Commentary/Opinion by R.T. Fitch
Rep. “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis – a Career Dedicated to Killing and Eating Horses
The Wyoming legacy that Sue Wallis wants to leave for U.S. Children
“It’s been several months since we have heard anything out of the Wyoming Representative whose entire life has been centered around killing and eating horses, Sue Wallis. An embarrassment to her state, she continues to flail away at the premise that killing horses for human consumption is a good and wonderful thing. Between setting up a bogus non-profit organization that violates federal and state laws to accusing dozens and dozens of well known American celebrities of taking bribes on the issue,the out of control elected official continues to generate lies and propeganda on the issue of excess horses which her partner in crime, Dave Douquette produces.
Yesterday, information was uncovered on her plans to build a slaughter house that would kill healthy horses and supply their tainted meat to pets and today she still contends that horse meat is safe for human consumption which is in direct conflict with known science and international government assertions. In the normal world they would put someone like this away; in the fantasy world of “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis she continues to spout bloody lies and attempts to covertly subvert the opinions of decent Americans with her bogus organization.
What can you do to stop the madness? First read “Who’s on First?” written by Equine Welfare Alliance Executive Vicki Tobin and then write the Governor Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming and tell him that you have had enough of this embarrassment from Recluse; it is not only a state issue but one of National Pride, this individual puts the good and caring spirit of all Americans at risk. The U.S. public has made it abundantly clear that they do not support the predatory business of horse slaughter and the bulk of Americans do not believe in Eating Their Friends. But in Sue Wallis’ case, that’s another story…watch out Dave Duquette, you may be next on the menu.” – R.T.
UPDATE: Sue Wallis Responds – A Glimpse into a Mind that is Just Not Right
(Gag Alert)
From: sue.wallis52@gmail.com
To: sane americans@wegiveadamn.com; sue.wallis@vcn.com
CC:educated voters@yourouttaherenextelection@net
Subject: RE: Can you really read?
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2011
I generally do not respond to those that are disrespectful and uncivil, but in this case, since you copied my good friend and colleague, I have made an exception.
Tainted "Flicka Fillet" coming to a Wyoming Supermarket courtesy of "Slaughterhouse" Sue Wallis
I presume from your comments that you are a vegan and do not believe that humans should eat meat? Or, is it just horse meat that you are opposed to? Do you not know that the US troops and folks here at home survived World War II because of horse meat? That there was such a shortage of other meat that all beef and pork was rationed, but that horse meat was available, affordable, government inspected and not rationed? That it is, in fact, considered just another food animal by more than 75% of the cultures around the world and is widely available in grocery stores in both French Canada, and Mexico? That Mexico is the second largest consumer of horse meat next to China? These our closest neighbors and allies.
Perhaps you are unaware that since the animal rights groups such as the Humane Society of the US, and PETA closed down our US slaughter plants that the horse industry which used to employ 460,000 direct full time jobs, another 1.6 million indirect jobs, and creating 1.2 Billion dollars in the economy has literally been cut off at the knees, and has been downsized by 50%…that is a minimum of 500,000 jobs lost! Why? Because it destroyed a viable market, without a bottom to the market, the whole equine economy from top to bottom stagnated—no one can get rid of horses, so they can’t buy new and better horses. What used to sell for $700 you can’t sell at all, what used to sell for $1,500 you are darn lucky to get $500, what used to sell for $80,000 is now often going for less than $10,000.
What Sue Wallis wants for Wyoming - a National Leader in Cruelty
Worse yet is the horrific fact that the horses themselves are suffering the most. There has been a 400% increase in one year in the number of abandoned and neglected horses between 2008 and 2009. It is easy to see why if you have anything to do with the horse industry. Since the closure of the plants in the US, the only unusable horse that you can sell are those that are big enough and healthy enough to be worth the trucking to Canada and Mexico, so they endure long transportation, and wind up being slaughtered in foreign slaughterhouses where we have absolutely no control over the regulations and how that is done. At least if we were processing horses here in the US, they fall under the longstanding humane slaughter of animals laws and regulations that ensure our animals are well taken care of and killed quickly and painlessly. Compare that to being starved to death and having your guts ripped out by coyotes while you are still alive because you are too weak to get up. This is the inevitable fate of all of those poor, domestic horses that people can’t sell and can’t give away and think they are “giving them a chance” if they turn them out on the desert. That is not compassion, that is stupidity and cowardice. Any responsible agricultural person would put them down themselves before they allowed that to happen…unfortunately, too many people like yourself are too far removed from the realities and responsibilities of animal husbandry to understand.
So, when somebody loses their job, and loses their house, and needs to figure out who to feed, the kids, or the horse…what do you suggest? Are you going to pay for the feed and care of all of those excess horses? We’re talking upwards of 200,000 per year nation-wide…at an average cost of $2,500 per year, each. Or perhaps you think the taxpayers ought to pick up that bill and what we really need is a welfare entitlement program for animals?
