you treat livestock with dignity, you are likely to treat humans with dignity.
Ferdinand.
Here in Alaska, people still turn horses out for the winter in many areas. A few years back, one of my native neighbors had some of their horses picked up; stolen by Equine Rescue Organization. This lady in charge of this organization would pay guys to locate horses while avoiding the owner, load them up in trailer then haul them off under the guise of animal cruelty. They were then butchering the horses for meat. Lucky the state cops caught the horse trailer on the highway and pulled it over with horses loaded up. Enough of the neighborhood had seen the trailer on our road too and called the cops.
As much as the local neighborhood kinda didn't like the horses wandering loose, they sure got upset at that equine rescue more. The lady almost went to jail over it all and had to stop all her activities. I never heard any more problems with horse lover/horse butchering types ever again.
I remember reading back before the “Great Recession” that horses that normally would have been sent to slaughter were being turned loose to fend for themselves in the wild. That to me is a bigger “ick” factor and I imagine the problem’s gotten much worse since this economic mess.
Whatever, Dude.
Horse Slaughter Is Reconsidered
Absolutely brilliant response. My faith in FR is reinforced.
Kill them. Cut them up into pieces. Eat them.
But with dignity. (?)
Yeah, sure.
No doubt there will be abuse in some cases, no matter what the law is.
But it is certainly kinder to the animal to be put down at what used to be called the glue factory, and used for meat and leather, than it is to go wandering off into the cold and die of starvation or a broken leg.
Here in Vermont I know people who raise various animals for meat, and no one I know would take any pleasure in killing them in anything but a humane way.
The same with deer. It’s better to be shot for the larder than it is to have the kind of overpopulation that is common in some bleeding heart suburbs, where there is not enough food for the deer to eat over the winter and many of them suffer starvation or other unpleasant endings.
If taxpayer funds were cut off to BLM for the permanent corralling of Mustangs Abbey might change his tune.
When that is the alternative to spending $300-$400 to have the horse put down, is it surprising?
Let me know when you finish the column. Thanks in advance.
Beats finding them in their bed
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