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Old 05-23-2007, 05:26 PM
ebo
 
3 posts, read 12,295 times
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dadofthree--your information on the kind of horses that are slaughtered is incorrect, although it's the nonsense that the pro-slaughter people have been pushing for years, so I can understand why you believe it.

I have adopted 4 slaughter bound horses during the past two years. One was a yearling, another two-years old, another 5 years old and the last is 12. (Horses live well into their 20's and often beyond.) The younger two were undhandled. The five year old had been injured (okay now), and I can't figure out why the 12 year old was dumped as she is trained to ride and absolutely gorgeous.

Most people who own horses, and many who do not, look upon horses as companion animals rather than food animals, and that is why we would no more send our horses to slaughter than our dogs and cats. Apparently, since there is no market for horse meat in the U.S., most people don't consider eating horses either.

Nonetheless, there is a market abroad for horse meat (now dwindling). The problem, as I see it, is that the whole process of horse slaughter is so flawed that it can't be fixed. For example, horses that are sent to slaughter are often stolen horses, or horses obtained by fraudulent means. They are shipped in crowded double-decker cattle trucks from auction to auction--sometimes for days without food, water or rest. At the slaughter houses, they are killed by a stunning device called a "captive bolt", which is supposed to render them insensate, but does not--so they are chained by the leg, hung, and their throats are slit WHILE THEY ARE STILL ALIVE AND OFTEN CONSCIOUS. The pregnant mares have their foals, often near full-term, cut out of their bodies and thrown on the offal pile. Most of these actions are illegal, but still they persist.

We wouldn't treat the filthiest terrorist in such a fashion. Why would we treat a harmless animal in this way?

Cavel, the horse slaughter house at DeKalb, IL, amassed something like $95,000 in fines during the past two years for dumping the sewage (offal) untreated into streams. Another plant in Texas, Beltex (now closed), for years polluted the air in the surround neighborhoods despite lawsuits and fines. All the slaughter plants that have been operating in the United States are foreign owned--and I suppose that's the reason for the disregard for our environment.

The fact is that many of our food animals are inhumanely raised and meet inhumane ends. If you wish to eat humanely raised and slaughtered animals, you can start here. www.eatwild.com (broken link) . I look forward to the time when we, as the superior species on earth, act in compassion toward all our fellow creatures.

Last edited by ebo; 05-23-2007 at 05:38 PM..
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Old 05-23-2007, 05:37 PM
 
4,720 posts, read 15,557,316 times
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Thank you for your information,though heart wrenching.I live in an area with many horses.They are beyond the term "pet" and more like ones family.
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Old 05-23-2007, 05:53 PM
j33
 
4,626 posts, read 14,041,769 times
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ebo - that sounds a bit like it came out of Upton Sincair's Jungle. I do my best (as a meat eater) to ensure (as much as possible) that whatever I eat has met a humane end. While my attitude as one who isn't prone to anthropomorphizing much in the animal kingdom and as one who tries to step back from viewing the world entirely through my own cultural lens may be misinterpreted as callous, I would not wish inhumane treatment on any animal (of course that is a slippery slope with interpretations of its own). The actions of the slaughterhouses in question certainly is suspect, and if the allegations in this thread are indeed true, they should be forced to shut down and pay a pretty penny in fines.

... and Barb AZ, I'd like to clarify, horse torture is inhumane, the act of slaughtering and animal for food is not in itself inherently inhumane whether that animal be a chicken, or an armadillo, or a horse (although it can be and often is when carried out in an inhumane way).
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Old 05-23-2007, 07:52 PM
 
98 posts, read 452,730 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Barb AZ View Post
Horse slaughter is INHUMANE. There is nothing more you need to say. We don't torture our dogs and cats before we euthanize them. We don't torture cattle, pigs, chickens, or ANY animal raised for food. WHY, OH WHY, must we make horses suffer before and during their last moments???
Barb, horse slaughter is inhumane. But you are dead wrong if you believe that other "food animals" are not treated in the exact same fashion. The slaughterhouse practices, the transport practices, the industry violations, are all common procedure at slaughterhouses around the world, including those processing horses, cattle, pigs, chickens, ducks, etc. Horses for foreign food are treated exactly the same as animals meant for our domestic food.