To date none of you have been willing to step up to the plate and take care of the problem, and the result is that our horses are suffering terribly. Those of us in agriculture are morally compelled to do what we know is right, and that is to do everything that we can to ensure all animals a good life, and when appropriate to ensure that they have a decent and humane death. Once death has occurred all sensation ends…it is no longer an issue of animal welfare. If the horse belongs to you, you get to decide what happens to the carcass. If the horse belongs to someone who needs to access the value of the meat to feed their own family, or to reinvest so that they can replace the horse with something more useable, what is that to you? You may choose to avoid horse meat, that is your right…I, and many others like myself, however, understand that it is an incredibly nutritious protein source that is 50% higher in protein and 40% lower in fat than beef, and delicious.
Perhaps you have some solution that those of us who have worked around horses, and loved horses in our lives, have not been able to see. But, I doubt it.
Sue Wallis
“Dats da real enchalada ladies and gents, nothing altered except the names of the recipents so as to protect the educated. Now, go wash your minds out with Vicki’s rebuttel to these incorrect numbers and out and out lies at
WHO’s on FIRST!
Then
Write the Governor of Wyoming, TODAY!
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, The Force of the Horse, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Dear Governor,
Please end or stop the despicable plan of Sue Wallis to sell horse meat. Americans do not want this. Her intentions are of no merit to the welfare of horses nor the health of people eating this meat, most possibly tampered with med’s.
We must move away from the horrific and greed based exploitation of horses, and stop horse slaughter forever.
Sincerely,
Monika Courtney, Colorado
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Found this website and explanation of horse slaughter. It is graphic, but the general public needs to read this and weep for the horses. This sick practice must be stopped.
http://www.examiner.com/x-41737-Newark-Horse-Examiner~y2010m3d31-Facts-about-Horse-Slaughter
Each year in the United States, approximately 100,000 horses are shipped to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered. Most people believe that horse meat goes into dog food. In actual fact, most horse meat is shipped to countries overseas for human consumption. Horses, unlike cattle and pigs, are not raised for human consumption. They were, at some point, a person’s pet, a non-performing racehorse, or maybe a show horse that became too old for his job. Many owners are unaware of the fate of their beloved pet.
Owners will turn their horses over to an auction house with the thought that the horse they have outgrown will find a new, loving home. Many of these horses end up being bought by a shipper who then sends them to slaughter. Horses are loaded into overcrowded trucks which are not suited for horse transportation. They will not eat or drink anything for the whole ride. Many fall and get trampled by the others in the truck. When they arrive at the slaughter house, they are unloaded in a cruel manner. The workers use whips and prods to force the horses into chutes. Sometimes the injured ones are dragged by a winch. If the horse is “lucky”, the captive bolt gun will shoot directly into their brains killing them. Many times this is not the case. Many are still conscious of what is happening to them. They are hoisted by their back legs and then their throats are slit. They die a slow, frightening death.
Horse slaughter is cruel and barbaric. People need to be aware that overbreeding of race and sport horses is causing a large population of unwanted horses, who end up on the slaughter truck. There are many groups in our country trying to protect the rights of the slaughter bound horses. The only way to end this horrific practice is to educate yourself and others on responsible horseownership and horse breeding and helping to pass the appropriate laws to protect our horses.
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The very idea of selling “horsemeat” in Wyoming, or, ANYWHERE in America, is the SICKEST thing I’ve EVER heard!! Horses are NOT cattle, pigs, or other unfortunate “food animals” in THIS country, & therefore should NOT be sold, &/or, sent to slaughter for human consumption, EVER!!!! This is NOT how you “treat” your “favorite” horse when he’s too old, or otherwise unable to “earn YOU a living” anymore, they are living, FEELING, loyal & trusting, and, do NOT deserve such an INHUMANE end to their beautiful lives, they are NOT disposable, inanimate “things”! The “United Organization of the Horse” is DECEPTIVE, IRRESPONSIBLE,UNCARING,INDIFFERENT, & SUCKS! Sue Wallis & others like her should be hit with a captive bolt, then have her throat stabbed & slit open, & hung upside down to die, or be butchered while STILL conscious!!
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“Horses that are old and past a productive life or are DANGEROUS and UNTRAINABLE will be slaughtered” That statement is aimed at mustangs, of course. There are always a few words slipping here and there to make sure they can get their fresh supplies of wild horses, free of the typical drugs entering the bloodstream of the domesticated horse.
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Does anyone know if there is a hidden market for fresh mustang meat? For example actually advertised as free of any of the “inconveniences” (medications, etc..) a “regular’ horse might have?
What if the rush for the mustang also had to do with a demand specific for their meat, the same way certain “people” are buying so called exotic meat. What if they were TWO markets for horse meat? The same way they are different markets for beef. I am willing to bet that it’s the same for horses, specially the ones running wild in the US.
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The new EU regulations only recognize zebra meat as “wild equid.”
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I’m not talking about legal regulations, but about a market for wild equid. There is no regulation for bush meat either. These types of market are ignorant of legal zones. I once interviewed a judge who told me “in order to catch a criminal, you have to get into their frame of mind.”
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I just meant to say that if you are trying to catch something that is illegal, you can’t think of what is legal.
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The mustangs are contaminated too. The BLM has given many of them bute, they have wormed all the ones they have “gathered,” they have given many of the mares PZP, ALL of which are banned substances from the human food chain.
