OT-Horse Slaughter - Page 1

     Please make the call!!!

Let's Make 2009 the Year of the Horse Call your U.S. Representative Today
Dear joni, The 111th Congress just began last week, and the Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, H.R. 503, has already been introduced. With thousands of horses a month being shipped over the border to Mexico and Canada where they are shot and stabbed to death for their meat, we can’t waste any time. Like past legislation (the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act), the Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 503) will prohibit the sale and transport of horses for slaughter for human consumption, including horses being shipped over the border for slaughter. We're off to an amazing start with this bill -- there were 61 co-sponsors already signed on to the bill the moment it was introduced! We need your help to ensure that your U.S. Representative, Michael Arcuri, is added to this list of co-sponsors. TAKE ACTION Please make a brief, polite phone call to Representative Arcuri at (202) 225-3665 to ask Rep. Arcuri to co-sponsor H.R. 503, the Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act. When you call, you will speak to a staff member who can pass your message along to your legislator. Please be polite and professional, and leave your name and address so it is clear that you are a constituent. You can say: "Hello, my name is [your name] and I live in [your town]. As a constituent, I'm calling to urge Representative Arcuri to co-sponsor H.R. 503, the Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, a bill that was just reintroduced to prevent horses from being cruelly slaughtered for human consumption. Thank you." We're tracking the impact of your calls, so please let us know you called your Representative. Finally, please tell your friends and family to make the call, too. Thank you for continuing to fight to protect horses from slaughter. Sincerely, Wayne Pacelle President & CEO The Humane Society of the United States Copyright © 2009 The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) | All Rights Reserved. The Humane Society of the United States | 2100 L Street, NW | Washington, DC 20037 humanesociety@hsus.org | 202-452-1100 | humanesociety.org We are committed to protecting your privacy, so your email address will NEVER be sold, rented, or

I saw a video on this whole subject that was horrific.What they do to these poor horses in Mexico should be an out and out CRIME.It starts from the transport of these beautifull animals,the conditions are terrible.They are starved and trucked for thousands of miles and then slaughtered in the most HORRIFIC way you can imagine.The video I saw on that website  second chance ranch was enough to make me sick.All those mayers,and gorgeous animals that we once exploited in the race track are then auctioned for as little as 5 dollars and then trucked here to Canada or worst  Mexico where they are litterly torchered.You know if they at least did it HUMANELY it would be something that you sort of accept but there is NO excuse for what i saw on tape.What a wonderfull world this has turned out to be and all for the good ole mighty dollar.

The inhumane slaughter in Mexico did not start until we banned horse slaughter in the U.S. recently. 

As a horse owner, I don't like the idea of having to slaughter horses but what do we do with the old, sick and unwanted horses?  I live in MI and the economy has forced many people to leave their homes in the country to live in apartments.  Nobody has the money to take in these horses that are left behind.  I've even seen ads where people have found horses in their front yard and nobody is claiming these animals.  Our equine rescues are full and broke.  Nobody has the extra funds to donate these days.

It is very expensive to have a horse humanely ethanized at your home and then carted away for burial or cremation.  It is illegal to bury them on your own property in most states.  Even then you would have to hire a backhoe to dig the hole. 

So now we have horses standing in pastures and slowing starving to death in our very brutal winter.  If they do go to auction then they are loaded up to start the long haul to Mexico.  Mexico has no humane laws when it comes to slaughter so it's not a pretty sight when the horses finally arrive.

At least in the U.S. the slaughter was controlled and closely monitored.  So  the next time you think about complaining about how inhumane it is in Mexico--think about turning the law around in our own country regarding slaughter of horses. 

Of course PETA will hate you after they fought so hard to make it happen.

 

Thank you MI GSD.   It needed the other prespective.

MIGSD and animuls,lets get something straight ,I am not complaining.First of all I dont live in the US and secondly i was just responding to kitkat3478.I dont agree with what mexicos laws are but I also understand that I am only 1 person and cant control what happens.Personally,I think it would be alot more humane for those wonderfull horses to be put down in a way where it causes the less stress possible even if that means to shoot them in the head with that air gun they use on cattle.At least that way they dont know what happened and its over.I dont know the politics involved with the US banning but I can say that mexico law sucks.I hope we understand each other now that it was not ment as a complaint per say.You have a nice day

I wasn't coming down on you or anyone else at all Domenic.  I just want people to think before they start trying to ban everything they consider cruel or inhumane in our country.  Things can be much worse as the horse industry has now found out.

This is a quote from an article on a website for horse professionals:

Since all three U.S. horse slaughter operations were ordered closed last year, the number of horses exported to Mexico for slaughter has exploded. As of Dec. 20, 2007, 44,475 horses had been shipped to Mexico for processing for human consumption compared with 10,783 shipped at the same time in 2006—a 312 percent increase.

 

 I agree with MI_GSD! As a passionate breeder of quarter horses, I see the problem with the banning of horse slaughter in the US as the culprit. It is interesting to me that the majority of people against horse slaughter are not horse owners. They are people with no real idea of the costs involved in caring for horses. 

The humane slaughter of horses was a blessing for horse owners unable to afford the high cost of caring for crippled, old, or sickly animals. The expense of euthanizing and then hiring someone to haul off the body is unbelievably high.  We recently had a state vet speak to us and he shared his input on this matter. He expressed concerns because unwanted horses are being dropped off in the middle of state parks and federal lands to fend for themselves and they are not capable of survival: it has been bred out of them. Some have released them into mustang herds where they are torn to shreds by the stallions not wanting them in their herds. He also stated that he has watched countless horse people file bankruptcy due to the closing of plants in the U.S. It wreaked havoc on the horse economy in a domino effect. 

I think the problem is not in the slaughter of horses-no more than cattle, chickens, pigs. It is in the HUMANE slaughter and process. Of course, it is more humane to haul a horse across the state, riding in a trailer for 3-6 hours then to haul them for 12- 14 hours in cramped cattle cars across the country and into another country, where there are no mandates in the methodology of slaughtering them. 

Please do your research prior to signing this bill. Talk to horse breeders in your area and get their input.

As a long time horse lover, breeder, horse showman, count me out for signing the bill.I love them too much to see them released into forced starvation, attacks by coyotes, and isolation in some state forrest. 

 

That really sucks.As I said before,I dont know what happened with the US closing these plants but im wondering if maybe they should of left it alone.At least then hopefully these animals would'nt of been subjected to the traumatizing ride getting to mexico and then the gruesome death that awaits these wonderfull animals.I am not one to ban this and ban that but this situation sucks.

MI GSD is correct, thank your soft hearted animal "rights" dipshits that only make the deaths of animals more horrific. Maybe if they thought out a little farther ahead like us "normal" folks, they would have seen this coming like I did.

Mexico or Canada ??  We used to ship them to Canada. If we are to blame the economy for every thing we all should sleep alot better at night.