Killing Horses for Humans to Eat!

[EweSheep]

 

[checoukan]

Why not?

So many people forget that horses are animals too. A very expensive meat in Europe. I would rather see them slaughtered than stand around starving, or just being turned loose, because "HUMANS" cannot afford to feed them anymore! Besides, most of the horse meat in the passt was sent overseas!

 

[86121]

The only thing wrong with horse slaughter, is the human inability to let go of an emotional attachment to a species.

In all reality when a person is starving, food is food, and the only thing that prevents certain things from being on the menu is that human inability to let go of there emotional attachment. I can see myself having issues eating horse meat, however, I would much rather see the horse be properly put down and actually used, then see it be left to rot alive behind some barn, starve, be abandoned, neglected and abused, or even be shipped to Mexico just so they can be properly or improperly slaughtered down there...

And also, what makes a horse any more special from a cow or a chicken? A life is a life, and should be respected all the same, even if its going to be your next meal.
I think magicsaddlebred and bufforp89 had some very good points as well that I agree with 100%

 

[wbruder17]

Ok, point made and taken. I hadn't thought of the issue of unwanted horses starving etc.
However, when I think of how totally INHUMANE our meat market actually is, for cows, pigs, chickens,n etc. it is hard for me to believe that these horses will be treated humanelly even when being killled for food. Looknat the horrendous conditions of our meat industry and slaughter houses, and the diseases that aren't regulated very welll. In the meat that we slaughter now. Who is goin g to regulate this new horse meat market?
We have an abundance of dogs and cats in this country too, and even tho folks in other couuntries eat THEM, are we going to pass that bill as well?

I get it. If your starving, its better than nothing, and to each their own but I would really hate to start seeing it sold in the grocery stores. And I still dont agree with it being used for human consumption. Dogfood, ok. Send it overseas, ok. But all I see when I hear this is my sweet little Tucker on somebody's dinner plate.

 

[peepblessed]

Quote:
As opposed to what? Horses standing in backyards, farms and ranches starving slowly to death because there is no place for them? If they are not being slaughtered something still has to be done with them.

Euthanasia costs $150-$200 on average not to mention removal of a body. Not much of an option for people who need to get rid of their horses for financial reasons. It cost me $300 to have a horse moved and buried after a bout of colic this spring. That's not even counting a euthanasia/vet bill.

Giving away a horse in pretty much impossible these days, even more so if you have an old, unstable or just plain old unusable one.

This past year I became the owner of 2 registered Appy mares and a registered Paint colt, all for free. I was the last choice for all these guys before auction where they surly would have gone to slaughter and at least brought in a few hundred bucks for their struggling owners. Luckily the previous owners/breeders cared enough not to send them to auction.

Maybe the real fight is with all the backyard breeding going on...I have a horse...it has a uterus...must get foal...but what happens when that foal is no longer small and cute and needs some serious training that the average backyard horseowner can not provide? Off to auction....

Or even 'professional' type breeders...My paint colt came from a woman who made quite a name for herself in the horse world. She retired as she got older and was no longer able to compete due to old back injuries. She purchased a half dozen OTTB mares with great bloodlines and conformation for her sport and a big, rockin' Paint stud. Started breeding babies...Then low and behold! There was no market for her animals. Despite their pedigrees and training (and color!) they were just not selling...So she started giving them away.

Or how about the racing industry itself? Thousands of animals going for slaughter yearly

So my point is I think its the overbreeding that's going on that's the real issue here...Not slaughter itself... After all if slaughter was not an option all of those horses have to be reabsorbed into the economy/community...Which leads to horses starving/being neglected...Much worse IMO.

Well said!

I'm in California where horse starvation is epidemic because they passed a law a few years ago that horses couldn't be slaughtered. Because the US is raising corn for fuel hay fields are now corn fields and the cost of feeding a horse has tripled in some areas. Horses are abandoned in fruit orchards and bare fields on a daily basis. This new law was critical for the horses sake.

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
this.

I have more problem with a horse being hauled long distance under stress to be slaughtered in canada or mexico than being hauled short distance to a local slaughter facility.
I do want the slaughtered animals handled, hauled, and killed in a humane way. especially for animals that have been pets and are not used to being handled as livestock I think it matters. I don't want to see the horses hauled in and held in large groups of strange animals where there are the inevitable squables that can result in kicking matches and unnecessary injuries. if the animals are treated fairly, I'm ok with local slaughter. there are differences in handling horses and cattle for slaughter, accomodations for a horse's nature should be made.

but one of the big issues I see with the "for human consumption" part is that horses that were not raised as food animals are often treated with drugs that are not intended for food animals and may persist in the meat. for that reason, I don't think I'll be interested in commercially available horsemeat. whatever your opinions on the drugs from factory farmed beef, milk, or eggs, consider that in horses it may be considerably worse, and I don't know that we'll know what's in the meat at all. at least with factory farmed beef you can readily find info on what you may be eating.

 

[ChicknThief]

Quote:
A very good point. Which again begs the question, will horses now begin to be raised specifically for meat purposes? It is likely that horses previously kept as pets will be deemed unsuitable for human consumption because it will be very difficult to determine what and how much drugs a horse has been given prior to slaughter.

 

[redhen]

I cant really say much about this at all because i eat meat. It does kinda bother me though..

 

[checoukan]

I don't know the figures, and I have not had time to look them up, but I think you would be surprized just how much of the meat would go overseas. I just saying.......I don't think you will see horses raised just for slaughter. Takes too long...look how long it takes from breeding, to a heifer, or steer to be raised to a marketable weight and then sold for slaughter....Close to two years from beginning to end! It would take that long for horses or longer. You could not afford to feed them for slaughter purposes.

 

[StarLover21]

I'm not for it or against it...it seems kind of odd. Personally I'm a vegetarian so I don't think any animal should be killed

. But why shouldn't horses be treated like every other animal, I guess. Horses don't really do anything for humans...chickens produce eggs, cows, goats, sheep and others milk and wool. But horses

. I don't feel much different about it than I do about cows or chickens.