Why Horse Slaughter is Necessary.
Posted by on Jun 27, 2011 in Association News | 6 commentsIn the US in 2007, when the government bowed to pressure from animal rights groups, the processing plants for horses were closed and the last horses slaughtered legally. Unfortunately, those lobbying had not considered in full the catastrophic result on all the horses who remain unwanted.
The most important misconception was the belief that the abattoirs only existed for people to make money from horses going for meat. The anti-slaughter activists argued that without abattoirs, all horses would be found homes.
This demonstrated a singular lack of understanding of the equine world, and the wastage therin.
Bovine, porcine and ovine species are bred specifically for human consumption where the market dictates supply and demand. It is generally in the interest of producers to have fit and healthy well-covered animals to obtain the maximum price for them. Without a market, they stop producing. This does not happen with horses as the primary market is the leisure, racing, showing and sports industries.
Horses are not bred for meat in the US, the abattoirs were used to provide a relatively humane end to the thousands of animals that become unwanted annually due to lameness, age, lack of performance or lack of funds. Of course they ran at a profit, but they existed because the need was there, they are not responsible for the overbreeding that supplies their product. That blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the equestrian world. We discussed it in an earlier blog post about Unwanted Horses in America.
By removing the facility for slaughter, an explosion in the neglect and suffering of equines in the US was a given.
This in depth Independent Article by the US Government documents the increase in neglect and welfare cases since 2007. A quick Summary of the paper is here.
The most telling quote from the summary is this –
Since domestic horse slaughter ceased in 2007, the slaughter horse market has shifted to Canada and Mexico. From 2006 through 2010, U.S. horse exports for slaughter increased by 148 and 660 percent to Canada and Mexico, respectively. As a result, nearly the same number of U.S. horses was transported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter in 2010–nearly 138,000–as was slaughtered before domestic slaughter ceased.
So, in essence, they haven’t stopped the slaughter at all, they’ve just added to the suffering of these ill fated equines by forcing them to endure horrendously long journeys to be killed in a country without regulations regarding the slaughter process. A 660 % increase in horses suffering a living hell until they are killed horribly in Mexico.
Unfortunately, within the paper there appears to be no plans to re-introduce abattoirs. The main concerns seem to be monitoring the transport to slaughter, which as we have experienced in Europe, is extremely difficult. Far simpler to have a processing plant with weekly checks.
Wake up America – at least take responsibilty for your horses having a swift end on your own soil without passing the buck and leaving these poor animals open to unspeakable suffering.
I follow the US situation fairly closely for a variety of reasons (prep for a book being one), and even now there are legislative proposals to make horse slaughter truly illegal. Some states even have a jail sentence for anyone caught taking a horse out of state in the knowledge that it will be slaughtered. Crazy. What is supposed to happen to these horses? Will states pay for their upkeep?
Unfortunately horse slaughter usa style was not relatively humane. The US horse slaughter business was and is brutal and predatory. Photographic evidence obtained by ?Animals Angles from US authorities under FOI showed hard core abuse – gouged eyes, broken legs, etc, etc, long distance haulage in double decker trailers. US slaughter houses are industrialised and vile. Obviously the current situation is dreadful. But the market exists in France, Belgium, Japan for horsemeat and so buyers in the USA will continue to supply. In an ideal world the old and unwanted would be quietly put down at home but think of the Irish situation racehorses slaughtered in droves so owners can recoup a few bucks. It all comes down to greed.
As I said – you have it the wrong way round – horses are not bred to fill the abattoirs, the abattoirs exist to process the unwanted horses. We are fully aware of the horrors of transportation to slaughter. That could be avoided with local slaughter, and why we strive to ban transport to slaughter.
The suffering is what the living horses endure – it is of no consequence what happens to the carcasses of dead animals.
I have a couple of questions –
Is it better to put a horse through days of desperate suffering in transit to be slaughtered in the most inhumane conditions, or is it better to transport them short distances to monitored regulated abattoirs for a swift dispatch?
What would you do with 100,000 unwanted horses a year, whose owners do not choose to euthanase, and who there are no homes for?
In response to both Ladyofthewood3’s and C Marshall561’s posts against the need for slaughter, please reread what has been written. There are NO homes for these horses to go to. Over 100,000 horses are surplus to requirement EVERY year in the US. Whether you are uncomfortable about slaughter or not, it’s basic common sense to understand the horses suffer less if they don’t have to travel the long distance to slaughter. And especially travelling to Mexico where the methods are barbaric. The horses were NOT stabbed to death in the US.
It’s all very well shouting about how slaughter is barbaric, and priding yourselves on it not happening now in the US, but in reality, that is simply NIMBYism, and America has WORSENED the plight of the unwanted horses, not helped.
America needs to reopen abattoirs across the states, with strict regulations and CCTV to prevent any abuse. The slaughterhouses exist BECAUSE of the unwanted horses, the horses are NOT bred to feed the supply.
C Marshall561 – if Europe needed more horses to eat, it would breed them. You have it the wrong way round if you think the unwanted horse population in America is driven by market demand for meat. The article above proves that. Companies don’t mine for coal where this is none. The desperate situation for these horses exists in America because the ‘do-gooders’ refuse to believe that they have made a catastrophic error in banning slaughter instead of tightening the regulations.
This blog post is really very uninformed from my perspective. I encourage anyone reading it to please educate yourself about the reality of the content contained in this post. As a previous comment states most slaughter in North America is far from humane, as are the conditions with the meat dealers. As well, many excellent, healthy, young and good mannered horses are rescued from meat dealers at auctions weekly and many more are not. Often their owners can’t be bothered to spend the time to re-home their horses and they are happy with the price the meat dealer will give them. If you are interested in this subject please seek out more information from other sources.