To slaughter or not to slaughter

To Slaughter or Not To Slaughter One of the biggest controversies in the equine industry today, is the issue regarding horse slaughter. Two years ago, the last of the three slaughter houses in the United States, were shut down. Slaughter houses were shut down due to a lack of regulation and inhumane treatment to the horses (Horse). It provided a positive outlook for our fellow equine, but unfortunately started hurting the industry, causing drastic changes. These changes show us that with better regulation, horse slaughter houses need to be reintroduced, because without them the value of the horse is drastically low, there is no longer any place for unwanted horses to go, and it is hurting our national economy. Slaughter houses were shut down because of the way, or way they weren??™t, regulated.

Bidders that slaughter houses would hire to bid on suitable horses for slaughter, would attend auctions and trailer up to 80 horses in a 50 horse trailer and haul them back to the slaughter houses that were up to 1, 500 miles away (Pro). That is where the problems started, until laws started being passed, regulating how the horses were hauled in the double-decker trailers. The buyers of the auctioned horses going to slaughter would run all types of horses into the upper and lower decks of the trailers, made for cattle and hogs. The crowded conditions made it hazardous for sick, old, young, and crippled horses to make the 1, 500 mile journey to death (Transport).

When you put the unhealthy horses in with stronger horses, you make it hard for them to cope, stay standing for long periods of time, and come out unharmed. Often when the trailers from the auction would arrive and unload the horses for slaughter, there would be many that had fallen, gotten trampled, and either died or were severely injured (Transport). Once unloaded, the horses would be put in holding pens for weeks at a time. The problem with that is that all the horses waiting to be slaughtered can literally smell the death. While they are outside waiting for their turn, they can hear their fellow herd members being killed, and they know death is coming for them next. So, then after stress, no food and water, and three weeks later, the horses are ready for slaughter. The most humane way to ??? kill??™ the horses would be to euthanize them, but instead, they shoot a metal rod through their head, hope it makes them unconscious, and then slit their throat. Many reports and pictures show that just one blow with the rod doesn??™t always work and often the horses will ultimately be alive when their throats are slit (Pro).

Once the horses are ??? dead??™ they??™d be hung upside down, gutted, and so on and so forth. Many people didn??™t realize the affect slaughter houses had on the horses industry. Slaughter houses were set up solely to provide horse meat for foreign countries, but many people failed to realize that people used slaughter houses as a means of disposal of unwanted horses (Allen). People that had sick horses that wouldn??™t get well or that were old and crippled could send them to slaughter houses. Because the ??? bad??? horses were no longer on the market, the value of the horse would go up.

The horse industry is still growing, but when slaughter houses were still legal, it grew more drastically. More and more people became horse owners and therefore the demand for ??? good??™ horses was high, causing the price of horses to be high. When slaughter houses were legal, all types of horses would be run through auction houses. The bidders from the slaughter houses would bid on any horse, even good, expensive horses. By doing so, it would become a competition between them and other buyers, causing the price of the horses to rise. Then all the sick, old horses would be bought at a cheaper price, and sent to slaughter. Now without slaughter houses and the bidders bidding, the value of the horse has dropped.

People that raise horses today, aren??™t getting the profit they should for the types of horses they thrive to produce. Today you can buy a ??? good??™ horse at a price that is drastically lower than before. Because of that, the horse industry has started seeing poorer quality horses.

Another affect we??™re seeing is the over population of horses. People realize they won??™t make much money off their breeding stock, so they ??? let it go??™ and it loses control, causing an over population. The industry is seeing a lack of regulation in breeding and people aren??™t regulating breeding cycles as much (Pro). Also because there are no slaughter houses to take in sickly, wounded, old, and diseased horses, there has become an over population in that group also. The horse industry is hurting because it became dependent upon slaughter houses, as means for disposal (Horse).

If slaughter houses are legalized again in the United States, we??™d see a drastic drop in the population of horses, starting with all the sick horses that can no longer be helped and should be disposed of. Because of today??™s economy people can no longer afford to keep horses, but because there is no place for them to go, it also adds to the over population. The horses themselves are also hurting as a result of this. There are many organizations available to the community to take in horses that people just absolutely cannot keep, but because of the high demand, and large number or horses, many rescue organizations no longer have room. They, because of the economy, don??™t have the funding and cannot get enough donations. Because of the economy, people cannot afford to supply the rescues with enough feed to care for all the horses, putting the need back on slaughter houses (Allen, Horse). Unfortunately, having no slaughter houses has caused a ripple effect in our economy.

Before when slaughter houses were legal, the United States shipped horse meat to countries like Asia and Japan. Now, without horse meat being processed in the U. S., we??™ve lost that form of trade. It??™s also hurting other forms of business, such as zoos.

Zoos would often purchase horse meat for the carnivores located at the zoo. Since horse meat is no longer easily accessible to them, they??™ve had to obtain other forms of meat. When horses were slaughtered, there meat isn??™t the only thing that was used. Many companies would buy other various parts, such as, the mane, tail, skin, and other parts of the carcass. They would use these various parts to make baseball covers, pet food, fertilizer, shoes, cement, and many other items (Pro).

Horse slaughter is an issue that many people have a hard time with. Many people argue that it isn??™t just horses, cows and pigs also go through slaughter houses, so why should they get special treatment. The problem is that in the United States, the average person doesn??™t eat horse meat, it isn??™t a delicacy. To the United States, the horse is a form of entertainment, a hobby (Greenhorn). Even though people often sign their horses unknowingly off to a slaughter house, they cannot stand the thought of their backyard pet being sent to slaughter and being treated inhumanely (Horse). Many breed associations, such as the American Quarter Horse Association and the American Paint Horse Association are pro slaughter of horses (Horse).

While those organizations are pro slaughter, they also support horse welfare organizations (Horse). If our government will establish laws to better regulate slaughter houses, they should be reintroduced. If there is better regulation on the way they are handled on their way to slaughter houses, on the time horses are allowed to wait to be slaughtered, and on the way they are slaughtered both sides, pro slaughter and ??? no slaughter??™ will be happy, and so will the horses. That studies and information available should be enough for anyone to realize that the horses that were going to slaughter were abused. Going to be killed or not, they are still alive at the time they endure the abuse.

While it??™s right for the slaughter houses to be shut down for inhumane tactics and poor regulation, many believe they shouldn??™t be shut down for good. Slaughter houses do still exist in places like Mexico and Canada, but without them here in the United States, it is causing drastic changes that could probably be fixed with the slaughter houses being legalized again (Allen). Since the time slaughter houses were shut down, we saw a drastic change in the value of the horse; of a ??? good??™ horse. It has also made it hard for people with sick, crippled, diseased, old horses to rid of them. Most importantly, not having slaughter houses available in the United States is not only hurting its own industry, but it??™s also hurting other industries. It is time for ground rules to be set for slaughter houses so that both humans and horses will benefit. Works Cited ??? Horse Slaughter & The Issues.??? www.

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