The well-intentioned drive to ban the slaughter of horses in the United States has created a new problem--cruelty to horses.Two years ago my post, "Last US horse slaughterhouse shut down, unwanted horse problem will worsen," led to the most non-Bill Ayers related comments in the five year history of Marathon Pundit.
(The comments are archived in the Haloscan format.)
In that post I wrote that because the option to sell horses to meat processors was gone--horses would suffer. My prediction was that unwanted horses would be set free and left to fend for themselves in the wild.
Which is happening.
The last horse slaughterhouse processed 1,000 equines a week.
The horse lovers--Oh, I'm not a horse-hater--responded that there is a large network of horse shelters that can take care of those horses.
I'm going to tell you about a story that has not gotten much attention media attention--outside of Nebraska. A Sand Hills man who ran the unfortunately named 3-Strikes Mustang Ranch was arrested earlier this month for animal cruelty. 200 horses, many visibly malnourished, were moved to a nearby county fairground.
At least sixty horse carcasses were found in pits on the property.
The Scottsbluff Star-Herald has a series of articles about the 3-Strikes Mustang Ranch.
Lynn Safranek of the Omaha World-Herald also covered this story; she spoke with Jamie Sich, who is the president of the Nebraska Horse Council.
Sich's personal view is that slaughterhouses are needed in the United States to handle old, sick and unwanted horses.
After the U.S. slaughterhouses were closed, the demand for horses dropped and unwanted or unusable horses flooded the market.
Because kill buyers set the bottom market prices, the prices for all horses went into free fall. A horse that may have been valuable several years ago is worth half as much today.
Lower demand has left breeders with an unexpected surplus of horses they had hoped to sell but now must raise.
I hate to say it, but I told you so.
Some American horse still end up getting processed for human consumption--these animals are shipped to Canada or Mexico. A bill pending in Congress would ban the transport of horses to foreign meat processing plants.
Meanwhile, several states are exploring ways to reopen American horse slaughterhouses.
Related posts:
No home on the range: Domestic horse slaughter ban one year later
Horse of a different color on abandoned equines story
Abandoned horses in Eastern Kentucky
Hey, another horse slaughter post
Last US horse slaughterhouse shut down, unwanted horse problem will worsen
Technorati tags:
horses 
animal rights 
business 
economy 
horse 
animal cruelty 
Congress 
Nebraska 
Nebraska Sandhills
6 comments:
The incident at 3 Strikes has nothing to do with horse slaughter. Neglect and abandonment have no correlation to the availability of slaughter. Leave it to the pro folks to use 3 Strikes to promote slaughter. Slaughter is still available to anyone wishing to send their horse so your arguments blaming the closure of the plants doesn’t hold water. How do you explain all the abandoned and neglected horses when the plants were open? The largest seizure in US history happened when the plants were in operation. The people that abandon and neglect their horses don’t send them to slaughter.
Sich doesn’t know what he’s talking about. According to the USDA, over 90% of the horses going to slaughter are an average age of 7 and are fit, healthy and sound. The meat men want healthy horses with meat on their bones.
The demand for horses and values dropped because of the economy. The value of everything we own has dropped. If the demand is down, why is the breeding not being curtailed? The AQHA registered 140,000 foals last year – up 5,000 from the prior year when the plants closed. Shouldn’t that have been a clue? Two years later and all they do is whine about the unwanted horses but keep breeding to make sure there is an excess. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what they’re doing. The breeders have had two years to cut back and prepare for the end of slaughter but they continue to breed and dump. Until the dumping ground is gone, nothing will change.
Thanks for your contribution. Yeah, the economy has hurt everyone, horse owners too. But two years ago horses were being abandoned because of high feed costs--ethanol production caused a chain of events that raised food cost for people and animals.
Next year it'll be something else.
Slaughter is only an option if the horses are sent across the border--the travel costs make that more expensive for the meat processors, and besides, are 1,000 horses a week being sent over the 49th parallel--or south of the Rio Grande? DeKalb, IL plant handled that many horses...the two Texas plants closed just before the DeKalb one did, I'm sure they handled a similar number.
Some in Congress want to take away the foreign option.
You're right on the money about the horsebreeders.
Democrats and congress = a disaster in everything they touch. What's new about that? Now we have an excuse for a president that makes Dimmy Carter look smart. I read weekly about groups of horses found starving to death, never used to be that way.
Mr. Ruberry,
Before you say "I told you so" how about checking all of the facts? Slaughter of American horses is still going strong. In fact just as many horses (over 134,000!) were slaughtered for human consumption in 2008 in Canada and Mexico as when all three foreign-owned horse slaughterhouses were operating in 2006. The fact is, there is no "lack" of slaughter. Anyone wanting to send their horse to slaughter can still do so the same as they did before. Care to try again at the cause of neglect and abandonment?
3 Strikes is a horrible situation. He didn't ask for help. Why who knows, but the horses are getting help now from the best. It is sick that pro would use this as an example to keep over breeding and sending what they don't want to slaughter. Horse slaughter can not be an option. They were butchered alive here, and they are still going to slaughter and getting butchered alive in Canada and Mexico. Save the horses and stop this disgusting greedy business of butchering American horses for Europe.
The drop in horse prices have nothing to do with the economy!
Kill buyers were infact a large factor in the equine prices.
Let me tell you how it went.Kill buyers dont go by the breed of horse they go by weight(so much per pound),the heavier the horse the more they could give in price.
Now they closed the US plants that only left a few options for the kill buyer to send the horses which ment a drop in price cause less horses can be taken now so there is no over crowding.That is why the prices of horses are down.
Everyone thought they were saving the horses but all they did was cause unwanted horses that has lead to cruelty and suffering because the owner didnt want it to go to slaughter or because it cost way to much to have them put down.
In the end all this has cause is a bomb thats about to blow up in the faces of those who wanted to stop horse slaughter.
Who is going to take in all these unwanted horses!You say your saving them but in the end your only causing a slower more painful death.
At one time a 1200lb horse was worth almost 1200.00 and now its worth maybe 150.00 you do the math.
How do I know this well because Im a kill buyer.
And just to set everyone straight just cause someone buys kill horses doesnt mean they all go to slaughter! Some of my best riding horses came out of a kill pen!
Another point I want to get across is we dont starve our horses! We spend more in one month on hay then most would dream of spending in a year!
Everyone goes by all the false information thrown at them on the tv and assume its true well its not!They are going to tell you want they want you to hear.But they always seem to leave out key factors that would prove them wrong.
This is all based on looks if you ask me.If a horse was as ugly as a pig I bet you would never hear a word about them being slaughtered.
I say get over it and move on to a greater cause like finding a cure for cancer and point our efforts into saving a humane life!
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