Horses could soon be slaughtered for meat in US

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

This is only an issue because eating horse here in the U.S. is taboo. This is no worse than the manner in which they slaughter pigs and cows. I don't approve of their barbaric methods, but some people need to stop this self righteous indignation over this.

That would only be true if it was a meat-eater who complained about it. then your argument might have merit, still, there are certain limits for each of us.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

I agree.

The slaughterhouse is a 'needed' evil. It's 'needed' in part because of irresponsible horse owners, irresponsible breeding practices and so on.....I don't like it, but I understand why it has to be done.

It's not the slaughterhouses fault that some so called horse lovers are partly to blame for the slaughterhouse existence.

As far as eating horse or any other animal. I don't care what anyone does in that regard.

That is the same argument used for the euthanizing of cats and dogs but we don't eat them and the reason is bereft of an ulterior motive. Considering the number of people who try to rescue horses but are prevented by various cabals who make a healthy profit from selling horse meat, I'd say that the motives aren't purely altruistic.

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

****** a couple of baiting posts and those quoting same removed. Stay on topic please *****

[SuperDuper! 230]

This is only an issue because eating horse here in the U.S. is taboo. This is no worse than the manner in which they slaughter pigs and cows. I don't approve of their barbaric methods, but some people need to stop this self righteous indignation over this.

Agreed. It's like the guy who says, "I don't watch tv." Or, "I haven't used a salt shaker or eaten a dessert in 25 years." Whaddaya want, a freakin' medal?

It's the same if someone states, "Well I don't eat meat." Wow, so that makes you superior to others....

Horse meat is processed in similar fashion to cattle. If you don't like it, then don't eat it. Meanwhile, horse meat provides high protein, low fat nutrition to millions around the world:

In 2005, the 5 biggest horse meat-consuming countries were China (421,000 tonnes), Mexico, Russia, Italy, and Kazakhstan (54,000 tonnes).^[26] In 2010, Mexico produced 140,000 tonnes, China - 126,000 tonnes, Kazakhstan - 114,000 tonnes. Horse meat is the culinary name for meat cut from a horse. It is a major meat in only a few countries, notably in Central Asia, but it forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many others, from Europe to South America to Asia. The top eight countries consume about 4.7 million horses a year. For the majority of mankind's early existence, wild horses were hunted as a source of protein--Wikipedia

So maybe it's time to step off a high horse and take a bite!

Peace.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Agreed. It's like the guy who says, "I don't watch tv." Or, "I haven't used a salt shaker or eaten a dessert in 25 years." Whaddaya want, a freakin' medal?

It's the same if someone states, "Well I don't eat meat." Wow, so that makes you superior to others....

Horse meat is processed in similar fashion to cattle. If you don't like it, then don't eat it. Meanwhile, horse meat provides high protein, low fat nutrition to millions around the world:

In 2005, the 5 biggest horse meat-consuming countries were China (421,000 tonnes), Mexico, Russia, Italy, and Kazakhstan (54,000 tonnes).^[26] In 2010, Mexico produced 140,000 tonnes, China - 126,000 tonnes, Kazakhstan - 114,000 tonnes. Horse meat is the culinary name for meat cut from a horse. It is a major meat in only a few countries, notably in Central Asia, but it forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many others, from Europe to South America to Asia. The top eight countries consume about 4.7 million horses a year. For the majority of mankind's early existence, wild horses were hunted as a source of protein--Wikipedia

So maybe it's time to step off a high horse and take a bite!

Peace.

If you are what you eat, I guess that means that we know what part of the horse that you are.

Peace,

[SuperDuper! 230]

If you are what you eat, I guess that means that we know what part of the horse that you are.

Peace,

Never ate a horse, but think of the old saying, "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse." Well, now ya can.

At Fuddruckers they serve Buffalo and Ostrich burgers. If they offered a Horse Radish sandwich, I might live dangerously and order one with a side of Mile High Fries.

Oh, and in regards to "You are what you eat", well in that case I eat Brains, Muscles and Sugar.

Thanks for the (horse's #######) personal attack wrapped up in a clever disguise, but it rolled off my little duck's back.

Get some!

Edited December 1, 2011 by Boing!

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Never ate a horse, but think of the old saying, "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse." Well, now ya can.

At Fuddruckers they serve Buffalo and Ostrich burgers. If they offered a Horse Radish sandwich, I might live dangerously and order one with a side of Mile High Fries.

Oh, and in regards to "You are what you eat", well in that case I eat Brains, Muscles and Sugar.

