Posted on 03/20/2013 4:00:28 PM PDT by ilovesarah2012
About eight miles outside of Roswell, N.M., a shuttered cattle farm is getting ready to reopen its doors. Only this time, the Valley Meat Co. won’t be killing cows. It hopes to be the first U.S. farm to start slaughtering horses for human consumption.
Not far behind could be plants in Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma.
Across the country, companies are applying for permits with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to kill horses for food – a practice Congress ended in 2007. The measure to stop the slaughters, though, lapsed in 2011 and now companies are clamoring to get back into the game.
“We’re getting ready,” Valley Meat Co. attorney A. Blair Dunn, told FoxNews.com.
But it hasn’t been an easy road, with public opposition still strong to the idea of horse-slaughter resuming in the U.S., though the current plans would be geared toward exporting the meat to other countries.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Sorry, but that sounds pretty liberal. Education is not the answer for everything and is certainly not guaranteed to turn people around to your personal opinion about horses.
Horses are non-sentient beings. We get into vegan territory when we forbid their slaughter for food.
It's no different than for cattle, pigs, chickens, etc.
Horses are livestock. If you can afford to treat yours like pets and want to feed them until they die of old age, that's your business.
But once the owner of a horse can no longer afford to pasture and feed it, which is happening (by design) all the time under Ubama, what do you suggest happens to it?
PS - Under Ubama, suicide is the leading cause of death. It ain't just horses he's killing.
65 years ago I bought horsemeat for our cats, why shouldn’t people eat it?
“In the legal realm, debating sentience can be found quite often, particularly in cases regarding abortion or perhaps severe mental retardation, with animal rights cases and others. Arguing whether an abortion is murder, whether a fetus is to be considered sentient or sapient (defined as showing sound wisdom or judgment) or arguing over animal rights spurs major debates not only over the definitions but also of the applications of a definition of sentient life.”
Read more: Sentient Life Definition | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_6926244_sentient-life-definition.html#ixzz2O80CinSJ
When people have severe Alzheimer’s or mental retardation, are they still “sentient”? Are human embryos?
And if “education” sounds liberal, we are all in trouble. I value education and would imagine a lot of conservatives do.
Could you direct me to one of them? I can put them in the red in a couple of weeks, if they have the money to begin with . . . .
It is.
This is exactly what I was thinking. I was living in TX when the ban on slaughter happened along with the drought and the forced importing of hay.
The cost to put down a horse and dispose of the body was prohibitive. So horses were being given away (we gave away our gelding - could sell him, couldn’t afford him). People who couln’t find homes for their horses put them on starvation rations. People with land were illegally doing the whole ‘shoot, shovel (bulldoze) and shut up’.
Horse meat is nutritious and it’s a hell of a lot better to put them down than to let them starve. There was a glut of that particular livestock and there was no way to deal with it. In the end, the animals suffered.
A joint press release put out by two animal welfare organizations—Animal Law Coalition and Animals’ Angels—states that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was aware of “extreme cruelty during horse slaughter at facilities in the U.S.” The December 4 press release claims are based on a 906-page document and nearly 900 disturbing photos released by the USDA.
The document and photos were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request submitted three years ago by equine cruelty investigator Julie Caramante. Animals’ Angels assisted Caramante in obtaining the documents, and they are now working with Animal Law Coalition to assess and disseminate the information.
“I’ve been an equine cruelty investigator for a number of years,” Caramante says, “and I’ve witnessed many incidents of animal cruelty but nothing could prepare me for these images.”
According to the press release, “The photographs document significant injuries to horses at the slaughter house. Injuries included conscious dismemberment, open fractures, blinding, and battered faces. It appears some horses were left to bleed out. Other injuries indicated long-term abuse and neglect.”
“The pain and terror these horses had endured is criminal,” Caramante says.
The documents and photographs released by the USDA can be found at /redirect.aspx?location=http%3a%2f%2fwww.kaufmanzoning.net. WARNING: THE IMAGES ARE EXTREMELY DISTURBING.
http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-news/2008/12/05/american-horse-slaughter.aspx
Thanks for educating me on this.
So you’d take a horse that served you well for its whole life, and just starve it to death? Really?
Reasons pro-slaughter forces use to justify supporting horse slaughter:
Myth – If horse slaughter becomes illegal, there would be too many horses in our country and not enough homes for them.
Truth – Of the 6,900,000 estimated horse population in the U.S. less than 1% of horses are slaughtered or “processed”. In addition, if horse slaughter is banned, horse theft will be almost eliminated, breeders will be more selective in how many horses are bred each year, PMU farms will reduce the number of mares bred, or individuals who have horses that can no longer be used for rodeos, horse racing, etc. would have to take responsibility in either finding another home, retire them to a sanctuary or responsibly euthanize them.
Myth – Their concerns are humanitarian, not financially driven.
