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Horse Slaughter

The debate over horse slaughter has been an ongoing issue for several years. Many people consider horse slaughter to be little more than murder, while others argue that slaughter is needed to prevent overpopulation and abuse. Domesticated horses depend on their owners for their every need, and if the owner can no longer care for the horse, they have to decide what is best for the horse’s welfare. As the debate over horse slaughter continues, more horses are continually subjected to abuse and neglect in larger numbers because of the inability to make a decision regarding the legality of horse slaughter. This issue affects the horse resale market by essentially tossing injured, unrideable, and unbreedable horses out in the street with nowhere to go except the slaughterhouse. It will be difficult, but it is imperative that the United States government passes some form of legislation that allows slaughterhouses to be built and legalized in order to keep unwanted horses at a manageable level and to restore the balance in the horse resale market.

Anti-slaughter groups around the country focus mainly on one issue to back up their belief that horse slaughter is wrong – the inhumane treatment of horses destined for slaughter. In all reality, this is not true for a sanitary, properly-run slaughterhouse. In the article “The Killing Floor,” from E – The Environmental Magazine, Donna Ewing of Illinois comments that she saw “absolutely nothing inhumane about the handling or the killing” (Harkinson pg. 8). Ewing has been one of the select few to see the actual operation of a slaughterhouse, since most slaughter plants are somewhat suspicious of the media’s intentions. The author, Josh Harkinson, comments that “the best argument against the slaughterhouses is probably their refusal to open their doors to the press” and that “hardly any unbiased observers have seen them operate” (Harkinson pg. 8). However, Ewing is still concerned about the treatment of the horses while they are transported to the slaughterhouse. Harkinson comments that “USDA rules permit horses to be shipped for 28 hours straight without nourishment” (Harkinson pg. 8). This takes an enormous mental toll on the horses, since by their very nature they are “flight” animals and are not designed to be crowded together in a small area for extended periods of time.

Another main issue that many anti-slaughter individuals bring up is the morality of slaughter. The mindset that horse lovers have shaped around America’s horses has shifted from livestock and means of transportation to pets and cherished family members. It is a fact that many of the horses that are slaughtered are sold to foreign countries for the intent of human consumption. Understandably, this bothers many horse lovers, many of whom are horrified that anyone would even want to eat horse meat. However, they have to remember that what may be considered barbaric in America could be readily accepted in other countries. The horse meat markets overseas are very profitable, and if the slaughterhouses were legalized despite all efforts to ban it, the slaughtered horses have to go somewhere. Sure, nobody wants to see Seabiscuit and Trigger sold to a fancy restaurant overseas, but ultimately, is it any better to watch them slowly starve to death in the back pasture?

Public sentiment has turned toward the anti-slaughter movement more over the past few years, but the pro-slaughter side has gained more followers as well. Following the closure of the last three US horse slaughter plants in 2007, there have been several propositions for the opening of safer, more sanitary slaughterhouses. In the article “Proposed horse-slaughter plant in N. Dakota draws support” written for the DVM Newsmagazine, author James Lewis explains the motion that began in March 2009 to at least research the feasibility of building horse slaughter plants. He states that:

the study requested by North Dakota State Rep. Rod Froelich, a Democrat, and State Sen. Joe Miller, a Republican, would authorize the state's Department of Commerce to spend up to $75,000 examining building costs of a privately run processing plant, possible markets the plant could sell to and any potential conflicts with federal regulations (Lewis).

This first movement to reintroduce slaughter plants to the United States started the ball rolling for other states to start drafting their own laws for this particular issue. Montana followed soon after, as evidenced in the DVM Newsmagazine article “Montana approval of horse-processing plants may signal trend.” The same author, James Lewis, writes that “Montana is now the first state to allow horse-processing plants to be built…other states seem to be considering that option as a way to deal with rising numbers of unwanted and neglected horses…” (Lewis). This momentum that the pro-slaughter groups have built up may continue and produce safer and more efficient slaughterhouses.