Thanks for the (horse's #######) personal attack wrapped up in a clever disguise, but it rolled off my little duck's back.

Get some!

Indigestion? No thanks. I suppose that since you've eaten everything, you've probably eaten more than your fair share of crow.

BTW, they eat dogs and cats in many of those countries that you listed so I guess you'll be having a Great Danish for dinner.

[Amby 490]

horse meatz is good eatingz !

Agree

[tmma 467]

That is the same argument used for the euthanizing of cats and dogs but we don't eat them and the reason is bereft of an ulterior motive. Considering the number of people who try to rescue horses but are prevented by various cabals who make a healthy profit from selling horse meat, I'd say that the motives aren't purely altruistic.

I don't argue that there is a market for slaughterhouse horse meat. There is. The meat that is not fit for human consumption in the areas/places where people do eat and enjoy horse meat is passed to dog food manufacturers, and the meat not fit for that is destroyed- to prevent spread of disease/parasites.

I myself am very active in horse rescue in my area and am in regular communication with at least half a dozen rescue facilities and race horse trainers ( in an attempt to place ex-racehorses with suitable homes); I've never once come across ' cabals ' who are trying to profit by preventing the placement of healthy horses to suitable homes. I've mentioned your point to a local rescue home here- and neither have they. They say the most resistence they get are from abusive owners of sick and starving animals who try and prevent the life saving move to the rescue ranch.

I was also told that the profit from horse meat is so small that the horse meat traders, that are known of do not spend the time and money following the rescue facility employees around trying to snatch horses. I don't know, but they said to me that horse meat traders mainly go to auction- because the liklihood of a diseased or dying animal there is alittle less.

Either way. I don't blame people that eat horsemeat or any meat for any of this. And maybe suprisingly, I don't completly blame the slaughterhouses. They are not totally to blame for their existence. the horse meat traders are trading in a commodity that is seemingly available...in a large part due to abusive, irresponsible horse owners and breeders.

Basically after doing alittle research on what you have claimed here; with more knowledgeable people than I, my opinion still stands.

[tmma 467]

oh-I might be wrong, but there are some places in the world that eat cats ( and dogs?).

[Anna C. 4]

I can't say I would eat it, but I know that many countries eat horsemeat. I'm not a vegetarian, but I am well aware of the horrible industry growing animals and slaughtering and then processing them (stuff like washing germ-infested ground beef with amonia to prevent e.coli). That's why we only eat local, organic, grass-fed, outdoors happily living farm animal meat. Those animals aren't altered or medicated, they range free as meant to be and are then slaughtered in well a humane way so to speak (no bleeding to death e.g.). And no yucky additives (hormones, antibiotics, amonia, nitrites and so on).

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Every man I've ever known likes to eat a little pu$$y every now and then. Cats are good.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

I don't argue that there is a market for slaughterhouse horse meat. There is. The meat that is not fit for human consumption in the areas/places where people do eat and enjoy horse meat is passed to dog food manufacturers, and the meat not fit for that is destroyed- to prevent spread of disease/parasites.

Downed horses are being slaughtered and used for human and pet consumption. That's how mad cow disease was spread and it would hardly be surprising that the same things are being done for horses.

I myself am very active in horse rescue in my area and am in regular communication with at least half a dozen rescue facilities and race horse trainers ( in an attempt to place ex-racehorses with suitable homes); I've never once come across ' cabals ' who are trying to profit by preventing the placement of healthy horses to suitable homes. I've mentioned your point to a local rescue home here- and neither have they. They say the most resistence they get are from abusive owners of sick and starving animals who try and prevent the life saving move to the rescue ranch.

This depends on what you classify as a healthy horse. A 2 y/o TB that just doesn't measure up or is "surplus" isn't considered healthy.

I was also told that the profit from horse meat is so small that the horse meat traders, that are known of do not spend the time and money following the rescue facility employees around trying to snatch horses. I don't know, but they said to me that horse meat traders mainly go to auction- because the liklihood of a diseased or dying animal there is a little less.

Most horse meat traders avoid attention and will likely make a deal before a horse even gets to the auction. They are not open in their dealings and will scatter if they even suspect that rescue facility people are about. They don't follow rescue facility employees, it's the other way around.

Either way. I don't blame people that eat horsemeat or any meat for any of this. And maybe suprisingly, I don't completly blame the slaughterhouses. They are not totally to blame for their existence. the horse meat traders are trading in a commodity that is seemingly available...in a large part due to abusive, irresponsible horse owners and breeders.