Given the BLM’s sloppy record keeping, I doubt if any sane person would want to depend on them to know which horses are contaminated and which are not.
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From that point of view, there is no need to manage the horses.
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The wormer I give my horses states on the packaging that this product is not to be used in animals bound for human consumption, so if they worm the horses in holding pens??? then they are contaminated as well.
This woman just makes me sick, I would hate to see what she’d be about if she hated horses???!!!!
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Maybe she’d be happier living in a “third world” country. Somebody send that woman a burka!
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OMG, I agree. She just e-mailed me and told me she and her friends eat horsemeat and it is delicious! Maybe the vet drugs will get her and this will be over once and for all? She is a sick puppy!
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Sure would like to see that email, Judy.
rt@rtfitch.com
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you know I just saw those old train/stockyards sell on one of my websites I am watching for a piece of property I dream one day. let me find it. ok here its not that state however another railroad spur that was a cattle railroad line. this spur is sold now so perhaps sues plan will expand to Tucson soon.
” Tucson Railroad Spur
(185) Sale Type: Online Auction
Status: Closing Soon
IFB Downloads: 5timer
Auction DetailsCurrent Bid: $500,000.00
Minimum Bid Increment: $50,000.00
Registration Deposit: $25,000.00
Minimum Bid: $500,000.00
Opening Date: 03/01/2010 09:00:00 PST
Closing Date: To Be Announced
Bid HistoryAmount Bidder Bid Date/Time
$500,000.00 tucson 03/04/10 04:44:10 PM
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and I post again, you know these railroad spurs and much other GOV and BLM lands are auctioned. However to other gov people, and to NON-PROFITS there are ways to get this surplus land FREE. Perhaps some of the big 501c groups can look into this more?
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Hi Laura, do you have more info on this or a link, please? thanks.
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don’t fill in any state info, just click “GO” to get to the page.
http://www.auctionrp.com/default.cfm
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Why is it that we all had time to write letters and make calls but HSUS didn’t have time to talk to the legislators???!!!! I know we stay on top of things but come on! I am writing the governor to tell him I will never again enter his state as how do I know the beef on their restaurant menus are really beef? How would you like to be the first grocer or restaurant to advertise horse on the menu esp since the restaurant biz is the one of the businesses most likely to fail?
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Morgan, I like your idea of writing to the governor about not entering the state again if they sell horsemeat. The only way to get attention is to take away their money.
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Anyone who thinks the state of Wyoming needs your little tourist dollars, has no idea how wealthy Wyoming truely is, through gas & oil.
There are greater things happening in your own back yard.
Do you know anybody who is HUNGRY, emaciated, really HUNGRY?
We have starving people in the US & you people don’t care about them.
Where are your priorities???
Jerry
rancher & horseman
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This is actually to Jerry, the rancher ~ Jerry, I don’t know if you live in WY or not, but EVERY state counts on the tourist trade to a greater of lesser degree, and especially the Western states because of their incredible scenery. They DEPEND on tourists. So, I doubt the leaders and the tourist business in WY would agree with your stance that no one cares whether they come or not.
ALSO, who the H##L! do you think you are! You don’t know us or what we do with our time and money. We care a LOT more about the hungry than you do, because I think you’d be okay with feeding them tainted horse meat and we are not. That’s what part of this is about – our govt. sanctioning the export of tainted horse meat to unsuspecting consumers abroad. Of course, SS Wallis would GIVE it to children, old folks and prisoners. I guess if you don’t like kids, old people and felons, that’s one way to get rid of them…
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Apparently this law states that the “meat” from the slaughtered horses can be sold to state institutions and non-profits at “cost”. OMG, does she plan to sell it to the State of WY penal institutions, public schools and state supported homes for the elderly? Our prisoners, schoolchildren and nursing home residents will be forced to eat horsemeat, knowingly or unknowingly? People who are native to the US do not eat horsemeat: they don’t want to provide it for other countries. But then we don’t eat dogs, cats, monkey’s or each other, something that happens in other cultures. If Wallis gets slaughterhouses for horses in place, are these next on her “hit list” of meat providers? This woman is demonic and evil. There was a time when someone like her would be burned at the stake. And she sets a chilling precedent for the future generations of citizens: she devalues living things when they become unproductive and have “no value”. God help the elderly if we continue this path toward the devaluing the sacredness of certain life forms. Domestic horses are given veterinary drugs that specifically state they are not for human consumption: even the wormers used have that warning. This woman is the devil incarnate! She has to be stopped from destroying the horses and our state.
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Seems the only “death squads” are the ones being lead by SHS
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I once asked her if this was a new form of genocide, but she never answered me.
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Dear Citizens of the Beautiful State of Wyoming,
It is time to Impeach your wacked out Representative, Sue Wallis. She is an embarrassment to the state I lived in years ago and have wonderful memories of. The activities of this woman in Wyoming and beyond with her quasi United Organizations of the Horse and her scare tactics and lies about the slaughter industry, horses and horse meat has reached a level of sheer lunacy. How can you allow her illegal activities and her propaganda to continue as Wyoming State Representative? I know you have higher ethics than this. Show the nation your backbone and be rid of this woman who has no ability to tell the truth yet wants to influence all of us with sick lies. How do people like this get elected?? Apparently by lying. Sincerely, mar
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Well you can bet I didn’t vote for her, Marilyn! Am not sure where Recluse, WY is, but must be a dark hole in WY for sure! Like you, I am embarrassed and ashamed that this lunacy is being associated with the State of WY. There are good people in WY that do not support this idiocy!
