Barring horse slaughter here in the U.S. just leads to a long trip to a crueler slaughter in Mexico.
Now, wild horse lovers want to ban exportation of horses for slaughter.
OK, are you going to write a personal check to cover euthanasia and carcass disposal costs for each horse? Better yet, as a preventative, are you going to stop your opposition to horse culls on federal lands in the west?
4 comments:
Correction - animal welfare advocates want the banning of slaughter for ALL horses. It's not humane, it's barbaric and not needed for an animal that is not part of our food chain. BTW-a little research would have told you that the exports were happening when the kill houses were open.
True, I know, on the "ban all slaughter." I focused on wild horses because of the somewhat related population expansion issue.
"Not part of our food chain"? Only if you restrict your food chain to the United States, and even then, only among the last century. American Indians often ate horses when they played out. So, too, did white pioneers and explorers.
Not "humane"? Only if they're being killed in Mexico, as the story explained. No less humane than cattle slaughterhouses here in the U.S.
Yes, exports may have been happening before, but, the problem's now worse.
And, back to my final rhetorical question: You gonna cut a check to pay for euthanasia costs? Put your money where your mouth is?
Gladfly, why should we care what people in other countries are eating? If they want to eat horse meat, that’s fine but they can butcher their own horses. Imagine how India would feel if we set-up shop and started butchering their cows for our beef supply. Yes, horsemeat may have been eaten by Americans when the country was being settled and I’ve also heard during the first world war. But, this is 2008 and the overwhelming majority of Americans do not want our horses slaughtered. They are viewed as companion, sport and work animals – not food. Why should anyone but the owner be responsible for humanely euthanizing their horse? The cost is far less than the cost of caring for the animal for one month. In the research I’ve done, it looks like the wild horse issue is all about the cattlemen wanting the grazing land for their cattle. The statistics I’ve seen indicate the population is significantly less than when the original wild horse act was passed.
It’s all about money. The number of horses slaughtered is based on the demand by foreign companies for horse meat. It has nothing to do with “unwanted” horses. Didn’t you ever wonder why the number of “unwanted” horses always equals the exact number of horses slaughtered in a given year?
Amazing, isn't it, how "unwanted" horses' numbers exactly equal the slaughtered each year. Must be some conspiracy going on.
As for the wild horses, many places where they run don't have domestic livestock grazing, although some spots may.
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