There are people who give up the family pet and don't have a clue what will happen. In other cases horses that are no longer useful or are unwanted by breeders (e.g. premarin nurse mare foals), irrespective of health. That is certainly a form of abuse.

Basically after doing alittle research on what you have claimed here; with more knowledgeable people than I, my opinion still stands.

Maybe your locality it's different, maybe, but I doubt it.

I won't post some of the pictures, they are far too graphic.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Prices Soaring for Unwanted Horses

March 21, 2009 by John Holland

The auctions call them "loose" horses because they are run through the auction ring without riders and are

sold mostly to "killer buyers".

Slaughter advocates including the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) call them "unwanted"

horses because they clog up the market for new foals and new registration fees. But whatever you call

them, they are suddenly in increasingly short supply.

The last three horse slaughter plants in the United States were closed in 2007, but the industry quickly

shifted to exporting the horses for slaughter in Canada and Mexico. By the middle of 2008, there were

more horse slaughter houses killing American horses than at any time in the past decade. Yet the closings

galvanized the meat packing industry which saw them as a dangerous victory for "animal rights advocates"

and their perceived "vegan agenda".

Within weeks of the first closings, countless anecdotal stories began appearing about how America is

awash in unwanted horses. Lawmakers in almost a dozen agricultural states have put forward initiatives

aimed at bringing slaughter back to the US, based largely on these accounts. But the actual sales statistics

from the horse auctions tell a very different story.

For example the New Holland auction in Pennsylvania is one of the largest slaughter auctions in the

country. In October of 2008, they sold a total of 815 slaughter grade horses at an average price of $US323,

but despite rapidly worsening economic conditions, by February that number had dropped by 28% to 582

horses and the average price had risen by 31.6% to $US425. It is largely the same story at auctions across

the country.

Leroy Baker, owner of the Sugar Creek Auction in Ohio, has been heard publicly assigning the shortage of

sellers to bad publicity, including an HBO documentary about race horses going to slaughter through his

auction.

Moreover, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently fined Baker an unprecedented

$US162,800 for numerous violations of the Commercial Transport of Equines to Slaughter Act (CTESA).

The act prohibits the transport to slaughter of late term pregnant mares, foals, blind horses and horses that

cannot support their weight on all four legs; prohibits the use of double deck trailers; and specifies minimal

rest and feeding intervals.

And Baker has not been the only source of bad publicity for the horse slaughter industry. In response to a

Freedom of Information Act request, the USDA recently disclosed 900 pages of photos documenting some

of the grisliest violations imaginable that occurred at the Texas slaughter plants prior to their being ordered

closed in 2007.

The photos, which were taken in an attempt to enforce compliance with the CTESA, show horses with

horrific injuries ranging from severed legs to crushed skulls. Still other photos show blind horses, newborn

foals and even a mare standing on the unloading docks with her placenta still draping to the manurecovered floor.

A young foal awaits his fate. Picture by the US Department of Agriculture, from www.kaufmanzoning.net

USDA photos show horses with horrific injuries ranging from severed legs to crushed skulls. Other photos

show blind horses, newborn foals and even a mare standing on the unloading docks with her placenta still

draping to the manure-covered floor. The exposure of these photos was a double embarrassment to the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA). The evidence surfaced just as the AVMA was

getting traction on a well financed PR campaign to convince lawmakers that the US plants should be

reopened because they had been more humane.

Every indication is that the supply of unwanted horses will only get worse because production has been

destroyed. The reason for this lies in the nature of the source of slaughter horses.

Contrary to popular perception, most horses sent to slaughter are not old, but young and healthy. They are

largely the "culls" from an industry that over breeds in a quest for perfection. When times are good, the

profits are made on the best foals and the culls (be they slow race horses or simply horses of the wrong

colour) are dumped to slaughter.

But the market for top grade riding and performance horses has tanked, once again proving the old adage,

"The best way to make a small fortune in horses is to start with a large one". So breeders have cut back.

With less breeding there are fewer culls.

Some breeders liquidated in response to the low horse prices and high feed prices, while still others were

forced out of the business when their properties were lost to foreclosure.

A Kentucky breeder, for example, gave away his entire prized Arab bloodline to keep the horses from

going to slaughter.

And the "kill auctions" are losing yet another source of horses. Slammed by bad publicity, an increasing

number of horse tracks have put in place "zero tolerance" programmes that ban owners and trainers caught

selling their horses to slaughter.

In October, the Magna Entertainment Corporation announced that all nine of their tracks would have a zero

tolerance policy and they were quickly joined by at least three other tracks.