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Some cultures eat maggots and live Octopi but I doubt very much is Slaughterhouse Sue has yet tried THOSE delicacies.
I don’t believe that 72% of the world’s people eat horse meat either. Probably even less not that the Belgians have seen that little film about the slaughter plants.
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It’s more like 16% of the world population eats horsemeat… not 72%. Or in other words 84% of the world population does NOT eat horsemeat.
“The report includes historical data on horse meat consumption. Over one billion people or 16% of the world population eat horse meat.”
http://www.afac.ab.ca/reports/08horsereport.htm
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72%? Where did she get that number? I believe 2% is more accurate. And the chinese would eat the last tiger….and the japanese would eat the last whale…….and “the moral progression of a nation can be determined by the way it treats it’s animals” Ghandi. Are we to progress backwards? That 2% is crumbling with growing number of europeans becoming “informed” of the cruel & inhumae predatory nature of equine slaughter. Horse slaughter does not belong in American Culture, we will not even feed it to our dogs & cats.
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In spite of her rehtoric, I think “ole sue” is having a difficult time selling this project..She keeps reinventing her prospectes..It started out as slaughtering horses..period..now its a quasi- rescue, retraining, rehab, and we are only going to slaughter a few select individuals…does that jive with her push to get investors involved? Trying to get a pet food packing plant in state? Lies, Lies and More Lies..I hope she does not consider her constituents to be that stupid..This Kinder Gentler Sue..only works if she is the “Joker”
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Who is going to eat all this horsemeat? The meat inspectors are who was shut down. They cant ship horsemeat out of the United States. People in the United States don’t eat horsemeat, there are laws. I don’t want to see it the way it was. The kill buyers were stealing horses out from under people. There was a two year waiting line and a $2,500 price tag for kid horses over the age of 16. The kill buyers were hooked on killing. Why would they not save a old horse for so much money. I cant see pet owners buying horsemeat for there pets. Not when they can have chicken or beef.
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Check out the post, crew…it’s updated with the very latest and greatest from Sue herself…mmmmmmm, those Flicka Fillets are just lip smacken good. Das what she says!!!
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I’m sure glad you put that gag warning up there, R.T.! That woman is stark raving NUTS!
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In my search to tie PRCA “stock contractor-bred” wild horses with the BLM, I still have a ways to go – but look at what I turned up:
“Make sure they understand that we have some 33,000 (by BLM count-most ranchers dealing with those ranges say triple that number) so-called wild horses on the Western public lands. Make sure they know that we have another 30,000+ standing in feedlots all over the West at taxpayer expense. 8. Make sure they know that any unregulated, unmanaged horse herd will double itself every 4 years-that they are already destroying the ecosystems and wildlife habitat of our public lands, and that the cost of caring for them off of the lands will grow to $77 million dollars of taxpayer expense by 2012.
9. Remind them that 10 million people starve to death every year in this world…and maybe our excess BLM wild horses could be put to much better use by providing high quality, nutritious animal protein, untainted by BSE-type disease concerns of other livestock to people who could never afford to buy it.”
http://www.rodeoattitude.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=3787
Sue Wallis has certainly been making her rounds!
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Deborah, There is a lot worse than the above at this site. This is awful and it is aimed at us. It is all lies of the worst kind. Total rat s**t! Please read the above link and know how deep down the lies, hate and crap goes. No offense, friends. I had hoped we were migrating away from this BS. Bad JuJu… mar
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Marilyn, Being aware of the tactics and evils of pro-slaughter people/groups and to whom they’re aimed at, I totally agree with you. It’s all abhorrent! I pulled that one quote from the site because of it’s correlation to my recent research – pro-rodeo and wild horses. Yet another BLM partnership, I’m sure.
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It is sad to now that there are so many who would just stereotype us and miss the whole enchilada. mar
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Yep, the wild ones are in her crosshairs. The BLM might continue their oh-so-holier-than-thou contention they weren’t “selling” horses to slaughter, but if Sue gets her way, they certainly would be breeding for slaughter. I guess the BLM could look the other way while pro-slaughterers drove the herds onto private land so they could be taken as “estray” horses. They wouldn’t even have to go to the trouble and espense of “processing”. Just let those herds build up and keep on breeding “clean” horses for the slaughter pipeline.
I think point #5 – livestock deductions & exemptions – is the real issue. I’ve often wondered if equids could be listed in a special category under livestock, with their own set of rules. If it was written correctly, the equids would be more protected, and the breeders could go on getting their own brand of “welfare”. I still want “companion animal” status, but maybe this type of compromise might work.
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Wild ones for sale from a link within the same site I referrenced:
http://www.riata-ag.com/for_sale
I’d rescue them in a heartbeat if I could 😦
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Deborah, is this an update, because the update on this link list March, 2009?
