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?
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There is no reason to ban horse meat for human consumption. Horses are commodities. If you want to keep a horse as a pet, fine. But don’t limit other people’s freedom.
Sarah Jessica Parker better lay low, if she knows what’s good for her.
I’ll take a number 3 Shetland meal please.
Is dog meat next?
Oh, and when you live on a ranch you discover that “wild horse” is how you say ‘pigeon’ in the country.
LOL
Before obama leaves the WEhite House you might be glad to get some dog meat to eat.
Congress passed the law, but Obama gets the kudos. Figures!
It’s more likely to happen humanely if it’s done in the states. People were still consuming horse meat, and the abbatoirs were in Canada and Mexico.
Now when you want to cook a winner, it can be 100% domestic.
Yee haa, Trigger to the plate!!
This is a good deal.
There are so many horses running loose and starving.
The drought in TX had horses being sold at sale barns for less than $20.
Prime stock, but could not be kept due to food cost.
The scum let them loose on others property to die of starvation.
There needs to be a market for the overabundance of horse and livestock.
Too many of the feel good girls let their ponies run loose on others land, only to suffer a horrible death.
It’s not Disney land out there, you well intentioned goofballs.
Life gets in the way of free range horses!
How endearing.
I can’t really disagree that this is a good thing. Whether I eat them or not, I’m not really sure where, beyond health, the govenment has a role in the consumption of domesticated animals.
I wouldn’t exactly suggest a diet of dog or cat, though.
Horse meat is not Halal.
This is a good law, the situation at present was a horrid tragedy, especially since the recession hit hard and the number of wild horses being adopted in BLS auctions had plummeted.
Congress should never have whored themselves out to the PETA crowd in the first place, sanity wins over the short sighted Utopianism of emotionally unstable “animal lovers”.
That won’t give you the trots, will it?
I can't think of any reason.
As an aside, during WWII, my Grandfather had a meat market here in VT and my Mom told me that as result of beef being scarce, he sold horse meat in his store.
Having spent years living in and traveling throughout the Far East (while serving in the USAF in the 60's, including an 18 month tour in Nam) I have no doubt that I ate all kinds of animals (including dog) that one would not normally have on their menu.
I guess if one does not have access to what we are accustomed to eating and/or one has eaten something we might consider strange, for decades--or centuries--some who live in other countries might consider out reluctance (or disgust) over the thought of eating what they do (and enjoy) as being as strange as we do towards their customs.
Real life is not “My Little Pony.”
Horses die.
Some have defects that kill them, others develop fatal diseases or are attacked and critically injured by other animals.
A lot of them even have to be put down on purpose because (Contrary to make believe world) they are violent tempered and pose a danger to other animals and to their human handlers. This has to be done no matter what is done with the body.
A horse carcass is a huge piece of meat. If it can not be sold for consumption by animals or humans then disposal becomes a pretty hefty financial drain on a small operation.
Have you ever even thought about this? The basics I have given you used to be taught in elementary school.
Yeah, we need to get a legitimate fderal government that governs only where given the authority by the US Constitution.
They aren’t children either.
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