Posted on 11/29/2011 4:55:10 PM PST by SJackson
Horse slaughter plants are legal again in the United States. Restrictions on horse meat processing for human consumption have been lifted.
In a bipartisan effort, the House of Representatives and the United States Senate approved the Conference Committee report on spending bill H2112, which among other things, funds the United States Department of Agriculture. On November 18th, as the country was celebrating Thanksgiving, President Obama signed a law, allowing Americans to kill and eat horses. Essentially, one turkey was pardoned in the presence of worldwide media while in the shadows, buried under pages of fiscal regulation, millions of horses were sentenced to death.
Horse slaughter has been prohibited in the United States as funding for inspections of horses in transit and at slaughter houses was non-existent. This worked because the horse meat cannot be sold for human consumption without such inspections. The House version of the bill retained the de-funding language and the Senate version did not. The conference committee charged with reconciling the two opted to not include it. The result is that it is now legal to slaughter horses for humans to eat.
Notwithstanding that 70% of Americans oppose horse slaughter, that President Obama made a campaign promise to permanently ban horse slaughter and exports of horses for human consumption (horses can be sent to Mexico and Canada), that documentation of animal cruelty, slaughterhouse stench, fluid runoff and negative community impact exists, it is taxpayers that will bear the costs!
Wyoming state representative Sue Wallis and her pro-slaughter group estimate that between 120,000 and 200,000 horses will be killed for human consumption per year and that Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Georgia and Missouri, are considering opening slaughter plants.
During these trying times, is the only thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on is that Americans need to eat horses?
Read more:
Its a delicacy in France and I guess all over Europe. I don’t think I could eat it unless I was about 48 hours from my last meal but I heard it is very tasty.
You definitely have a food prejudice! I do too, but mine are buried fish heads (stinkheads) and buried duck embryos in the shell (balutes)... Get a life!
JC
A mere 25 yrs ago in the foothills east of Milpitas, CA, one could buy “cheap” steaks and roasts from a freezer in “Herman, the German’s” barn on his ranch. He bought lots of horses, but sold not so many (on the hoof anyway)! People said it was a lot more red than beef, which was one way to tell the difference...
JC
Before even reading this my thought was.....of course, what else are they going to feed everybody in the FEMA camps?
“Most Americans object to eating horses. So that’s a perfectly good reason to ban it.”
No it isn’t. You don’t want to eat it, then don’t, but don’t try to tell me what I can eat or not!
JC
I won’t read the rest of the posts but you surely got it right. Banning horse slaughter caused a painful and desperate end for thousands of unwanted and often injured horses that were dumped on private and public lands. Sickness and starvation was their lot.
Sometimes the jokes just write themselves.
I’ve trained many dogs and many horses in my lifetime. I see their intelligence to be on the same level. Since I would no sooner eat my horse than my dog, I’d say the life I’m living is just fine and therefore, there’s no need for me to ‘get’ one. OTOH, the day I start shopping for my protein at the local animal shelter I’ll certainly defer to your advice.
“This is disgusting! I’ll eat alot of things, but I draw the line at horses.”
Well, there’s your answer then. Don’t eat horse meat.
Lol! We eat elk, deer, pronghorn antelope, and our own grassfinished beef. I would have no problem eating horse... Especially some of the knuckleheads we’ve had.
Horses have been exported previously for slaughter due to domestic bans and they endure horrific cruelty while in transit and at foreign slaughterhouses.
I’m no horse eater, but from what I know about the issue, this is a move toward much more humane treatment of animals.
Frankly, I support this.
I despise the notion that this is tied to Hussein Obama and made political, giving me yet another reason to hate this man.
This mornings paper had an article about abused, staving horses ...we owe these beasts good stewardship, as with all meat that we consume.
http://www.courant.com/community/wethersfield/hc-wethersfield-horse-arrest-1130-20111129,0,2226734.story
Horses won't do that!
I would eat your horse if it was healthy; not so much cats and dogs because they are carnivores, but the Koreans and Filipinos like their dog meat and the Chinese like cats!
JC
I’m talking about wild horses on *our* land. Not BLM land.
And while you seem to be all romantic about these creatures how about a few facts?
1. Wild horses are not native to North America. They’re an invasive species that crowds out native animals like pronghorn antelope.
2. Wild horses are like a 1500 pound petri dish full of all sorts of diseases. Feel free to hug one if you want.
3. Wild horses love to kick the crap out of domestic horses and cattle. They’re also not shy about attacking people when it’s mating season.
4. They don’t look so good after you hit one with your pickup truck. Neither do you, for that matter.
if God didn’t want us to eat them, why did he make them out of meat?
You are so right. I am finishing up an article on this very topic right now for publication here in N.M. There is MUCH more to this story, and for once Congress got it right and corrected a MAJOR screw up.
I’ll post it soon as it goes to press here.
Nope we’ve not banned export for slaughter. More horses are being slaughtered for meat now, since the U.S. government quit funding inspectors in the U.S. in 2006.
Before they were slaughtered in U.S. facilities with a vet on site, humanely. Now they are doing it in Canada and Mexico, with little to no regulations, on the transfer and slaughter. That is the ones that aren’t being abandoned, starved, etc. In New Mexico alone, somewhere between 2,000- to 3,000 horses have been abandoned on public lands (BLM USFS, NPA and tribal lands).
The animals rights caused cruelty to horses to escalate after they convinced some in Congress to add riders to the ag appropriations bill, which were left off this time. The GAO issued a DAMNING report on the results in June 2011, that’s what led to this change.
Amen to that. When they shut down the slaughter houses it created a huge mess.
Then the recession comes along and many people with horses couldn't give them away due to the cost of feeding them thus abuse cases are growing rapidly.
BLM lands are being overrun with horses so BLM rounds them up, puts them in corrals and feeds them on taxpayer dollars.
Thanks for the ping, I'm looking forward to reading your article.
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