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Why would I even want to feed my dogs and cats meat that is poisoned? I get organic from a specialty feed store where they only sell lamb, chicken and turkey – it is pay now or pay later in vet bills for sick poisoned animals. I tell you EU has the right ideas on many things – anyone questioning our USA food chain here where we do not have that ban on chemicals?
And so Sue W. would prey on vulnerable starving people – oh sure, they will eat anything poisoned or not while she racks in profits with twinkles in her eyes – disgusting. deleted: ____ ____ ____ ____! I am still so angry from those slaughter house abuse videos that I can’t really think straight! have not eaten beef since as I assume all slaughter houses are run the same way.
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Isn’t it illegal to sell horse meat in the US? Seems like she has an acquired taste for it.
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Not illegal for pet food for sure. Maybe not illegal for human consumption if it is your own horse or it does not cross tate lines?
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It IS illegal to use in pet food, who is going to slaughter YOUR horse for you?
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Dear Sue,
Lisa LeBlanc here – Carnivore Extraordinaire and Lover of Equines for the Purposes of Companionship & Iconolgy.
First off, Dear, Hands Off the ‘so-called’ Wild Horses, Captive or otherwise. Whether they still roam or are incarcerated, they still belong to ME, already bought & paid for with my hard-earned tax dollars. That I have little say in how they are managed or treated is another matter to be discussed in another venue, but suffice it to say it will take more than the hateful words of a horse-hating megalomaniac to convince me and those I hang with that you will EVER slaughter Wild or Captive Wild Horses en masse for profit as I long as I breathe.
I can only assume from your continued litanies on the best and most profitable methods of discharging ‘excess’ horse populations your intent is to feed the world with American Horsemeat. Horsemeat which, because we love them and want them to be healthy and strong, is poisoned with a myriad of concoctions designed NOT to feed human beings with but to keep our horses at their healthy best.
I suspect, from your ‘humane’ and ‘humanitarian’ solutions you harbor more than a little contempt for all things Equines AND for your fellow humans.
Could your ultimate solution to the Poisoned Horsemeat issues you will no doubt encounter lead us toward only one conclusion – that you intend to raise horses for meat? It’s the only solution that would keep you from killing thousands of people around the world with tainted, chemically enhanced American Horsemeat.
Not here, Dear. No Where in the United States will you or your United Organizations find a peace or a comfort in that regard.
If you wish to feed the starving masses, perhaps you could find your bliss somewhere NOT here. In another country perhaps.
I don’t CARE if YOU eat horsemeat; I don’t CARE how lean or tasty you may find it. I don’t CARE if your cholesterol level is right where it oughta be. And YOU don’t CARE how many Americans are without jobs or homes; slaughtering horses will NOT solve an issue that has nothing to do with it. Bad decisions made by government representatives who haven’t a clue on the best use of Taxpayer Money are responsible for the economy – not the shut-down of horse slaughter plants.
As hard as I try, I can not wish you good luck or Godspeed in your frivolous & hateful pursuits. I do wish, however, you acquire a calculator that really works, and that you poll a portion of the American Public that DOESN’T raise or purchase horses with an eye toward their eventual destruction.
Sincerely,
Lisa LeBlanc
Mutually Exclusive Meateater and Horselover
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sue.wallis52@gmail.com
For anyone who wants to be sure Slaughterhouse Sue gets their comments!
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Oh, I’m already in the midst of composing MY letter to Ms Wallis. Will post it here when I’m done.
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According to what I’ve read, horsemeat has been banned from pet food since the 70’s. There’s none in what I feed my dogs; yes, some of the horses are from people who think taking or sending a horse to a sale barn will result in them getting a new, great home, same mindset as people who drop off their family dog to the pound and drive off thinking that the dog will find a wonderful new home speedy quick. yeah, right.
Slaughter of any animal in this country, when done in those huge, assembly line slaughter houses, is inhumane, they are transported the same way, they are treated the same way, and the captive bolt isn’t effective on all of them either.
I am hoping that there is such an outcry over this that Sue has to run for cover. What sickens me the most about her is that she projects herself as an oh-so-caring animal loving person, yeesh!!!!
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My education continues. So the meat is only for zoo animals? Is that the only purpose of horse meat rendering plants? Perhaps glue also from the hooves? And Sue is just using the guise of her care for feeding our dogs and cats and for all those starving people, as we certainly will not, supposedly, provide tainted horse meat, legally, to those starving people in the first place.
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Roxy, horses that are taken to a rendering plant are dead, the body is rendered into parts, not cut up to feed to zoo animals, this meat is not fresh so I don’t think zoos would use it to feed their animals, anyway, here is a link to a site that compares rendering with slaughter, very easy to read and understand:
http://www.equineprotectionnetwork.com/slaughter/render.htm
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What I want to know is why is a beef cattle rancher promoting something better than beef? Something is really wrong here. And why is she doing this? I am sniffing, looking for the scent here, trying to track the $$$$$$. Follow the money. Where is it? Is she a paid lobbyist for PRO, to blow smoke or what? Because really, nothing she says makes any sense. Someone needs to go pick her up and drive her to Bouvery or Richelieu and let her see for herself what happens.
