VERY well stated: by Shelia C. Short I am going to make a challenge to each and every one of us. We need to exam the language that we use when discussing horse slaughter. We are working to bring it back to the United States for several reasons with #1 being the welfare issue. Since the elimination of processing within our borders we have seen slaughter bond horses being shipped on long trips outside of our borders where we have no say in the shipping conditions or the methods of slaughtering. We saw an immediate and dramatic devaluation of low end animals that jump started the increase in the numbers of abandoned and neglected animals. And yes, as the other side likes to point out when they vilify us, the #2 reason is money. When you couple lack of market with the economic crash, we have had the perfect storm. . This is what happens when the floor is removed from any livestock commodity. There will always be horses that have no value beyond meat. The majority of people will not want the cost of maintaining these animals and the slaughter market gives the owners some salvage value for those animals. Every one of us insists that this be done in a humane way-the shipping as well as the slaughtering process. It allows us, as horse owners and Americans to control the welfare of slaughter bond horses. It sets the floor for most of the horse industry by allowing even low end animals to have a monetary value and it provides a much desired food commodity for many cultures. It is our legal right, our private property rights and the smart thing to do. So please think about your terminology if you are still saying, “it is a necessary evil”, horse slaughter on American soil is HUMANE. Stop apologizing.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 19:20:09 +0000