Truth – Abuse happens every day, and more so in the horse industry. From the time the horse is in the feed lot, taken to auction, put on the double decker trucks (for 36 hours without food or water), to the time they are unloaded at the slaughterhouse, these horses endure a tremendous amount of suffering. Once in the slaughterhouse they see other horses being slaughtered, they smell the blood, they hear the screams and they see their friends being hoisted up by one leg, usually still conscious and alive and bled to death. Most horses are the by-product of the for profit horse industry, and slaughter is a quick and profitable way of discarding all unwanted horses. To see the horrors behind the slaughterhouse doors click on www.sharkonline.org/horseslaughter.mv (please note the video footage is extremely graphic). To view pictures of horses in the slaughter house click on www.kaufmanzoning.net/horsemeat/SlaughterPhotos.htm
Myth – The AVMA and USDA ensures the horses destined for slaughter are treated humanely and have experts who make professional recommendations enforcing the regulations.
Truth – The footage taken over the years proves this is not the case. Statements taken from slaughterhouse workers, police officers and many others comment that horses are severely dismembered, abused and tortured while still alive. There are not enough experts that can monitor the atrocities that happen in the slaughterhouse plants.
Myth – Many people can’t afford to humanely euthanize their horse.
Truth – The truth is that the average American horse owner would prefer to euthanize his/her horse rather than sending them to the slaughter. However, many individuals think their horse is going to a good home (through an auction or to an individual in the business to sell horses to slaughter) and without their knowledge are being sold to the slaughterhouses. It is documented that 78% of horses being slaughtered are healthy companion animals. Furthermore, most people who have horses have the financial means to pay a veterinarian to humanely euthanize their horse. Having horses is not a “hobby” for the poor.
Myth – If we don’t have horse slaughter plants in the U.S. old, sick and dying horses would have no where to go.
Truth – The truth is, that over 78% of horses slaughtered each year, are our healthy companion animals, foals and wild horses and burros removed from public lands by the BLM (estimated 90% of the wild horses and burros are sent to slaughter concedes Tom Pogacnick, Director of BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program).
http://www.equinevoices.org/horses/issues/slaughter/
Lots of falsehoods out there about horse slaughter.
I have no problem REGULATING slaughterhouses. I want them regulated for cows, pigs and chickens. But we do need them.
As I taught my children, “I want to kill, dress, cook and eat the animal. I don’t want to *hurt* it.”
Because they've been treated with various meds that make the meat unfit for human consumption. That's why. Whether the meat is fit for pet consumption is perhaps another good question.
Your question does not obviate the fact that people are starving their horses to death because they cannot afford to keep them.
I live near many of these "warehouses"
It's a joke.....and a waste.
The whole thing makes me sad but at least it takes my mind off of what Obama is doing.
I tried to read that, but I couldn’t. I guess I’m a hypocrite like you...an animal lover who likes meat.
And yes, despite my conservatism, when it comes to animals, I’m emotional. Oh, well.
Nonsense. It's people that have gotten a lifetime of service from a good horse and don't honor their end of the bargain, that just ship them away. It's not so hard or expensive to euthanize an old or sick animal. It's just part of the deal of being a horse owner. There are rescue outfits available to help those that truly can't pay for it.
Exactly right. The people I know who don't want horses slaughtered are actually working their asses off trying to save horses... their own time, money and effort.
It's the lazy people who think they ought to be able to dispose of their unwanted animals for free, or even make money at it.
I simply don't believe the anecdotal report up there that there are 'hundreds' of starving horses along the highway between PA and OH, or that any incidence of neglect has anything to do with a legal slaughter market in this country. Those who want to dump horses and even make a few dollars doing it can do that *now*. Horses are shipping, every single day, over both borders for slaughter in Canada and Mexico. There is never and excuse for neglect.
There is a lot more to this issue than just one kind of meat versus another.
I do believe whole heartedly that horses have a higher contract with us than cattle do. We ask for their cooperation and trust, we need to hold up our end of that bargain when they are done. As a people, and a culture, we don't eat horses.
I also know that horses, in close quarters and fearful situations, do not behave like cattle do. They panic and do a lot of damage to themselves and the other horses. Transport and slaughter of horses, in factory settings, is an incredibly cruel process. I can post proof if that is doubted. It is absolutely not some kind of equivalent alternative to euthanasia by either veterinarian, or even a well placed bullet.
But even those who would discount that ethical argument cannot get around the fact that horses, over their long lives, regularly receive a lot of medicines that are specifically banned and harmful to humans. Pet food companies won't even buy it any more. Horses are not and will never be managed as food animals in this country. Anyone who says they can be made safe is foolish.
By July of this year, anyone selling horse meat in the EU has to be able to trace that animal and it's medications since birth, with Passport and microchip. Up till now, drivers delivering horses have just been able to lie about it. Apparently the EU is catching on, and they'll not be able to get away with that as easily in the future.
You aren’t alone.
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