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In earlier writings, Wallis has confessed that she has never seen horse slaughter, in person, yet she claims that real-life footage is fabrication on the part of equine advocates.
She misses ANOTHER point and that is Horse Slaughter has never gone away, it is still there except for the fact that it has moved across our borders and it is fed by American horses; primarily Quarter Horses (thank you AQHA) and Wild Horses (thank you BLM). It has never, ever gone away (to the tune of 100,000 horses a year) yet they continue to flog the fact that the U.S. plants are closed down and there all these mythical “unwanted” horses standing around on street corners bumming money off from passerby’s.
A clear case of distorting the facts and being totally disengaged from reality.
Maybe it is the water in Recluse.
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Maybe she ate one too many horses?
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Good point, Pat. And you are right: nothing she says makes sense because it is all fabricated. Problem with lying is you have to remember what you lied about before if you don’t want to be exposed. This woman is so sick, she would probably stop raising cattle and raise horses purely for slaughter if she thought she could make a nickel on it. I am praying the people of Campbell County(NE corner of WY) will refuse to send her back to Cheyenne. Apparently because the horsemeat cannot be shipped out of state because there ARE NO FEDERAL INSPECTORS, she came up with the idea of feeding it to prisoners, residents of state institutions and schoolchildren. That should get the attention of parents statewide: maybe that will get her canned for sure! She does not represent the majority of people in WY: she is just more verbal and visible. The comments on the newspaper articles are definitely not in her favor. The only way to fight her lies and ugliness is to keep educating the general public to the truth.
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Sue Wallis is the stuff of nightmares. can we imagine cattle cars stuffed with pet horses going to sues deathcamp by raillines.
yes Sue when people were STARVING they ate their pets!! when people were starving they even ate HUMANS meat.
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They can’t feed horsemeat to dogs because of the use of ivermection in horses. Now I am sure many of the big pitbull fighting breeders feed thousands of pounds of raw meat to those dogs and horsemeat, especially meat from some free horse is way cheaper than quality meat. Ivermection won’t hurt most pitbull dogs. However ivermection is lethal for example to many collie breeds.
Even cases on the record (years ago and please someone else research and find the urls) when horsemeat was fed to kennels of racing greyhounds and killed the entire kennel.
Sue Wallice just lies about her real reasons she wants to stuff horses in train cattle cars and ship them by rail to her horse slaughter-house deathcamps next to railroads.
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Ivermectin won’t hurt most pitbull dogs??????? where did that little known fact come from? FYI, I use Ivermectin paste wormer, the same wormer I use on my horses, every month as heartworm preventative for my dogs, a friend who breeds dogs told me about this years ago,no problems from the paste and no heartworms in my dogs. if you check out the ingredients in Heartguard, it will read ivermectin 1.87% the exact same level as is in Zimectrin horse wormer.
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Ivermectin IS toxic to Collies though.
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my point was can’t feed horse meat to pets because some breeds are sensitive to ivermection.
I don’t want to feed my dog that chemical laden meat anyways..who wants their pet dog to get cancer from its food Sue?
oh yes right Sue W., you will sell meat to the dog fighting crowd and poison ignorant foreign countries.
nice try- Sue. W. you horse- Hitler.
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Jan and all, I apologize for that outdated link. Looking into the eyes of those beautiful wild horses as “rodeo stock” caught me off guard. Guess I forgot to shield my emotions long enough to notice the ‘for sale’ link was a year old.
Just some quick, personal history. I grew up in rodeo, my step-dad both boarded and moved rodeo stock horses. As a girl, I fell head-over-heels in love with a “crazy unbreakable mustang” – forbidden to go near him. To me, that meant fair game. In a week’s time I had him eating out of my hand and riding bareback. Gentle as a kitten with me but went nuts when he saw my step-dad. I watched that horse get whipped, trailored and hauled off to the glue factory. That was the end of rodeo competition for me. Forty years later I continue to ride on the other side of that fence. I owe it to that little Apache roan and his kin.
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It’s very sad. Love of the almighty dollar truly is the root of all evil in this case.
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I may be operating off of outdated info (and don’t the anti-horse like it that way for themselves), but:
(1) Horse slaughter of any kind is not illegal in the Fede US (barring subcategories of crimes: theft, etc and sale for human consumption). States may have restrictions (banned in many, but not enforced) and we all know that human consumption (paid to dump or steal or to abuse…) slaughter is still functioning.
(2) There are SHs/rendering facilities that take equines live and dead as I type. Are they Cavel, etc? No. And we don’t want to discourage rendering or small time operators with consent of owners (verifiable) and humane death.
(3) We have to be precise and perfectly accurate when we discuss this ugliness. There is some “pet/zoo” food that is sold in the US. Can you find it on your grocery shelf? No. But it is there.
(4) If you want to argue the drug issue, remember this:
Not all equines are cared for properly. They may not have been given banned in perpetuity substances. BUT! And this is a big but, the antihorse, proslaughter group can’t prove that these equines HAVEN’T been given these substances either. Why? Well first off the equine slaughter industry is not subject to the same review and inspection process of accepted (traditional) US meat animals and they are not tested the same. Please note that SS and DD never, ever talk about drug testing of their “meat” proposal or never allowed drugs.