Again, I agree that it is inhumane and glad it has stopped, but please don't kid yourself that domestic livestock for your plate has not been equally 'tortured'. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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Old 05-23-2007, 08:21 PM
 
Location: On way to TX
144 posts, read 742,211 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ebo View Post
The problem, as I see it, is that the whole process of horse slaughter is so flawed that it can't be fixed. For example, horses that are sent to slaughter are often stolen horses, or horses obtained by fraudulent means. They are shipped in crowded double-decker cattle trucks from auction to auction--sometimes for days without food, water or rest. At the slaughter houses, they are killed by a stunning device called a "captive bolt", which is supposed to render them insensate, but does not--so they are chained by the leg, hung, and their throats are slit WHILE THEY ARE STILL ALIVE AND OFTEN CONSCIOUS. The pregnant mares have their foals, often near full-term, cut out of their bodies and thrown on the offal pile. Most of these actions are illegal, but still they persist.
.
This is pretty much true, and pretty much EXACTLY how cows are slaughtered, too. And nobody crying for cows or pigs or bear or moose or chickens or turkey? Think about hunting... deer/moose/whatever that is prey to hunters can take a lot longer to die in that environment than the aforementioned. And we are - again - killing it to eat it!
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Old 05-23-2007, 08:48 PM
 
6 posts, read 19,583 times
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Lightbulb A little Education

Okay Steve here is a little education, this letter may also add some understanding to those who are having such a difficult time with the emotion's surrounding this issue.
People who support the end of horse slaughter, myself included, have had an up hill battle with liars and spin doctors for many years. After battleing something for so long it does make one weary to continuely have to seperate fact from fiction. Now that we are on the threshold of ending it in the US, people who are anti-slaughter may be a bit short of temper. I myself am very tired of the debateing.
The pro-slaughter effort has lobbied heavily for it's continuation. There is a lot of money involved. Whenever the dollar is a major factor things can become shady. And they have. I am attaching the following letter as a tool to people who do not belive, or refuse to belive that they are being lied to. An article was recently printed in a major publication saying that horses were being turned loose to fend for themselves in Kentucky by the thousands, they were starving and it was because the slaughter house in Illinois had been closed. As it was, for an all to short time earlier this year. Please read the letter addressing the "suppossed situation" below. It tells people the lengths that are being gone to keep slaughter going. Pro-slaughter will,,,lie to you.

KENTUCKY
No abandoned horses found
The March 14 article titled "Kentucky, land of the thoroughbred, swamped with unwanted horses" could not have been further from the truth.
There is no crisis and there is no glut of "unwanted horses" roaming the Bluegrass State or anywhere else.
Though I knew the article was completely inaccurate, I did investigate.
When contacted for confirmation about this particular story, Lt. Phil Crumpton, Kentucky State Police media relations branch commander, said, "You must be joking?"
Upon realizing that it was a serious question, he confirmed that there had been no reports of unwanted horses to headquarters or any of the regional posts.
At the annual meeting of the Kentucky Animal Care and Control Association, the organization's president, Dan Evans, surveyed the membership about the situation.
None reported an increase in abandoned horses or sightings.
Beyond the inaccurate reporting, it is tragic that the pro-horse slaughter movement has managed to manipulate the mainstream media.
The three remaining Belgian-owned slaughterhouses in Texas and Illinois killed over 100,000 healthy, wanted horses last year to supply overseas' diners with an expensive delicacy.
While responsible horse owners may have legitimate reasons for giving up their horses, all agree slaughter should not be an option.
I encourage everyone to get the facts on horse slaughter and help support passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act currently before Congress.
ED WHITFIELD, U.S. representative, First District, Kentucky, Washington, D.C.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve-o View Post
SP1, dont belittle people, 99.9% of the people on this earth know nothing of the equines, myself included. If you want to inform/educate people, dont bash them, that will only turn people off.
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Old 05-24-2007, 12:30 AM
ebo
 
3 posts, read 12,295 times
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As I wrote in my earlier post, ......process of horse slaughter is so flawed that it can't be fixed.... Here is a narrative written by a friend who last month purchased a blind, very pregnant mare at a low end auction in Davenport, WA. It points out the callous way these unfortunate horses are treated by those who make money from their misery. (I've added a few definitions of terms that may not be familiar.)

Julie and I went to Davenport auction on 4/28. I saw Ava (the subject of this post) and noticed that she was dripping milk and laying down and standing up frequently. She was trying to clear an area for herself. I had just found an auction employee to tell him there was a young mare in another pen bleeding profusely from somewhere on her butt. He didn't care. He said she would be fine, or she wouldn't -he shrugged and walked away. Holy God.

Julie was appalled at what she was seeing. Having attended many horse auctions in the past, she was still unaware of the 'dark side' of horse auctions.

So, the day goes on. I don't know the KBs (killer buyers) and I don't know the auctioneer. Wilbur, my former neighbor, had said that when the Marysville Livestock Auction closed he would run horses and cattle at Davenport. I looked for him, but couldn't find him.

