The claim that having horse slaughter in the US will somehow make this
practice “safe and humane” is also insanity. First you need to actually look at
the “product” produced by an “industry.” The product is produced in a
non-regulated fashion that involves the use of known carcinogens wrapped in
the final package. Medications including “bute”, a widely used pain killer akin
to “horsey ibuprofen”, wormers, vaccines and even shampoos that clearly state
“not for use in animals intended for food” are butchered and packaged for
“human consumption.” Even our wild horse population held in captivity has
been given wormer and vaccines prior to shipping into government
warehousing. Using the term “humane” is also a joke. A captive bolt is used to
supposedly stun a horse. In truth, often dozens of attempts are made and even if
successful animals regain consciousness. Then the horse is hoisted by a rear
leg to have its throat cut. If you think horses waiting in the slaughter line are
unaware of what is happening, then you simply don’t know horses.
The market for horse meat is drying up abroad as the European Union
recognizes horses coming from the United States literally represent poison.
Recent discoveries of horse meat being passed off as beef in frozen food
products has rocked many European countries.
Yet in spite of horse slaughter being seen as unacceptable by 80% of Americans; the meat being poison, possibly carcinogenic, and the shrinking market,
states like Oklahoma and New Mexico are pushing to begin slaughtering
American horses within weeks. This flawed business plan is supposedly
supported by the “horse industry” through assertions made by those that have a
potential to reap a profit.
However the American “horse industry” is actually the vast majority of
Americans that act responsibly, and do not support horse slaughter.
Horse slaughter is an ugly business filled with violations of basic morality and
passing off poison meat, butchering pregnant mares, shipping crippled animals,
polluting the environment all while extolling this horrific practice as
“humane”. For the horse owners who truly love and care for their horses, the
slaughter industry leaves more than a bad after taste in theirs mouths.