If shipping horses to Mexico for slaughter was made illegal, all that would change is the description on the paperwork. People in the horse welfare industry have said over and over again that the horses will simply be labelled as “riding” horses - and across the border they will continue to go uninterrupted and HSUS will continue not to care. If need be, they will victimized in the sort of “rodeos” where animal welfare is not at the top of anybody’s list. I guess as long as they aren’t starving on the lawn at HSUS headquarters - what happens to them doesn’t matter.

Being a LONG time horse owner, and horse lover, I can say I would NEVER send one of my horses to slaughter.  Contrary to popular belief, animals that are in bad shape don’t usually go to slaughter, it is the healthy ones that do.  The furthur debilitated ones aren’t worth anything to a meat market, so they get left to rot.  While the healthy, able to fight horses are sent to slaughter where captive bolt guns are used on them.  Horses can move fairly well in the chutes and don’t always get hit by the bolt, and even when they do it does not have the same effect it does on a cow.  The skull shape and position of the brain make it difficult for the bolt to penetrate and be effective.  I say, if you want horse slaughter to open back up, force them to use a single shot to the head.  That way the animals would suffer less than being repeatedly hit with a bolt gun.  Also, I do not want a plant anywhere near me, they stink!  I personally would not ever get into the horse business and sell animals for slaughter, and would never eat a horse, but I’m on the level of “they are pets and friends.”  Maybe if they reopened the two plants we had here in the US it would alleviate some of the issues with neglected horses and people would sell them before they got malnourished.  Unfortunately, I think it’s just one vicious cycle, and there will always be people that would let their horses starve rather than attempt to sell or find homes for them.

I am completely against Horse Slaughter it’s inhumane and cruel.  There are 1000’s of acres available, 1000’s of people that would volunteer their time Students from colleges that can take intern courses providing medical assistance and government grants that have been available and not claimed.
We give out billions of dollars to foreigners to come into this country and set up businesses.  Why cant we utilize some of these resources and create a sanctuary for these horses throughout the states?  Land owners would get a tax break on the land, Students would get more of a hands on training which would create maybe a little more passion as vets. Government grants wouldn’t be sitting year after year collecting the tax breaks and acting as petty cash and Volunteers would be satisfied that they can provide help and possible homes for these horses.

Finally - some common sense information about the plight of unwanted horses in the United States.

Horse slaughter should be illegal. It should be no surprise that each side feels justified in it’s own interests. The issue is about the bottom line"money” . Big Bussiness does not care about humane slaughter or the fact it’s not their life that’s being taken. Black slaves were once considered live stock. Women were considered part of a man’s property. Since then we as a nation have grown up and redefined what is humane. Now it’s animal rights . Well, doesn’t it seem logical and right that a living entitie have the right to life?

horse slaughter is a necessity and not just temporary, it is similar to cattle slaughter in the right conditions it is a humane way for processing facilities to operate, there are so many unwanted and abandoned horses in colorado it is mind boggling and a horse rescue asks anywhere from 500 upwards to several thousand dollars for a horse that is ridiculous, we have horses 2 really old ones that will die on our ranch/farm and be buried here they will let me know when it is time, but many others are not so lucky they are dumped in pastures with no food or water and the landowner doesnt even know they are there and they are dumped in the middle of the road at night is that a better way to die maybe even human lives could be lost all for the sake of HSUS

the way any animal is slaughter is inhumane, i have seen where they are skinned alive among other things. some of these animals are young, it is not fair to them. society should put an end to all this over breeding. there should be a limit on how many times an animal can be bred. it is not just horses, it is all animals. it is such a pity cuz they don’t ask to come into this world and they don’t deserve to die before their time as long as they are healthy. sick ones should be put down humanely not in a slaughter house.

I see horses all over our part of the country in bad shape, often starving and without proper care. There has to be a market for horses to keep the numbers down. You can’t hardly give a horse away today unless the horse is well broken or has training. Bring the humane slaughter of horses back to the U.S.

