5-23 IAN Horse Slaughter

 The tragedy of starving horses, or horses nobody needs or is using. What to do with them? Don’t slaughter them… That’s inhumane… According to a huge number of people.

The federal government stopped funding inspectors for horse slaughtering facilities back in 2007, so horses haven’t been slaughtered here in the US since that time. On top of it all, we have experienced the great recession without any cessation of our love of horses. The result? Thousands of horses that people cannot afford and end up starving. The newspapers are replete with stories about it. A great analogy is when authorities find some nutty old lady with a house filled with 100 cats or dogs in complete ill health. The nutty old lady says but I love my cats. Guess what? That’s no way for a loved one to be treated. I called the state veterinarian Dr. Debora Lawrence to get her thoughts about the euthanize nation of horses.”My thoughts are that the ban on horse slaughter in the United States has done a terrible disservice to the horse industry, horse owners and horses themselves because there is no outlet for cull horses that are not able to be used and no longer have any value to their owners. A lot of them are starved because their owners can’t afford to feed them and if they are shipped to Mexico, the humane handling procedures in that country may not meet up to US standards as well as the fact that the trip down there is very long and arduous. Horses would be much better off if they were humanely slaughtered in the US and not left to starve or be on their own devices.”