Horse Slaughter

In the comments from the previous post Warren had asked how I felt about the new anti slaughter laws. I admittedly don't watch TV so am not as up to date on current events as most. However, I do know about H.R. 6598 which is the most recent horse anti slaughter bill to be introduced. This question kept me up last night. Thanks Warren. :)

So this morning I had to do a little research and find out if the bill had passed or not. From what I can find, it hasn't. It was up for debate on the 23rd of this month, but according to Govtrack the bill has not been voted on yet. Please tell me if I'm wrong as of my post this morning!

For those who aren't aware of this bill, here's the gist of it:

Except as provided in subsection (b), whoever knowingly--

‘(1) possesses, ships, transports, purchases, sells, delivers, or receives, in or affecting interstate commerce or foreign commerce, any horse with the intent that it is to be slaughtered for human consumption; or


‘(2) possesses, ships, transports, purchases, sells, delivers, or receives, in or affecting interstate commerce or foreign commerce, any horse flesh or carcass or part of a carcass, with the intent that it is to be used for human consumption;


shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years or both.


One would think that this is a no brainer, right? Especially after watching this undercover video of horses headed to Mexico for slaughter. Watch to the end if you can. And don't for one moment think that the Canadian slaughter houses are much better. The only difference is that Canada uses a different method for killing the horse. It's barely more humane than what the Mexico plants use.

But the other side of the anti slaughter bill is what to do with all of the unwanted horses if they can't be sent to slaughter? There simply aren't enough good homes for all of the horses being bred by both big breeders and back yard breeders these days. Last year almost 60,000 U.S. horses were sent over the borders for slaughter. Same with the year before. Are there 60,000 homes out there willing to take on someone else's unwanted horse year after year? Probably not. Some people have decided to let the horse lose to fend for itself in national parks or range land, rather than take it to the local livestock auction. For horses that have been born and raised in captivity, this is usually a death sentence.

I have heard that in Australia they have local slaughter houses where you can make an appointment and take your beloved pet yourself. You can be with the horse throughout the whole process if you choose and the horse is put down humanely without the pain, suffering, and terror that they experience here. If you don't have the means to get the vet out, or bury or haul the carcass away afterwards, this would be the ideal to me. It's a shame the U.S. can't learn from Australia.

What's my stand?

I can sometimes be an optimist. And even though my view may be seen as totally unrealistic, I think it could happen. Maybe. One of these years. I say reopen the U.S. plants. Save the horses the long painful trip into Canada or Mexico. Enforce the double decker trailer law more. These are still seen loaded with horses. Also, the plants would be much easier to govern and control if they were in the U.S. Use only humane methods and do not start processing the horse until it's dead. Offer the same type of service as the slaughter plants in Australia for those who care about how their pets die. Make all horse breeders that breed at least X number of horses per year for sale register as a breeder and tax them for the purpose of using that tax to support 501(c) equine rescues.

In my opinion, a clean painless death is far better than slowly starving to death in the wild. Of course, the ideal situation would be to stop breeding horses for awhile. But since we can't make people stop breeding comformationally challenged, dangerous, or unrideable horses, there has to be another way.