In my opinion, horse slaughter plants should be allowed back in the US. I don’t wish for any of my 3 personal horses to be sent there, but if it came down to it, I would rather have someone use them as a meal for nourishment than sending them to the auction house the way it is now; to a cruel fate of being constantly traded and exposed to illness, neglect and abuse, injuries being ignored, untreated or to be forgotten and starve to death. That would grieve me more than letting someone eat them. I also believe that equine slaughter facilities can have humane dispatch, how can it be different than beef slaughter?

In NC there are two levels of inspectors, NCDA & USDA.  Often the two are the same because of sales and shipping.  The individual state inspectors should be able to inspect horse slaughter that is to be sold and consumed within that state’s boundries.  Pet foods provide a sizable demand/market for horse meat.

We have owned and loved horses our whole lives.  We are now retired on a horse farm. The shut down of the horse slaughter plants has caused so many reactions in the horse industry, none of them good. Local horse auctions which were in business for over 30 years are out of business.  There is no place to get rid of horses who are infirm, or are simply untrainable, unuseable, or downright dangerous to humans.  Before, there was an acceptable outlet- use them for dog food or even for human consumption.  Once those outlets were closed, the owners of horses who should have been disposed of were stuck with horses that could not be productive.  Many turned them loose in forests.  Many tried to give them away.  It put the horse market into a downward spiral, with horses being given away or turned loose, and not worth anything. Its been a nightmare for horse breeders who previously could sell their livestock, with a horse market that no longer exists. We know from past experience that bringing back a way to sell unwanted horses, in the US where there IS USDA inspection, is the MOST humane way to get rid of the old and infirm, unuseable, or dangerous horses in our country.  It is a positive outlet for the horses no one wants- and makes something productive of them, rather than making them a burden on our land or a burden on their owners.

Ah. I understand. No one who does not own a functional crystal ball should be involved with horses. Or perhaps any other animal.

Clearly, we need to re-fund the horse slaughter facilities. No horseman ‘likes’ this option, but only a very few reject it. However regrettable it may be, it’s necessary.

Hopefully, now that the government has produced actual figures, people will stop listening to HSUS and the ignorant public which follows them. HSUS’ only interest in animals is to deprive the rest of us of contact with them, and has no dog in this hunt.

Gosh, that was a faux pas, wasn’t it? HSUS also opposes *all* hunting.

I called HSUS directly about this ban a few years ago, expressing my concern over what would happen to the unwanted horses.  A young girl on the phone just kept repeating “People are responsible to care for their horses and if they aren’t call law officials”.  In this economy a job loss or one of many other factors can make it so people can not care for their horses.  The slaughter ban has killed the “fair price” for horses.  I have been to the sale in Shipshewana Indiana and people are getting $20-300 for horses, and having to pay a commission to the sale barn.  Some people are having to pay more than they get for their horses to go through the sale.  At those prices most are going for slaughter.

If you did your homework you would have found that slaughter and the unwanted horse are two completely different issues.

I do not support HSUS but lets stick to the truth.

Marge Mullen
President
New England Saddlebred Association, Inc.

This has been discussed on a horse board over and over. We have people on both sides of the fence but those that oppose do see the need for the slaughter houses to handle the unwanted, injured and dangerous horses. It is a necessary evil.

I have sent horses to slaughter in the past, some not intentional and some were intentional due to injury or being to dangerous to the general public.

Regulate the transport and holding care of the horses as that is what the biggest ruckus was about was the treatment before slaughter, the slaughter is self was not as much of an issue as the treatment prior.

Many zoo’s, circus’s, predator sanctuaries are hurting for meat cause of the shut downs. I do know that a couple places take horses for use as cat and bear food for the zoos in their areas but in general many are hurting for fresh meat for their cats, bears and wolves and what ever else was being fed meat.

