I should clarify - until a couple of years ago, I had no issues with horse slaughter. I'm not foolish enough to think that animals care what happens to their bodies after death. I don't oppose the slaughter of horses per se; I oppose the way horse slaughter occurs. Some of the issues I have with it:
- Yes, the transport is absolutely inappropriate, as mentioned above.
- There needs to be a better way to do the killing. The bolts used on cattle are much harder to use correctly on horses. Smaller heads attached to longer necks and generally taller animals means it is much harder to hit the target. Death needs to be extremely quick, not take a couple of shots to get it right.
I think this is a very complicated aspect of it. The underlying issue is that there are far too many horses out there for the number of homes (sound familiar?). Horses have crappy BYBers just like dogs do. They breed piece of crap to piece of crap, then sell the offspring. If they can't sell them to a new owner, they can sell them by the pound to the meat man. There is no 'punishment' for breeding a generally worthless horse, because someone will give you money for it. I would compare it to the whole BYB problem with dogs. Yes, the cute puppy in the petstore deserves to have a caring home, but if you spend the $800 to bring it home, you are simply supporting an inhumane industry. It's not until we take away the ability of BYBers to make money that we will shut down those industries.
I don't know what the right answer is. It is too complicated for such a simple answer as "make slaughter legal again" or "make it illegal". If they could find a truly humane way to slaughter horses, I wouldn't have an issue with it. Death is death, and what happens to the body after isn't an issue to me. But I think making slaughter humane will cost the industry way too much money, so I don't see it happening. In the meantime, I will be happy that the much beloved, 28 year old schoolhorse at our barn laid down quietly in the field last night, surrounded by his herdmates, and died there. And I will continue to mourn the very well-bred warmblood mare I knew, whose breeder had promised her new owner should would buy the horse back if she ever needed to get rid of it, and who died in a slaughterhouse.
- Yes, the transport is absolutely inappropriate, as mentioned above.
- There needs to be a better way to do the killing. The bolts used on cattle are much harder to use correctly on horses. Smaller heads attached to longer necks and generally taller animals means it is much harder to hit the target. Death needs to be extremely quick, not take a couple of shots to get it right.
higher rates of abandonment and cruelty incidents in the USA (because horses as pets are just as likely to have improper owners as cats & dogs). ALL of which was predicted by the various horse breed organizations the majority of whom OPPOSED legislation ending humane slaughter at US facilities.
I don't know what the right answer is. It is too complicated for such a simple answer as "make slaughter legal again" or "make it illegal". If they could find a truly humane way to slaughter horses, I wouldn't have an issue with it. Death is death, and what happens to the body after isn't an issue to me. But I think making slaughter humane will cost the industry way too much money, so I don't see it happening. In the meantime, I will be happy that the much beloved, 28 year old schoolhorse at our barn laid down quietly in the field last night, surrounded by his herdmates, and died there. And I will continue to mourn the very well-bred warmblood mare I knew, whose breeder had promised her new owner should would buy the horse back if she ever needed to get rid of it, and who died in a slaughterhouse.