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 ...
Already did. What’s your point?
Now let’s be accurate: I’m only rude to the stupid.
I’m wondering what your problem is with the issue of “dignity.” You appeared to have an adverse reaction to the word.
I was raised on a farm so I have no problem killing livestock. And it’s common sense that the better you treat your animals, the more food they will produce for you (in the freezer).
And horse is good eatin’!
Is being rude to yourself sort of like giving yourself a hum job?
Wow.. how often do you get a liberal interest group to say “oops — nevermind.”
Is being incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same time genetic, or learned?
Horse meat is yummy.
No, you only assumed that.
I’ve had it . . . didn’t find it very special. Just meat.
Tastes like chicken.
Well said. I have a hunting camp on a farm I go to every weekend. I do not understand the “They are just animals crowd”. Even if you are going to raise animals to eat them, you can treat the well. And I fully agree with your statement. People that are kind to animals, are kind people. People that think little of animal life, think little of life.
Ok, so you didn't intend to type that quotation mark after the word, even though you did.
“...Imbue livestock with the same rights as humans, and soon humans will be considered nothing more than livestock...”
Which is EXACTLY how the Left views human beings, and always has, since Day One.
And which is exactly why we need to fight them, always, everywhere, forever, by any means necessary, until they are beaten down and thrown on the trash heap of failed ideologies of history.
I said livestock should be treated like livestock. By that I meant valuable property that should be treated as valuable property. That precludes abusing them.
Having Tourette's Syndrome, you knee-jerk made the implication that I was advocating cruelty and that livestock should be treated with "dignity."
We eat livestock. Not much dignity in that.
But go ahead and act like an air-headed fourteen-year old know-it-all. It fits you like a glove.
Everything you say is true.
Hooved Animal Humane Society = cruel bastards. And I say this as horse owner and a horse rescuer.
The “They are just animals crowd” simply is reacting to the PETA control-freaks. That’s what led to my “walk and chew gum” comment: you can hold the opinion that it is preferable to slaughter these animals in a centralized and convenient location instead of trucking them to Mexico where anything can happen, without becoming someone who throws paint at people wearing fur coats.
That was Ferdinand and before that the great champion Exceller. Both were slaughtered overseas. Ferdinand was slaughtered in Japan and Exceller was slaughtered in Sweden.
I am against horse slaughter for humane reasons. I am for stiffer penalties for animal abuse and for those horse owners who can no longer care for their horses, there should be places where they can take their horses to put them to sleep or turned over to horse rescue organizations.
To me, horses are not livestock and have plowed our fields, served us in battle and were beasts of burden. They deserve a better fate.
“..Ooops, excuse me. I came here thinking this was a thread about Louise Slaughter...”
Dude...it said “Horse”...not “pig”....
I’m just sayin’....
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