I believe horse slaughter is totally unacceptable. I am a county Animal Cruelty Investigator, a sociologist and researcher. My conclusion comes after years of studying the issue, talking with people who were familiar with the workings (and cruelty) of the process. I also know that many of the stats used in this debate, esp. the ones about abandoned horses and horses running rampant on state lands in unsubstantiated. There are some abandoned horses and bad situations, yes, but not nearly like the picture that has been painted. It will be a very sad day for our culture if we go back to horse slaughter. It is, not humane. period.

I started writing to newspapers and online comments in 2006 about this issue.  I wrote that there was no way that rescues or humane societies could keep up with the numbers of unwanted horses that would flood our country if slaughter was not an option.  I asked if we were prepared for over whelming numbers of horses when, even then, the equine shelters were already over burdened and pet shelters are unable to care for the millions of cats and dogs that were dumped every year.  I said that horses would be dumped like unwanted dogs and cats and that the horse industry would be devastated.  At the time, I thought that much of the picture that I painted had some exaggeration to it.  Now I read the letters and comments that I wrote and realize that what I envisioned was not even close to the disaster that has actually happened.
It is tragic that the government chose to listen to short sighted people that have patted themselves on the back for a job well done while so many horses have paid the price for unregulated transport and slaughtering methods across our borders.  Slaughter bound horses deserve to be treated humanely on their journey to the processing plant and deserve a quick painless death.  Let us hope that the government will now listen to the people that have the most knowledge, investment and respect for horses.

HSUS routinely advocates for euthanizing dogs and cats, what is their problem with horses?  Just that they don’t want people to eat horse meat?  People need to eat and people need protein.  A vegan diet just doesn’t work. 

All the money they spend on lobbyists and attorneys and next to nothing on actually caring for animals of any kind.  That horse sanctuary in Oregon is nothing more than a “show” piece, and not a very good one at that.

Absolutely open the slaughter plants.  There’s nothing more inhumane than letting an animal starve to death, and with the economy the way it is, that’s what’s happening.  Wish there was a way to withhold food from the HSUS idiots for a couple of days - maybe they’d get the picture.

It’s not just in the west, either. Days End on the east coast is managing 100 horses from a recent case involving a breeding farm that could not sell enough horses to remain in business. In concert with Gentle Giants they also handled a large population in West Virginian of over 50 horses from a “rescue” that could not keep up with the care of the horses. Last year there was a case of animal cruelty against horse and cart owners in the city which was a legal log jam over ownership and horses as evidence. The rescues could not place the horses elsewhere for a lengthy case in which some of the horses ended up returned to their owners only to be relinquished to the rescue when the owners could not care for them. Then there was a horrific case of just a few horses whose owners could not feed them or sell them so chose to put a tarp over one and let nature take it’s course.

138,000 horses are shipped across international borders per year because there is not a place for them here. Over those borders they fill a purpose, namely providing a protein source in the diets of people and animals. Obviously all of the rescues, rehabilitation and retirement facilities in existence can’t accommodate these animals, or else they wouldn’t be headed in that direction. Humane slaughter is not the cure-all answer for the unwanted horse problem, but there are a large number of horses that the general public does not see for which slaughter is the best solution. Those with behavioral, temperamental, and other qualities make it impossible for them to find a second or third career. Many a horse professional could fill a book with stories of horses that meet those criteria. We forget that euthanasia via drugs is not the “drift peacefully to sleep” image in our minds from dogs and cats, as many horses fight and thrash as the drugs take effect. And then there is the concern for disposal; the carcass is tainted with deadly drugs making burial difficult in many parts of the country for fear of ground or surface water contamination, most landfills now refuse them on similar grounds, and an 1100 lb horse does not compare to a 100 lb dog when you attempt incineration. When performed by properly trained personnel and inspected according to scientifically-verified standards, humane slaughter can be a viable method of disposing of unwanted horses. Yes, there were problems in the past, and rather than addressing the problems head on through research and application (which is how the beef and pork industry made their advances) horse slaughter was simply shut down. I’ll see to it that I am a responsible owner and my own horses will not go that route, but I’m not going to stop someone for whom slaughter is the best (and safest) method of disposal.