Finally, the stringers (horses that are expected to be sold to the killer buyers because of condition or lack of training) were sent thru. Each horse was put in the chute and cattle prodded out onto the floor (which is 1/2 the size of the Marysville auction).

3 horses from the end of the auction they prodded out a white mare. She promptly ran into the wire cable rope that separates the ring from the seating area. She fell hard. She was directly in front of me. Milk was spraying and now she was bleeding from a wound on her nose caused by the wire cable. The laughing began. Then, the man closest to the "in" door snapped the whip hard. She bolted and ran face first into the kick cover they have for auction floor workers.

Then - someone stood up and screamed "STOP! She's F&*%^* BLIND!" I looked at my friend Julie and she was looking at me all red in the face and gaping. O. That screaming person was ME. Sigh.

The auctioneer (still chuckling) said "ok, ok...calm down everyone. This old mare can't see so well". Duh. But, you could hear a pin drop for a moment. Enough time to let the mare sort of calm down. Now she was just standing trembling hard. Milk dripping. Her flanks were shaking so hard she had a hard time standing. My heart broke.

The auctioneer then said..."do I hear $25, $25? SOLD for $10 to Mike". WHAT? Sold? But, but ... but the bidding wasn't done right! I was sort of shocked. He just sold the mare to the man with the damn whip at the "in" door!

The next horse was having a fit in the chute. The second man in the ring snapped the whip again and began to open the out door. But Ava bolted forward before the door opened all the way up and busted the entire right hand side of the door off....with her face. I couldn't see where she went after she was run out.

They prodded the next horse into the ring. I walked down to the ring and asked the man who bought her if he would sell her to me. Deb, from Mustang Hearts, told me he buys for a Mexican KB. He said "if you have $200 bucks, great - if not, bugger off". Alrighty then. I just could cover the mark up, but I refused. I turned and walked away. Heart broken, knowing I would pay whatever he wanted, but I just didn't want him to win this big with her.

I was standing in line waiting to pay for tack and he comes up to me. He asked me how much I had, I said $50. He snickered and walked away. He waited about 10 minutes and came back. I told him my friend had given me $30 more. He said $80 wasn't enough. Without another word, he walked away. I found him about 25 minutes later sitting with his cronies in the cafe. I sat down in front of him and laid $102 on the table. I told him it was all I had. Then I pulled a dollar back out and said...."actually, you can only have $101, I want a Fing cup of coffee". He laughed and told me to go find her butt tag number.

I walked outside to find Julie (who was just given a pregnant mare by Deb from Mustang Hearts) I walked back into the cafe and I don't think he knew I was there. He was telling his cronies " I just sold that piece of **** blind mare to some fat bimbo for $100." He looks up and I was standing there looking at him. He turns red, his friends look away and he says "o, not you - I wasn't talking about you". I asked him if there was another fat bimbo he sold the horse to, and if so, which one of us was going to take her home?" His friends all began to laugh...he just looked down at the table. That one felt good...zot.

So, attempting to make terribly longer story shorter; the auction house really worked with us for these 2 horses. The lady there, named Karen, moved them into a large stall in case they foaled overnight. We came the next day to take them to a stable that had foaling stalls and was willing to take in 2 auction rescues (I personally wouldn't want to board my horses there b/c of that). Julies horse looked almost dead. My mare had hung out with the lead mare, so she got more groceries than Julie's horse did. They were from the same small herd that had come in complete with the stallion. All but our 2 went to the KB.

Karen allowed us to open all the cattle gates and allowed them to calmly walk to the end of the line. She didn't drive them into the trailer like I had stayed away worrying about. Then, they loaded right up! I was amazed! Ava followed May like a champ. May, walked right into the trailer and they traveled like experts! They loaded and traveled better than our personal horses.

We got them to the stable and they unloaded the same way. We closed off wherever we didn't want them to go, and left one stall door open. In they walked. Unfortunately, the woman who manages the place insisted on 'shooing' and shouting at Ava, which caused her to freak a bit and she danced around. I finally got her to stop yelling and we all settled down. They insisted that her husband would work with the horses even though I insisted that no one but us did. I could see the potential for Ava to get more fearful there, not less. This womans husband had worked for at the Davenport auction for 15 years and "he sure knows horses - he won't take any guff from 'em". Ava doesn't give 'guff', but she sure is terrified of people. I stayed awake again, worrying about what could happen.

That night, Julie found another small stable close by. We checked it out the next morning and decided to move the mares again. Now. They were incredible. In and out they went. Smooth a silk. Ava is my idol! She is sooo brave.

So, they are at Dan's place now. He's a crunchy old x military guy who loves horses. It's lovely with only 3 stalls and each having a small paddock attached. Ava adjusted well. We left her with May for the first night. Julie separated them the next day and both are doing well. We will be on foal watch this week though as Ava's nips are beginning to elongate and her muscles over her tail have relaxed and she'd egg shaped.

