Discuss: Dark Horse

Elizabeth;
I have no legislative savvy or organizational skills. Since the proposal of opening a horse slaughter plant in my state, I have been fighting horse slaughter. I fight by writing letters. I write Senators requesting that they support H.R.503/S.B.727. It doesn’t matter what state they represent. My state Senators are vehemently opposed to these bills. Anyone against horse slaughter, has no voice here. I’ve signed online petitions. I have written the President. I am oppositional to our State Livestock Board. The Equine Welfare Alliance is very dedicated to fighting for H.R.503/S.B.727. You may also do all or some of these things.
I agree that ‘domestic animal’ status would help decrease horse slaughter. Also, licensing and regulating horse breeders would help prevent some ‘puppy mill’ style horse breeding operations. After public outcry, the BLM is currently considering alternate methods of herd management rather than cruel round ups. (Too little, too late?)
My point is, we all have to speak out and become informed. There are alternatives to slaughter.

The equine in the United States of America is a “service” animal and should be afforded the same care, stewardship and advocacy of humane death as our dogs and cats.

I will qualify a few finer points:

(1) canines and felines aren’t always treated very well either, living or dead.

(2) commercial food processing, especially mega farms and slaughter/processing facilities also have several issues.

(3) if individuals who breed equines or own them want to sell them for meat to humans then they need to follow the same rules as cattle, swine, poultry, sheep producers in this country.

1. Equines are companion animals, pets, work animals and sport animals. They can be considered service animals when used for handicapped therapy.

2. Canines and felines aren’t always treated well but, legislation is in place to prosecute inhumane treatment of these pets. Very few of us would consider using their meat for the purpose of commerce.

3. Animal agribusiness processing plants have problems. Dr. Temple Grandin has designed reasonable bovine processing plants. The problems of these plants, although not resolved, are addressed.

4. Presently, in my state, we have a representative petitioning for NO regulation of horse meat that is intended for human consumption in the United States. Her plan is to use horse meat to feed prisoners and school children. Pet, companion, sport, work and service equines are likely to have tainted meat due to routine medications and vaccinations given to them.

Perhaps we should consider sending cat and dog meat to the Orient. It may generate commerce and resolve the pet overpopulation problem. Sound familiar? It sounds similar to the pro-slaughter arguments that I’ve heard.

After reading the article “Dark Horse” I was overwhelmed by anguish.
I have to agree with those comments that call for a greater responsibility on the part of owners.
What we need is to require breeders (and sellers if no prior arrangements have been made) to make a monetary deposit for the full cost of humane euthanasia and lodge it with a national organization set up to track ownership and registration. This deposit could then be registered with the horse and transfered to subsequent owners. The older the horse is, the less the new owner would be required to reimburse the previous owner. The origination fee would still stay in escrow.  If all breeders were required to provide these fees the incentive to breed more than they can realistically sell would almost immediately be removed…no buyer to pass the fee on to, the fee becomes a business loss - kill buyers will not be keen to cover these costs.
This would reduce demand for young horses, reduce irresponsible breeding, and make people realize that this animal that they are buying carries responsibilities. Finally, since euthanasia is already paid for, when the time comes, penny pinching will not be an issue.
Perhaps one of the rescue organizations would be able to set up the registration database, make some money out of it…and also act as an adoption/listing agency.

Seems like I’ve drawn a good bit of heat in response to my comments, but not much light I think.

Colleen….not my point. The point I was interested in discussing was not the inhumanity of the slaughter process (something we always need to keep in the forefront of any discussion about animal slaughter) but the author’s premise. To all who think I’m a bit thick…..no, really, I get it. We, you say, don’t want to eat horses because we love them. Well, yeah, I sort of picked that up. And I happen to love horses also, having been raised in, on and around them, but THAT very idea… horse meat as taboo….is what I’m probing here. It is a taboo, one of our strongest, and it is that I’m interested to know about. Like I said, saying you don’t think we should eat horses because you think they are special is a reason that chases its own tail. Anybody want to be honest about that?

(Yikes! My apologies to the author for the extra vowell….danged bifocals.)

To answer my own question, since I’ve got a minute, let me just propose this long view on the subject:

Since the article addresses horse eating in the USA, I think there is just no way to peel back the cover on this whole thing without putting it in the historical, sociological context of the conquest of this country.

The Anglo/European/Caucasian, dominant culture knew as night followed day that horses were an essential element for exerting military power, but it went deeper than that. The view that horses weren’t food was a very basic demarcation between we “civilized” people and the Native “heathens.” It also was a class identifier within the white culture. We have a nasty habit of defining the “otherness” of the cultures/classes we oppose by scorning their foods. (Why do you think we called them “Krauts?) If you ain’t considering the roots of our prejudices on this whole subject, you’re leaving out a pretty big (I’d even say essential)part of the story. Sorry.

Not all historic Native cultures consumed horse flesh, granted. Some actually shared the dominant culture’s viewpoint….some for the same reasons.  Many did though, and for those who didn’t, it was usually more about a lack of access than any greater spiritual affinity with the horse. Some who avoided horseflesh had no problem with throwing fido in the pot. (In many cases, it was the noisy dogs who went first….assuring camp security)  Hell, the reason that there weren’t any equines on the continent when the Spanish arrived was, most believe, because pre-historic cultures ate them all.

We would all profit, I’d think, from realizing that our prejudices and taboos didn’t show up in our culture yesterday. Before we wind up where we are probably all going, we’re most likely going to need to exploit every food resource we can find, and then some. Some of the rest of the world seems to have figured this out already. My question to Ms. Couturier and all who take the apparently unexamined view that eating horses is immoral, is: Where does that come from?

Wade

Thank you for your compassionately written, article.  I don’t know how you made it through the auction.  Sadly, we seem to be taking our current American malaise, out on our nation’s horses.  Anyone who knows about the auctions, likely is aware too, of the numbers of American Wild Horses, PROTECTED BY AN ACT OF CONGRESS, that are systematically, and inhumanely, being rounded up, imprisoned and sent to the auctions.  Try to call the BLM, who is supposed to be protecting them?  You get disconnected.  Try it:  202-208-3100 extension 5 is the BLM.  You wait and then click…you’re disconnected.  I don’t even think Americans know what is going on…but there’s no wholesale way to make sure they do.  Thank you for your article.
Wendy

Suzanne…

I wanted to specifically address the points you raised…..

Try telling a Hindu that cows are made to be eaten, because they are not “special.”

So, meat is in the eyes of the beholder. That slaughter practices for horses are reprehensible is absolutely true. So it could be said about the slaughter practices in general, for all animals. Still, that is not the question I posed.