No matter what we can or cannot do, life does come to an end.  In the case of horses their useful life seems to end much sooner than their actual life.  In some cases horses are left to linger for quite some time before they actually die. I, personally, don’t like seeing these “mere skeletons of their former selves” lingering for no particular reason.  There is that “Quantity vs Quality” of life thing.  Besides the fact it just isn’t practical to keep these creatures barely alive indefinitely.  Owners need the option of slaughter as an end of life choice.  As an economic factor, just keeping a critter alive is an expense few of us could afford.  It has to be a critter we can do something with, not just watch as it slowly dies a “natural” death.  It is better to slaughter and use for food than let waste away to nothing of any use for anything and be a horrendous disposal problem.

@ Libbie Johnson - Forgive me, but you are in the wrong job. No doubt your heart is in the right place, and your intentions good, but the outcome is proof that your position is wrong.

If you are not willing to listen to the professional horsemen who opposed this ban from the beginning, and told everyone why, then you should not be in a position to determine the fate of animals, and you certainly shouldn’t be in a position to judge the husbandry of animal owners.

The ban on horse slaughter has accomplished 3 things for the AR activists:

1) It has made horse ownership much more difficult, which in this economy accelerates their anti horse programs because -

2) Horse owners who can’t bear to see their horses loaded up and on the road for three days to a facility, or who just can’t bear to see them go to slaughter period are inclined to abandon them, and hope for the best. The way the laws are written and administered these days, AR activists - like yourself - can press for prosecution if those people can be identified, and quite likely get them barred from owning any animals for life - assuming they have a pot to piss in and can afford to take in a stray cat when they’ve been through the court process, whether or not they serve time and even if they are acquitted.

3) With the increased number of abandoned horses, and horses suffering from their owners’ economic woes, they can use the situation to claim it ‘proves’ their contention that there is a horse overpopulation crisis, and push anti horse breeding legislation and regulation. This will result in more stress on the horse community, and more abandonment and ‘excess horses’ on the market; the thing will spiral down very nicely, from the AR activist point of view. Horse people will be in the same boat as dog people are now, and it won’t take nearly so long to bury them.

It will help the horses and the horse community if the horse slaughter facilities can be re-funded. No horseman likes to see a horse go to slaughter, but it’s better than starvation, or pain, or death by predator, or any of the other options. It won’t fix it, the activists will just push it from another angle, but it will give us a little breathing space.

The ban has done NOTHING good for horses.

Their problem isn’t so much with killing the horses - as you say, they are very quick to kill pets that they get their hands on - but they don’t have the control (yet) over the horse community they have over the pet people, the dog community in particular. They don’t care about the killing; in the long term there will be much more killing, if they have their way, but it won’t be their fault for creating impossible circumstances, it will be the fault of ‘irresponsible’  owners and breeders.

In banning horse slaughter they have created an ugly situation which they can use among the general non-horse owning public, as well as the casual but naive horse owners who really don’t understand the issues. They can use this situation as a club to legislate for the same kind of horse ownership and breeding laws they have pushed for dogs, which is to say, they can set ever shrinking limits on how many horses people can own and in what circumstances.

This will, of course, result in even more horses being marginalized and in excess, and therefore many more of them being killed, but that will be used to drive tighter limitations.

The goal is an end to animal use. All animal use. Companionship, sports, food, clothing - all animal use. In this particular instance, horse owners are being targeted, but eventually, if they get their way, none of us, however ‘responsible’ will be able to own animals.

