Obama brings back slaughterhouses for America’s horses

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President Obama has sentenced millions of horses to death by reauthorizing funding for the slaughter of horses, making animal rights activists, and just us run of the mill animal lovers, livid.  The fact is, however, although painful, he may have made the right decision.

Here’s the story from The Christian Science Monitor:

What to do about growing numbers of neglected and abandoned horses in the US is an ethical conundrum that Congress and President Obama quietly addressed this month via a spending bill: bring back the slaughterhouses.

A Department of Agriculture bill, signed into law Nov. 18, reinstates federal funding for USDA inspection of horse meat intended for human consumption, which Congress had withheld since 2006. That de facto ban on horse slaughter has now come to an end, to the outrage of the animal rights community, amid reports that US horse owners were simply shipping their animals to Mexico and Canada for slaughter and processing.

According to a pro-slaughter group called United Horsemen, meat processors are now considering opening facilities in at least a half-dozen states, including Georgia, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, and possibly Idaho.

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The issue has galvanized the animal rights community, which contends that horses are too intelligent to be food animals, and that legal processing of horse meat will endanger wild horse populations and motivate Americans to raise horses specifically for human consumption.

The other view, accepted by Congress after a study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), is that more abandoned and neglected horses in the US – which has 9 million equines – are being sold and processed for meat anyway in countries that may not have the same standard of humane euthanasia that US law requires. Government statistics show that 138,000 American horses were sold and processed for meat in other countries in 2010 – a 660 percent increase from 2007, according to the GAO report.

“We can’t monitor horse slaughter in a plant in Mexico or Canada … [a]nd so we don’t know if it’s being done humanely or not because the USDA obviously doesn’t have any jurisdiction there,” Rep. Jack Kingston (R) of Georgia, who was instrumental in the reinstatement, told the Oklahoman newspaper’s Sonya Colberg and Chris Casteel. “Along the way, these horses are having a rough transit. USDA does not have the jurisdiction over how the animals are treated along the way.”

The poor economy has been tough on horse owners and the animals themselves, leading to what Representative Kingston calls an “unanticipated problem with horse neglect and abandonment.” In Colorado alone, horse abandonment “increased 60 percent from 975 in 2005 to 1,588 in 2009,” the GAO report stated.

What’s more, The New York Times reports that the law forced many breeders and owners to go out of business because their inability to sell horses for meat “removed the floor” for prices while forcing owners to shoulder costs for euthanizing and disposing of unwanted horses. Before the ban, the horse slaughter business generated some $65 million in revenues a year.

“When they closed the plants, that put more of a hardship on our horses than the people who wanted to stop the slaughter can imagine,” said John Schoneberg, a Nebraska horse breeder, according to the Times report.

Nevertheless, animal rights activists are furious over the decision to bring back horse processing plants in the US. They say that ending the de facto ban will challenge the ethics of horse ownership and undermine the sanctity of the unique bond between humans and horses.

“They’re signing the death sentence for thousands of our American horses. The wild mustangs in Oklahoma and every horse in Oklahoma is at risk,” Oklahoma City horse advocate Stephanie Graham told the Oklahoman. “Horses are going to die and it’s going to be brutal.”

After reading the story tell us what you think about returning to the days of slaughtering horses.  Is it the right decision given what is happening in Mexico and Canada?

About Post Author

Shawn Dayco

Shawn lives and works in Los Angeles. He loves MadMike'sAmerica and is looking forward to writing for us. He has several advanced degrees in journalism.
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Deidra
12 years ago

FUCK PRESIDENT OBAMA I THOUGHT U WAS BETTER THAN THAT. BURN IN HELL RIGHT NOW!

Dee from Ny
12 years ago

I’ve been taking riding lessons for the past two years and have become so connected to the school horse I ride. just the thought that these animals will be killed sickens me to no end. I do not own my own horse, but I do know what it takes to take care of them. I’d rather own a horse than a dog any day. I am in my fifties and get such a sense of freedom and pleasure in riding after the ho-hum of the work week. I am truly sad about this. Obama has a lot to deal with in this country. If people had jobs, more of these precious animals could live. That’s all I have to say for now. I’m writing my congressman next.

Jess
12 years ago

All about the coin for these people. This is meat that is a delicacy overseas and so on. Where will they be getting the money for inspectors, when we can’t even get a goddamned jobs bill due to the “deficit” everyone in DC talks about. Baucus should be ashamed of himself siding with pugs on this. He should just go ahead and quit the democratic party and become an out republican imo.

As we speak, I am looking to adopt more than a couple of older horses, that a friend has said she will board for me at her ranch. At least I can take some out of the food chain if I can’t take them all. Not enough we kill chickens, pigs, cows and other animals so meat eaters can eat, now they want to kill horses for meat. I swear sometimes human beings disgust me.

Reply to  Jess
12 years ago

I hear you Jess. I rescued two horses and am about to rescue a third.

Jess
Reply to  Professor Mike
12 years ago

Hey that will be at least 4 out of the food chain then. You can only do what you can do and if it saves one, it is way better than saving none.

Jacques
Reply to  Jess
12 years ago

Another lover of horses. They are special creatures Jess, but I doubt as smart as pigs. Unlike pigs they possess an elegant beauty and we westerners cherish such things. The best to you should you adopt some of these beautiful creatures.

Dee from NY
Reply to  Jacques
12 years ago

I agree with you. Horses do a lot more for our spirit than a pig does.

Dee from NY
Reply to  Jess
12 years ago

good for you Jess. enjoy the new additions to your stable.

newageluddite
12 years ago

Were the wild mustangs in Oklahoma and elsewhere being slaughtered for meat before the 2006 ban? If they were not, why would folks start doing so now?
I’ve read it costs over $1400.00 a year to keep one horse. There have been several news shows in Oklahoma this past year about horses starving to death because the owner could not afford to maintain them, had no buyers for them, and did not have access to a front end loader to dig a hole and then bury them, if he shot them.
Killing them softly seems a much better solution to me. I think the processed horse meat is sent overseas.

Reply to  newageluddite
12 years ago

It’s my understanding the wild horses had been slaughtered for years, decades even, prior to the 2006 ban.

Marsha Woerner
12 years ago

Yes, I do think it’s the right decision. Whether or not I personally have any desire to eat a horse is totally irrelevant. And I find the animal rights group statement that “horses are too intelligent to be food animals” is disingenuous at best. We eat pigs. Pigs are smart! We eat octopuses and squids. They aren’t mammals, and they’re ugly (well, in some people’s minds), so people can’t take the time or effort to be concerned about them, but let’s talk about intelligent!! No, intelligence has no effect on our decisions about food. Yes, in consideration of health and well-being of horses in general, it’s an unfortunate decision, but definitely the right one.

Reply to  Marsha Woerner
12 years ago

Viscerally I am opposed to it Marsha, as I have two beautiful horses of my own, but common sense tells me it is the right thing to do. That makes me sad nonetheless.

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