Just some more “food” for thought.
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I read the article on the horse slaughter issue…I have served in the rescue efforts of horses and did in fact save a lot of horses with a lot of good help from volunteers.
I also am a lifetime member of the American Quarter Horse association and have shown, bred and raised horses since I was 13 years old.
I also have raised cattle for market, butchered hogs, chickens, beef and goats and buffalo for food…I worked as a meat cutter and worked for a private butcher for a while.
Let me state that as a person who worked for a private butcher, that part of my job duties was in fact to kill and bleed animals…in all that time I never was cruel to an animal…i never had to use more than one bullet per animal and I never hung a thrashing animal up by one foot…I know what it takes to work in one of these places…I have been there!
Let me explain a few things… It is unsafe as heck to get near a thrashing animal, there is no excuse for poor bullet placement and some animals do thrash around when they are in the act of dying…take the head off a chicken and see how long it thrashes…it’s not alive…it happens due to muscle contraction and the cessation of active nerve induction….You all paint this as some morbid form of entertainment and that is not the case in most slaughter situations.
There is no law that says it is illegal to eat horse meat…that is an individual choice.
I don’t think that horses who are taken care of belong in the food chain period…that is strictly from the pharmological sense because the products you poison horses with to shed worms remain in the body tissues of the animals treated.
There is a need for proper disposal of unwanted horses…it should be available for those people involved in the horse industry…
The horses out on the public domain do not generate enough money to sustain their numbers…you continually say the cattleman is a subsidized ward of this country…what does the mustang become if you pass him off to the public domain to live?…why shouldn’t we all have a voice in the horse’s welfare?…
I don’t necessarily agree with horse slaughter…I do see a need to establish a consorteum where we need to listen to both sides of this issue…it isn’t against the law yet to have or share an opinion…if you want to be on the right side of this issue, if your stance is the right one…convince the public through fact and not heresay….
Jim
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Thanks for your comments, Jim. But the people who are proponents of slaughtering horses are “not horse people” and their only concern is making money and greed. They inflate the facts(74% eat horsemeat: that would mean over 7 of 10 people in the US: think about that and then tell me a rational person could actually believe those figures?). As far as the wild horses and mustangs/burros, etc: they are American icons and living beings as much as Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone Park, and the Grand Canyon. And yes, we should protect them as such. Schoolchildren(I taught for many, many years: probably longer than you have lived) look to the wild horses as part of the history of our great nation; without the horse, this country could not have been settled. I hope you don’t agree with horse slaughter or that horses are “food animals”. Our culture doesn’t consider them such, and the only ones that do are greedy opportunists who would destroy the very moral fabric our of culture and our nation. Thanks for your opinion; I just felt I wanted to give you mine. BTW the new WY law was misrepresented to many of our Legislators I found out this morning in a phone call from a State Representative. He never for one minute would have voted for it had he known what Slaughterhouse Sue and her cronies had in mind, and only thought of “livestock” meaning cattle, pigs, goats, etc. I suspect he will be contacting others who were duped by this evil woman. Have a nice day. Judy
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Hey Jim, aren’t you the same person who said all these same things on the Change.org website when we were advocationg for all the roundups to be stopped?
Please get the facts, do some research, it’s all out there,
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James, Pershaps you might be posting on the wrong site. This is the site for TRUTH for people who are anti horse slaughter and anti current BLM practices of mismanagement and animal cruelty and fiscal waste. This is a site comprised of people well vested and researched into these subjects, not just a bunch of rhetoric or propaganda. It is obvious at least to me that you have not researched these issues beyond your own personal experiences, nor have you visited The Cloud Foundation, watched any of the investigative reports on BLM and Wild Horses or slaughter – you seem to have completely bought into the lies from BLM, your Quarter Horse group and pro slaughter groups whose interests are ultimaltly horse as a meat industry. You will find few on this site or other similar sites who are pro horse business, in varying degrees. It is my position that animals of any kind should only be bred to the true needs of society, not for greed, not for gambling, the “prize” race, cutting or quarter horse, or other sport then thrown away. I personally find any companion or sport animal “business or industry” disgusting as I don’t see any that hold humanity at heart. We have become a throwaway society to such extremes – pollution and trash and animals (and children too). Oh, breed them for money, then when all used up, didn’t win enough ribbons, too much trouble, not smart enough, etc, etc – just toss it! Our cruelty, greed, self interest, gas guzzling and war mongering are the only things in true abundance. That unicorn at thanksgiving needs to be re-drawn. It is all a big mess and the wall is drawing closer – SLAM.
