I am a HUGE anti-slaughter advocate. I USED to be a huge SUPPORTER for slaughter. Until I became educated. Please keep in mind, i am not some blind, bleeding heart. I have spent the last year doing alot of research into this issue.
I follow a large number of rescues, mostly back east. Some may recall when I posted about a Shetland pony, out of hall of fame bloodlines and in top condition with outstanding confirmation that was listed to go to slaughter. Luckily we were able to save him. Minis are a weekly occurrence, as are ponies. Mind you these aren't horses in poor condition. They aren't of poor stock or bad confirmation. These are well trained, well loved minis used for driving, riding etc etc. On an average I see at least 3 and usually more go through
each week.
People think these horses are safe because they are minis. The fact is, they are often sold as food for other animals, such as for zoos or large game preserves. And, believe it or not, they DO ship to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. Its not often, but it does happen, esp with the larger minis and ponies. The Kill Buyer (KB) sees a profit to be made, period.
This is an extremely sensitive issue. Everyone has an opinion on it, but in the end, the facts cannot be denied. And it effects every single facet of the horse industry, from mini horses to large drafts, mules, donkeys and everything in between. Alot of people say that it is more humane for the animals to go to slaughter than it is for them to be turned out into the wild and abandoned. The fact is, while that does happen, it is not as high an occurrence as one may think. I'll get into some statistics in a moment. A large number of organizations, both anti and pro slaughter have agreed that the unwanted horse issue has
not increased due to slaughter house shut downs in the US. IN fact, the same number of animals are being shipped to slaughter as they were before, the only difference is that they are going out of the country now. neglect and Abuse cases never increased with the plant shutdowns in the US.
First, lets look at where these horses are coming from. naturally there are the animals that are sick, incurably lame, or dangerous. Then there are the 'other' horses, which make up 80% or more of the horses slipped to slaughter. These are PMU foals and mares, These are Nurse Foals, these are the grand kids pony that we don't want any more, these are excess thoroughbreds, saddlebreds, pacers; these are the AQHA and APHA horses that are born the wrong color (im not kidding!), these are the excess Amish driving horses, carriage horses from new york, unwanted mustangs from the range,draft horses that don't have a job any more.... the list goes on and on and on. (Please note, while it is illegal to slaughter a horse under the age of 6 months, many PMU and Nurse mare foals are either clubbed at birth or skinned for leather products)
The AQHA is one registry that is continually under the gun, and in many ways represents whats happening all over. The AQHA registers,
yearly, an average of 135,000 foals. By oct 2009, roughly 115,000 horses had been shipped to slaughter. In 2007, 122,000 horses were slaughtered. And still they promote breeding. This is where i really commend registries such as PtHA and AHA that have gelding incentive funds as well as programs that award points for doing something other than showing and breeding. Before i move on, I want to say here that I personally am caught. I would love to breed minis, I have an ideal in confirmation and temperament I want to reach. and someday I would like to venture into breeding Gypsy vanners and knabstruppers to help preserve these rare breeds. But I see the number of horses slaughtered each week and I have to ask myself, is that the right thing to do?
I want to pause a moment and talk about an article I read recently about a breeder in canada. She's upset because of all the american horses coming into canada for slaughter, because its driving the price down on her own horses. She breeds over 50 AQHA mares a year, and recently had to ship 25 yearlings to slaughter. She got an average of 125 dollars a head. She states she has to breed 100 horses to get 2 horses of quality. (for pleasure, barrel racing and show). She faults the rescues for inteferring with slaughter, because slaughtering the poor quality horses removes them from the gene pool. And she faults consumers for wanting to pay 200 dollars for a rescue horse, instead of 2000 dollars for an untried yearling. Any good rescue always puts in a do not breed clause in thier adoptions, and some go so far as to sterilize the animals. Sadly, her sentiments are shared by many others who breed indiscriminately. Let me state here that I have a HUGE amount of respect for MANY breeders, here in the mini horse world and in others. A good breeder will always know where their animals go, be willing to take them back and will only breed what they know they can home or care for!
There are just no two ways about it. Over breeding in the horse industry is a huge component of the over abundance of horses that are slaughtered yearly.
**WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS GRAPHIC IN NATURE**
So, is slaughter more humane that going unwanted? Well, one must consider how the horses are treated. When abandoned, they are often, very sadly, left to a fate such as starvation, being attacked by dogs, hit by a car or something such as that. Cases of abuse and neglect are disgusting, and very sad. But slaughter is no better. The animals are loaded into double decker semi trailers and hauled across country, without food or water, in cramped conditions. Often they will fall in the trailers and be trampled on the way. When they arrive at the plants, a large number of the animals are already dead, most are dehydrated and in such poor conditions that they are drug out of the trucks because they are unable to walk on thier own. Mares drop aborted foals on the concrete, and if a foal is born alive, they are also left behind and die shortly after from dehydration, exposure and trauma. IN canada captive bolts are used to stun the horse before it has its throat slit. Most of the time the captive bolt misses, maiming the animal and leaving it screaming in pain while workers struggle to end its life. In Mexico, a sharp knife is used to severe the spinal cord just behind the poll. Again, they often miss thier targets because we all know how sensitive horses are to having their heads and ears messed with. So, please tell me how those last 4 days of a horses life going to slaughter is more humane. The fact is, whats humane is euthanasia from a qualified official.
There is one more aspect of the slaughter issue that people seem to be blind too. The very simple fact that American horse meat is NOT fit for human consumption! Have you ever taken a peek at the products you give your horses? Bute, wormers, supplements, other pain killers, vaccines, antibiotics.... Its not like the horses going to slaughter are being raised for meat like cattle. The horses going to slaughter are your backyard pets, your performance horses, animals that have had something given to them. If for no other reason at all, that should be enough to ban american horses exports for slaughter. We are in effect poisoning the countries that eat our equine. Canada just recently put in a new law that demands each animal is identified before it can be slaughtered. KB's are of course angry about this, because it increases thier amount of paper work, but at least now there will be a solid record of where exactly that animal came from and if it has had any chemicals of any kind in its body.
Anyone remember the racehorse Ferdinand? He was slaughtered in Japan after failing as a sire.
I could write for days about this. As responsible horse owners, breeders and lovers, it is up to us to take care of our fellow equine. I would LOVE to see more registries put forth more incentive funds to promote gelding, older horse ownership and less breeding. I would also like to see these registries take responsibility for the animals they advocate.
I have a number of sources I can provide for the above information, but I didn't post any because Im not clear on the link rules here on the forum. If you would like to see them, please send me a PM and I would be more than happy to forward them to you.
I wanted to add a response to:
We made a huge mistake closing the killer plants in this country, where we had at least some control over the way the horses were transported, handled, processed and cared for until they were processed. Now we have them being transported long distances into countries such as Mexico where they is no control and we have no say over what and how they are handled. But that is another thread, I guess.
The sad fact is, our own US slaughter house conditions were just as bad as those outside of the country. They still used the captive bolt which is NOT acceptable for a horse as it is for a cow or sheep. Even Temple Grandin, who is nothing short of a genius and has worked extensively to improve the conditions of slaughter plants for ALL animals has stated "Every time she comes back to inspect she has to fix everything she sees"