On the same note, if horse slaughter was legalized once more, it would have to be tightly controlled to avoid crime. While horse thieves sound like criminals from a bygone era, they are still very much in existence today. In the article “WHOA!” from People, the authors state that “[about] 40,000 horses go missing each year, and the rustlers…earn an average of $400 for a horse” (Meadows, Lang, Zawel). Certain regulations would have to be laid at the very start of the reopening of slaughterhouses, or else this type of crime could skyrocket. Many horse owners don’t realize the very real danger of their horse being stolen. In the same article, the authors share a sobering firsthand account of horse theft:

On Sky Dutcher's 13th birthday in 2004, she realized her beloved Arabian-Morgan mix, Cimmarron, had been stolen from the pasture of her Roscoe, N.Y., home...Within two days police caught the thief: a relative who had sold Cimmarron for $342 to an auction house, which sent him to a slaughterhouse. (Meadows, Lang, Zawel)

Some preventative measures can be taken to prevent theft. For example, in “The Killing Floor,” Harkinson reports that “Slaughterhouses can be ready buyers, but they're required by law to check horses against a list of steeds that have been reported stolen…branding a horse and implanting it with…a microchip drastically improves the chances of recovering it [the horse]” (Harkinson 7).

Horse slaughter is not only intended for unwanted domesticated horses. The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) has recently been accused of selling wild horses to slaughter for profit. Jillian Lloyd, author of the Christian Science Monitor article "Tighter reins, but will horse slaughter halt?, ” reports that after paying the $125 adoption fee for a mustang fresh off the range, the new owner must “wait one year before obtaining legal title [of the horse]. During that time, adopted horses can't be sold for slaughter or commercial gain…” (Lloyd). The BLM plans to stop the sale of wild horses for slaughter by “boost[ing] random "home visits" to horse adopters from 5 to 20 percent… contact all adopters by telephone within six months of an adoption…And [they will] make unannounced visits to slaughterhouses” (Lloyd). By enacting these new practices, the BLM hopes to keep mustangs off the dinner plates of foreign countries, but considering the poor re-homing rate of the mustangs that the BLM rounds up, it could be better for some of the unwanted mustangs to simply die rather than be potentially abused or neglected at the adopter’s property.

As the number of unwanted horses continues to rise, many of them are abused and neglected, and there seems to be no chance of an agreement in the near future. One of the major effects of the horse slaughter debate has been the closing of the last three horse slaughter plants in the United States in 2007. This resulted in a rise in horse neglect that is still evident today. According to the article “Horse supply outpacing demand” by Oren Dorell, “The surplus [of unwanted horses] threatens to worsen if Congress passes a bill to ban the selling of unwanted horses to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico” (Dorell). In the article “The slaughter continues,” author Jim Motavalli reports that “…U.S. horse slaughter exports to Mexico increased 312 percent in 2007” (Motavalli). Jim Motavalli also mentions that “…the treatment of slaughter horses in Mexico is particularly brutal” (Motavalli).The last three remaining slaughter plants were closed in 2007, but even that doesn’t seem to stop efforts to reopen the plants. In the article “Horse-slaughter ban upheld in appeals court,” the author states that “Cavel International [slaughter plant owners] filed an appeal, claiming the law [that shut down the plant] was unconstitutional. The plant was able to continue operating while the case was considered. But the plant was reordered closed” (“Horse-slaughter”…DVM Newsmagazine).

As the last slaughterhouses closed their doors, horse rescues across the country have been overwhelmed with neglect cases that have nowhere else to go. In some cases, the horse in question was perfectly healthy, but the owner could no longer keep up with the costs of keeping the horse and had nowhere else to send it. In the article “AAEP says horse-slaughter bill would add to neglect, starvation,” author Christina Macejko quotes a statement from the AAEP (American Association of Equine Practitioners): “the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2008…eliminates what is "currently a necessary end-of-life option" for unwanted horses” (Macejko). Financial problems surface as well when slaughter is eliminated. The anti-slaughter organizations can talk all they want to about saving the horses, but who will end up with the bill for the upkeep of the unwanted horses? The former president of the AAEP, Dr. Douglas Corey, stated that “At about $5 a day…the care of a horse runs about $1,800 a year” (Macejko). Before too long, the care of those unwanted horses will add up, and taxpayers will be stuck with the payment.