I love horses.  Probably as much as dogs.  However, they are still an animal.  Why is there a horse slaughter ban, and not a cow slaughter ban?  They are both large animals used for food.  I am for HUMANE slaughter practices for any animals.  I love my beef and chicken though, and I know my dogs love horse meat found in dog food.  This is just a slippery slope to end all animal slaughter.  All these unwanted horses have pretty much killed the “horse industry” which is exactly what HSUS would also like to do with the dog industry.  I don’t like to see any horse go for slaughter and it is unfortunate when good horses go for meat through no fault of their own.  Just like when good dogs are euthanize at shelters for no reason.  However, there are bad dogs that need to be euthanized and there are bad horses that need to be euthanized.  Those are just facts of life.  The focus should be on doing it as humanely as possible.  I believe that is more likely to happen in the United States rather than Mexico—which isn’t really known for it’s Animal Rights Laws.

At Jeanine, I agree with 99% of what you said, until the last line.  NO COUNTRY (or state or county or city) should have animal RIGHTS laws.  You appear to be a very reasonable animal WELFARE advocate.  Animal WELFARE laws are both good and necessary.  Animal RIGHTS laws are what PeTA/HSUS et al are pushing for—culminating in no meat, dairy, pets, poultry, fur, leather, rodeos, circuses, dog shows, horse shows, etc etc etc.

There is a much simpler solution to companion horse overpopulation…..control the breeding of horses. If every individual who was responsible for bringing a horse into the world would be responsible throughout its life then the situation would not be so dire. However, if we choose to view horses as food animals, then we have an obligation to treat them as such and to slaughter them in a humane and knowledgeble manner that takes into account their unique biology.

As a professional cognitive behavioral scientist, I find the previous U.S. slaughter industry (as well as the current canadian/mexican plants) extremely inhumane for horses—in both transport, handling and treatment at the plants. And if horses are to be considered livestock for food purposes, then they should be raised with that in mind (ie not filled with drugs which makes their meat unsafe to eat) and humanely killed with their biology in mind. Modern cattle slaughter plants are constructed with the biology and behavior of cows as their primary guide….the same for pigs. One does not slaughter pigs at a cow facility, for the very reason that they have very different biologys. One should not slaughter horses without taking into consideration the very intense fear-based biology of the animal and the need for very different facilities for their humane slaughter. If we are going to do it right, then let’s admit that horses are food animals and build plants for them, train workers how to handle them properly, have welfare standards and inspections/audits for their slaughter, and be up front about it.

If we decide they are not food animals and not worth the investment to do it humanely, then let us treat them as companions, be responsible for bringing them into the world, and spend the money to humanely euthanize them when we no longer can find or provide a home for them. You don’t hear an uproar about dog or cat “slaughter” as a solution to overpopulation…..we use control of breeding and humane euthanasia as the solution to that progblem…with hopefully an emphasis on breeding control for the sake of the animals.

That is the responsible, humane and honest way to approach this issue.

@ Teri - Well, now that is the SOP AR position, basically.

That’s what they have done for dogs and cats, and are beginning to impose on rabbits. Just don’t let anyone breed them, by whatever way is most convenient.

This is part of the drive to make domestic animals extinct. Pacelle himself thinks this is perfectly reasonable:

“We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding. . One generation and out. We have no problem with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.” Wayne Pacelle, Senior VP of Humane Society of the US, formerly of Friends of Animals and Fund for Animals, Animal People, May, 1993

He would now like to disown this statement, and pretends it is being taken out of context, but it is very hard to see how it can mean anything other than what it says.

No doubt you think that it would be appropriate for the AR activists to define the breeding limits and policies. However, they know nothing about horses, and are not remotely appropriate parties to impose any such rules.

Further - you don’t say what you mean by ’ humane euthanization’, but I’d like to point something out about that.

If you euthanize with the bolt, you might as well send them to regulated slaughter facilities, which customarily use the bolt.

If you eithanize with chemicals, then what you are left with is a half ton of toxic waste, which can not only be used at all for any purpose, but which must be cremated at high cost to the owner.

In other words, again a problem has been created by the AR activists, and their solution has made the problem worse, and what they are after is to make it much worse still. If they are permitted to go on making it worse, we will see an end to horse ownership in this country.

Which is exactly what HSUS and the other AR activists want.