Is the Horse Slaughter Movement Funded by Horse Breeders?

[ensho]

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1912


The slaughter of horses for human consumption is no longer legal in the US. Sadly more than 100,000 horses each year are shipped to Canada and Mexico to satisfy the palates of “gourmands” overseas. Upwards of 90 percent of the horses sold for slaughter are healthy, sound animals, according to USDA statistics. Of that 90 percent, some are bred solely for the slaughter market, others come from farms providing horse urine to pharmaceutical companies and others are horses with cosmetic or minor conformation issues which make them valueless to the breeders, many of whom are producing a hundred or more foals yearly.

Several states, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, among others, are studying or considering opening horse slaughter plants under the guise of providing a more “humane” method of disposing of “unwanted” horses than shipping them in trucks cross country for slaughter in Canada or Mexico. There is also a well-funded, but virtually unknown national movement afoot, with bills pending in Congress, to allow horse slaughter for human consumption once again.

This issue is not about treating horses humanely or dealing with “unwanted” horses. It’s about profit, pure and simple. For example, the wording of the North Dakota bill includes “… to meet overseas export markets for horsemeat…” Clearly, sponsors of this bill see a market opportunity, thinly disguised as a way to “solve” a conveniently overstated problem.

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For a breeder, each year’s “crop” of foals has a percentage of colts and fillies who do not meet the breeders’ standards. The North Dakota bill is sponsored by a rancher who raises Quarter Horses, which, coincidently, is the most common breed to be sent to slaughter. His last sales catalog listed 80-plus young horses for sale. Were there any “unwanted” or “valueless” horses sent to slaughter because they didn’t make “the cut”? Horse breeders, as well as horse associations, surprisingly, are some of the most vocal supporters of horse slaughter.

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Horse slaughter is a highly emotional subject with “facts” bandied about with little but anecdotal evidence to back them up. Factual information can be found in the USDA records, as well as from organizations that track this type of activity. If, after researching the issue for yourself, you feel moved to contact legislators and share your opinion in opposition to horse slaughter, be prepared for a fight. Too much money is on the table for breeders, ranchers, kill buyers/shippers and foreign and domestic investors in slaughter facilities to let this issue die.

Here are the links to some websites you may wish to visit:
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greed

[damntexdem]

1. I am happy that healthy, sound animals are sold for food.

I am saddened that nutcases have pushed the outlawing of this food in the U.S.

[ensho]

2. are you a horse breeder?

nt

[Lorien]

3. That or a ....

well, we won't even go there, even though we're all thinking it.

[ensho]

4. horse eater?

nt

[Boudica the Lyoness]

7. You sicken me to my very core.

You just became the second person on my ignore list.

For everyone else;
The American Quarter Horse Association supports the slaughter of horses. Most of the horses sold for slaughter are Quarter horses. I believe the AQHA is run by greedy heartless republicans.

I own horses including two BLM mustangs that I adopted very wild last year. They are beautiful intelligent animals and the thought of them going to a slaughter house is unbearable for me. I guess that makes me a nut-case.

I cannot believe I just made it through this post with writing words like 'motherfucker'.

[ThomWV]

5. I can't see where horse slaughter is any different than cattle or swine.

Or fish, dogs, or cats for that matter.

[Lorien]

6. How about humans? A mammal is a mammal, right? it's all just meat

..oh wait, it doesn't always work that way, now does it?

[ThomWV]

8. That's where I draw the line, actually somewhere before that. I presume you eat no meat?

Not that I hold it against you if you are a vegetarian, I just say that you teeth show you to be a different creature than what you pretend to be.