My View On Slaughter
That's right I'm going to go there. The horse slaughter question. It's been a bitter debate in the horse industry for decades and there seems to be no end in sight.
I'd like to cite, specifically, the practice of rounding up wild mustangs for sale to slaughter houses. Indeed this is not a new activity. It was once common to round up what could be caught for a quick sale to the slaughter house, after all, wild mustangs are a symbol of the old west. They belong to everyone and no one. That view has not changed much, but it's meaning is different. People now think that the horses are less a commodity or resource and more a national treasure. No one is jumping to take responsibility to care for all of them but we all think somebody should. It is true that there are getting to be way too many horses competing with livestock on the range and the management organizations such as the BLM can only handle so much. Is the easy answer to just cart off the excess animals to the plant?
In my opinion it may be. I love horses and would love every horse in the country to be treated like the pets mine are. However I'm not signing up to house and feed 2 million wild horses for the next 30 years, and I don't see too many other horse lovers doing it either. Not to say it isn't all of our problem. There are just too many horses. I would suggest, if I may, an implimentaion of a spaying and gelding program on a far grander scale than that already in place to help this problem in the future and I applaud the individuals supporting the horse adoption program. But there are still an awful lot of horses to fall through the cracks.
This is where the slaughter question comes in. I know that no one wants to think about it but where else are these animals to go? And what would their quality of life be otherwise? Maybe an end to it for them is the best choice. They are then shipped off to countries where horse-meat is not taboo as it is here, to me that does not sound like the downfall of society as it is made to sound.
So I am for the slaughter of excess horses, at least until there is some other option or no more excess. When horse owners quit dumping horses that are of no more "use" to them and stop breeding animals if they do not intend to give the resulting offspring a home for life or at least take that horse back if new owners don't want to keep it in the future. As for the mustangs I'd perfer that the dangerous, aggressive or diseased animals go first, but then what? It's awful, it's cruel and it's like playing God, which we have no right to do, but at the same time I feel it's a neccisary evil. I hate to see good, sound, usable horses end up that way just because no effort was made to find any better option for them. I also think it's deplorable the way many of these animals are transporteted to the facilities, and treated once they arrive in some cases. This should be a means to end their suffering, not increase it.
The bottom line for me is that slaughter is ugly, we don't want to see it or even think about it but if the plants were closed down, would all the lobbyists then accept the trailerfuls of excess horses? Who would? The problems of excess and disease would increase at rates we can't even imagine, as well as equine suffering and neglect. Maybe if some one doesn't like the idea of slaughter, don't get a job at a plant. And we all need to help by providing good homes to the horses that come under our care.
I'd like to cite, specifically, the practice of rounding up wild mustangs for sale to slaughter houses. Indeed this is not a new activity. It was once common to round up what could be caught for a quick sale to the slaughter house, after all, wild mustangs are a symbol of the old west. They belong to everyone and no one. That view has not changed much, but it's meaning is different. People now think that the horses are less a commodity or resource and more a national treasure. No one is jumping to take responsibility to care for all of them but we all think somebody should. It is true that there are getting to be way too many horses competing with livestock on the range and the management organizations such as the BLM can only handle so much. Is the easy answer to just cart off the excess animals to the plant?
In my opinion it may be. I love horses and would love every horse in the country to be treated like the pets mine are. However I'm not signing up to house and feed 2 million wild horses for the next 30 years, and I don't see too many other horse lovers doing it either. Not to say it isn't all of our problem. There are just too many horses. I would suggest, if I may, an implimentaion of a spaying and gelding program on a far grander scale than that already in place to help this problem in the future and I applaud the individuals supporting the horse adoption program. But there are still an awful lot of horses to fall through the cracks.
This is where the slaughter question comes in. I know that no one wants to think about it but where else are these animals to go? And what would their quality of life be otherwise? Maybe an end to it for them is the best choice. They are then shipped off to countries where horse-meat is not taboo as it is here, to me that does not sound like the downfall of society as it is made to sound.
So I am for the slaughter of excess horses, at least until there is some other option or no more excess. When horse owners quit dumping horses that are of no more "use" to them and stop breeding animals if they do not intend to give the resulting offspring a home for life or at least take that horse back if new owners don't want to keep it in the future. As for the mustangs I'd perfer that the dangerous, aggressive or diseased animals go first, but then what? It's awful, it's cruel and it's like playing God, which we have no right to do, but at the same time I feel it's a neccisary evil. I hate to see good, sound, usable horses end up that way just because no effort was made to find any better option for them. I also think it's deplorable the way many of these animals are transporteted to the facilities, and treated once they arrive in some cases. This should be a means to end their suffering, not increase it.
The bottom line for me is that slaughter is ugly, we don't want to see it or even think about it but if the plants were closed down, would all the lobbyists then accept the trailerfuls of excess horses? Who would? The problems of excess and disease would increase at rates we can't even imagine, as well as equine suffering and neglect. Maybe if some one doesn't like the idea of slaughter, don't get a job at a plant. And we all need to help by providing good homes to the horses that come under our care.
posted by Alicia T @ 11:35 AM
1 Comments:
At 6:30 PM,
Sage said…
I can't agree with your ideas of slaughter. It isn't just the wild horses. You can't even go to aution and buy a horse here because the slaughter buyers can pay more for the horses than the average person can. I found this out when I tried to buy a horse at aution a few years ago. I won't even go to aution anymore. It is horrible. Any horse that goes will wind up in a slaughter trailer. Many owners do not even know this when they decide to take their horse to aution. And why should we grow horses for the rich to eat as delicaties in forgin countries. Are we goinng to start sending the unwanted kittens and puppies to other countries that eat dogs and cats? Yes their are way to many homeless and unwanted horses, wild and tame, and dogs and cats everywhere. As you said the answer is to spay, geld, nuter, and educate the public.
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