Please send jingles to her and her baby. May is just as compromised as she is a 1.5 on the body scale (a fitness scale used to judge a horse's condition. A "5" is ideal).


ps: I got to touch her sweet face yesterday while feeding her grain from the bucket. I think there is hope for her to lead a fear free life. I don't think touching her is too far in the future and once we can touch her, the battle is mostly won!



I have some pictures of Ava and May, AND the foals they bore the week following their trial at the auction house. These horses had a happy landing, for which I'm grateful. So many others suffer similar, or worse, abuse on the way to and during their slaughter.

http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p4/GrafRobert/Ava/****

**** Apparently, this bb doesn't allow links. So, cut and paste into your address bar to see pictures of Ava, May and their babies that were born about 10 days ago.

Last edited by ebo; 05-24-2007 at 12:51 AM..
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Old 05-24-2007, 09:16 AM
ebo
 
3 posts, read 12,295 times
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You probably won't get this on your local news, but Cavel slaughtered 141 more horses today before 8am in just 90 minutes.

Some were brought in on double-decker trucks (illegal).

None were checked for condition, given water or food (illegal).

The police didn't interfere. The USDA didn't interfere. Your governor, although he's in your state capitol, has not yet signed the bill outlawing horse slaughter in Illinois that your legislators approved last week. Blaggojevich is supposed to be opposed to horse slaughter.

Nice going, no?
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Old 05-24-2007, 07:51 PM
 
6 posts, read 19,583 times
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2007

Gov. Blagojevich signs legislation banning the slaughter of horses in Illinois for human consumption

SPRINGFIELD – Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today signed legislation that bans the slaughter of horses in Illinois for human consumption. House Bill 1711, sponsored by State Representative Robert S. Molaro (D-Chicago) and State Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago), bans importing or exporting horsemeat if any horsemeat will be used for human consumption.

“It’s past time to stop slaughtering horses in Illinois and sending their meat overseas. I’m proud to sign this law that finally puts an end to this practice,” Gov. Blagojevich said.

The Governor announced his support for the legislation after hearing from advocates, including Bo Derek, actress and longtime activist for the protection of horses, in April. Violations of the new state law are punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of $1,500.

“People were selling horses not knowing that they were being used and treated like livestock and ended up on the slaughter room floor,” said Sen. Cullerton. “This bill will ensure that using horses for the purpose of human consumption is illegal throughout the State of Illinois just as it is in 48 other states in the nation.”

“I am grateful to my colleagues and the Governor for joining with me in ending this shameless slaughter of these beautiful animals for the sole purpose of ensuring fine dining in European restaurants,” said Rep. Molaro.

“There is no domestic market for horsemeat and, therefore, no need for this practice to continue in Illinois,” Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke said. “Meat from the slaughtered horses is being shipped overseas to places like Belgium, France and Japan.”

Illinois is home to the sole remaining horse slaughterhouse in the United States, Cavel International in DeKalb. Two other horse slaughterhouses in the country, both in Texas, closed earlier this year after an appellate court rejected their appeals of a lower-court ruling that the plants were operating in violation of Texas state law.

“As both a horsewoman and a compassionate person, I applaud the resolve of the people of Illinois to end the cruel, bloody trade in horsemeat,” said actress Bo Derek. “My family hails from the State of Illinois and I know they would be proud of the actions taken on behalf of our horses by Gov. Blagojevich, Rep. Molaro and Sen.Cullerton.”

“With a stroke of his pen, Gov. Blagojevich has brought the brutal slaughter of horses in the United States to an end. Hereafter, may we only hear of horse slaughter recounted in history books as a sign of how we have progressed in our treatment of these majestic animals,” said Chris Heyde, deputy legislative director for the Society for Animal Protective Legislation.

“On behalf of our national coalition that includes thousands of Illinois horse owners, we are deeply grateful to Gov. Blagojevich, Rep. Molaro, Sen. Cullerton, and all members of the Illinois General Assembly who have worked so hard to pass this essential legislation to protect horses from the cruel practice of horse slaughter,” said Gail Vacca of Top of the Hill horse farm in Wilmington. “Illinois horse owners are proud today in the knowledge that our state legislature has set the bar in raising the standard for the humane treatment of our nation’s horses.”
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Old 05-27-2007, 12:35 PM
 
8,954 posts, read 4,254,221 times
I realize this is a very emotional subject but refrain from personal attacks everyone, please. It's possible to disagree and debate in a polite way. If any of you can't do it, this thread will be closed. Thank you.
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