“Backyard breeders” are often blamed for saturating the horse market with many of the untrainable, unbreedable, and unmanageable horses that are winding up in the already crowded horse shelters. Breeding horses is a big decision, and should not be taken lightly. If the owner only wants to breed their mare to make a quick sale when the foal becomes a yearling, they are headed in the wrong direction. It is not wrong to want to make a profit, but if the owner crosses the wrong horses (i.e. the stallion or mare is not suitable to be bred and will pass on bad conformation and/or other deformities) the foal will not be easily sold. On the same note, if the owner wanted to raise their own foal and “grow with it”, it would be very easy to head the wrong direction. Misguided training that makes a foal disrespectful of all humans does nothing more than guarantee the unmanageable yearling a one-way ticket to the slaughterhouse. Yearlings used to sell for at least their breeding fee (normally up to $1500+ for a good stallion), but now it is hard to get $450 for them, even at specialized weanling and yearling auctions. “Kill buyers” often camp out at auction houses, picking up the cheapest nags and shipping them straight to a slaughterhouse where they can make $400 or $500 per horse.

In the same sense, people that just start out with horses and want a young horse so that they can “learn together” is not a good idea. There is an old saying in the horse world: “Green plus green equals black and blue,” meaning that a “green”, or inexperienced, rider with a “green” horse does not make for a happy riding relationship. Once the proud owner has their bouncing two-year-old at home and figures out that maybe they bit off more than they can chew, they tend to panic and sell the horse to someone else, so that they can deal with it. Before long, the same horse has switched hands five times and lands in the auction ring. Once the “kill buyer” gets him, it is all over, and the once-promising young horse is shipped off to slaughter. This scenario is avoidable by encouraging friends that are new to horses to buy an older horse with a “been there, done that” attitude that is not as likely to scare them off. In the same way, it would be advisable to take lessons on a more experienced horse before trying to fly solo. There is a big gap between taking lessons at a local barn three times a week and feeding an unmanageable, idle horse every day. Eventually, those horses with the “behavioral problems,” or just lack of good training, will end up at the slaughterhouse. Joan Cornett of Villa Rica, Georgia, comments that “we humans need to be committed and more humane to the animals we invite into our homes and lives” (“Horses deserve”…USA Today).

When all is said and done, horse slaughter is nearly unavoidable with the sheer number of unwanted horses in the United States today. The anti-slaughter groups can protest as much as they want, but horse owners need to put the horse’s welfare first. Without slaughterhouses, the country could potentially be overrun with stray horses. This country has already gone down this road with dogs and cats, but horses are a different matter entirely to care for. Fewer people would be willing to adopt a horse rather than a dog or cat, simply because of cost. American lawmakers need to decide what is best for the horse and act on it before it is too late.

Works Cited

"Horses deserve better end than slaughterhouse." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.

“Horse--slaughter ban upheld in appeals court." DVM Newsmagazine 38.10 (2007): 16. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.

Harkinson, Josh. "THE KILLING FLOOR." E - The Environmental Magazine 17.3 (2006): 32- 39. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.

Lewis, James M. "Montana approval of horse-processing plants may signal trend." DVM Newsmagazine 40.7 (2009): 30. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.

Lewis, James M. "Proposed horse-slaughter plant in N. Dakota draws support." DVM: The Newsmagazine of Veterinary Medicine 40.3 (2009): 10. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.

Lloyd, Jillian. "Tighter reins, but will horse slaughter halt?" Christian Science Monitor 22 May 1997: 3.Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.

Macejko, Christina. "AAEP says horse-slaughter bill would add to neglect, starvation. (Cover story)." DVM: The Newsmagazine of Veterinary Medicine 39.9 (2008): 22. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.

Meadows, Bob, Anne Lang, and Marc Zawel. "WHOA!." People 66.13 (2006): 229-230. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.

Motavalli, Jim. "The slaughter continues." E Mar.-Apr. 2008: 24. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.

Oren, Dorell. "Horse supply outpacing demand." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.