Kill buyers have adapted to the shortage in a number of ways, including placing ads on sites such as Craig's

List. In one memorable case, a kill buyer and his wife showed up at the seller's house saying they thought

the horse would be a perfect starter horse for their young daughter. The horse was a thoroughbred (racing)

stallion.

But there remains one possible reservoir of unwanted horses. Since the first plants were closed in Texas,

there have been countless unsubstantiated stories about horses being abandoned. Some slaughter advocates

have estimated that as many as 170,000 such horses were abandoned just last year. This valuable pool of

unwanted horses could serve as a kind of "petroleum reserve" for the horse slaughter industry if only they

could be found. And for that matter, there are always the unicorns.

Just plain wrong.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

It's Seattle Slew not Seattle Stew.

Conclusion

The continuation of horse slaughter is based on the demand for horseflesh dinner

tables of Europe and Asia. It is driven by profit and motivated by expediency, not for the

by any concern for the humane treatment and welfare of the horses.

Logic and decency dictate that those who earn their living "on the backs" of

horses; those who love and respect horses; and all those with humane values join together

to end this unsupportable practice. To accept the slaughter of horses as a "necessary evil"

is to validate the position of those who would place a greater value on the bottom line

than on life itself

Flicka Burgers Anyone?

The Slaughter Market

Where do the horses come from?

A viable business is always dependent upon the availability of a product, as well as consumer demand. As

long as European and Asian markets continue to import horsemeat, and the demand for the product does

not diminish markedly, the horse slaughter industry in Canada attempts to meet those market requirements

and to reap financial benefits. Meat prices are in a constant state of fluctuation, depending on many factors,

including the current popularity of various types of meat. It is believed that the recent BSE crisis, with

concerns about beef safety, has resulted in a greater demand for horseflesh overseas.

Where does an ongoing supply of slaughter-bound horses originate?

It is clear that certain industries involved in breeding horses have been shown to create an equine surplus--

for example, the Pregnant Mare Urine (PMU) industry. Farms involved in urine collection are situated in

the Canadian prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) and North Dakota. During the fall of

2003, as increased health risks associated with use of the hormone replacement drug, Premarin*, made

headline news throughout the world, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals announced cutbacks to its associated ranching

operations.

Up to 20,000 pregnant mares were suddenly out of work, and flooded auctions and feedlots throughout

Canada and the United States. Unwanted stallions, as well as yearlings and two-year-old horses previously

held as replacement stock, also entered the market. In past years, at the peak of its career, the PMU industry

had seen up to 75,000 pregnant mares hooked up to urine-collecting devices on approximately 500 farms.

Although various sources disagreed on numbers of foals sent to slaughter from the industry, estimates

ranged up to 45,000 annually.

L. to R., clockwise - Bouvry's website home page photo;

The reality - PMU horses being fattened for slaughter in a Bouvry meatpen;

overgrown hoof of horse in a Bouvry meatpen; typical urine collection line on PMU farm.

With the decline of the PMU industry, and only 130 contracts renewed for the 2004-2005 season, it is

reasonable to expect that fewer foals and other industry horses will appear on the market in future.

However, as recently as February 2004, prairie feedlots were still full of draft and draft-cross horses,

clearly from PMU ranching operations. Subsequent reports indicate that certain feedlot operators plan to

use industry horses as brood mares in order to maintain an abundant supply of cuts from young,

draft/quarter horse crosses--allegedly the most popular type of horsemeat on overseas dinner tables.

Backyard breeders, horse-related business ventures that have failed, and irresponsible private homes are

additional, huge sources of feedlot-bound horses. Instead of choosing euthanization for lame, elderly, ill or

otherwise unwanted animals, certain horse owners prefer to take them to auction, an "easy out" solution.

Meat dealers often frequent auction marts, and have purchased countless numbers of "family pets" over the

decades. Food for thought:

1. Should private horse owners and businesses be expected to show more responsiblility for the fate of

unwanted horses?

2. Must Canadian horses be a meat source for foreign dinner tables, or do we have a moral obligation to

keep our horses in Canada and out of the food chain?

Further information on Premarin and associated health risks:

Yusuf, Dr. Salim and Anand, Dr. Sonia, "Hormone replacement therapy: a time for pause", Canadian

Medical Association Journal, August 20, 2002; 167 (4).

Where do they all come from?

Edited December 1, 2011 by IR5FORMUMSIE

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Many young horses such as Premarin foals...

THIS is a double-whammy abuse--forcing a mare to conceive so as to draw her urine, and then killing the foal after it is born

...and 2 y/o TB are also killed. They aren't even fully mature, yet they get slaughtered.