Since you seem to be all or nothing and seem to be under some misconceptions that everyone blogging on this site is in exactly the same “bunny hugging” mind set, I need I guess to be very clear about this. MY OWN PERSONAL POSITIONS are: Stop breeding until there are no more rescues. The solution to slaughter and thrown away animals is to stop breeding. I am anti animal sport or show where the business for that engages in over breeding, and since millions of animals are discarded every year – that means all of them. I am pro wild horse as heritage wild life and all the protections against hunting that that includes. I am NOT anti hunting as long as the animal is used, and not just hunted for sport or trophy, and as long as the animal is genetically viable. I am adamantly anti BLM based on current management practices as they are cruel and based on greedy interests – not the interest of the ecology or the horses as BLM continues to lie about. I am anti wild horse holding as there are solutions other than BLMs current practices if only they would listen – but their interests are intertwined with other greedy interests. Just watch a few of the BLM Advisory Board meetings – they are on-line. I am not, as many here are, anti humane horse slaughter – however, since we don’t eat horse meat here I am opposed to horse slaughter as a USA based industry for export, and adamantly opposed to wild horses being sent to slaughter – they should be turned back out on the range from where they came (sterilize them if it must be so). If people in other parts of the world want to eat horse meat they need to breed their own and stay away from my, yes my tax dollar paid public lands iconic free roaming wild horses. There is absolutely no way to humanely euthanize a wild horse for slaughter as they are – well, they are wild animals needing to be in a free environment, not in fight or flight from humans or starved into compliance. I am anti socialized public land cattle breeding, which costs the American tax payer over 500 million dollars a year in direct and indirect costs and subsidies, especially when that beef is EXPORTED out of USA for profits – sources USDA and 1998 CATO Institute Policy Analysis. It is just a tax payer funded fraud against the American public. I might drop that mantra if cattle interests would just give back the land they have taken from the wild horses, which is only about 6% of the public land they currently graze on. I am NOT anti wild horse management, and I think you will find that true of almost everyone on these sites – we are anti current management that does not take any other options into consideration. We have been falsy coined “anti-gather advocates” by BLM to try to paint an incorrect picture of us – gathers may always be necesary, if for no other reasons than wildfires or desease episodes, but there are better, more humane ways. I am anti anyone that calls my wild horses’ names like cockroaches – I say right back at them – they are the cockroaches of the human race.
Adopt – don’t breed. Breeders should be required to be the euthanizers at animal control – their mess, they clean it up – not my tax dollars – whether horses, dogs, cats, birds, anything that is for companion, showing, or sport and not a food source animal. ALL animals must be treated humanely and with dignity.
You make lots of statements – where is your evidence? Such as “Let me state that as a person who worked for a private butcher, that part of my job duties was in fact to kill and bleed animals…in all that time I never was cruel to an animal…i never had to use more than one bullet per animal and I never hung a thrashing animal up by one foot…I know what it takes to work in one of these places…I have been there!” You need to get some “undercover” evidence of all this humanity. I do not doubt your portrayal of your own personal experience, but I also do not doubt what I have heard in numerous firsthand testimony from others that worked in assembly line slaughter and processing plants and I can see in video for myself. You will not find many here who will take anyones word for anything – you see us quibble back and forth here all the time, sharing various links to information, as the truth, whatever it is, even if we don’t like it, is what we are about.
Sounds like I am from a somewhat similar background as you – I think I posted this to you once before. If you find my first posts on PBS: Nature: Cloud you will see that I made some similar statements as you – then I went about researching and came to only one conclusion – I WAS WRONG!
And, I actually I cut this back about half of what I wanted to say. But all the evidence for everything I have said is on-line and does not need reinterating here -go research.
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Adopt – don’t breed. Breeders should be required to be the euthanizers at animal control – their mess, they clean it up – not my tax dollars – whether horses, dogs, cats, birds, anything that is for companion, showing, or sport and not a food source animal. ALL animals must be treated humanely and with dignity.
AMEN ROXY!!! TELL ‘EM LIKE IT IS!!!
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Mr. Weber (and I’ll start after the quote I pasted):
“I don’t necessarily agree with horse slaughter…I do see a need to establish a consorteum where we need to listen to both sides of this issue…it isn’t against the law yet to have or share an opinion…if you want to be on the right side of this issue, if your stance is the right one…convince the public through fact and not heresay….
Jim”
(1) Data flows out of any intelligent ying-yang that slaughter as it is now for horses is a freakin’ mess. Why are you still unsure?
(2) We’ve been talkin’ for more than a little time and the slaughter trolls say…”I got the floor (literally) and I ain’t given it up no how, no way.
(3) We wouldn’t be having this debate if everyone (bar the freakin’ governments that do what ever they want and pass laws that you and I have to follow except for the gov’ts) if the trolls that own horses or the thieves or the kill creeps had to follow some freakin’ laws. BTW, you sir can always euth via chem or gunshot and render or bury (forgot that did you?).
(4) Last I checked, your opinion is still here. Now, in a mode of reciprocity…will you listen to ours? You got a pound of weenies out there on your side. Sadly, we can’t see where you and the floor meat decide to draw the line.
Don’t even discuss slaughter and mustangs/burros in the same breath. LEARN THE LAW!!! If that doesn’t convince you that the gov is fubar’d, then go check out the financial regualtion enforcement and illegal immigration. The Feds are failing with big paychecks (check your taxes) for doing nothing. In that, Obama is on my poop list, and Bush I and II and Clinton and Reagan and Nixon and…. AND CONGRESS!
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Jim- Thanks for sharing your opinion here amongst the advocates. You said: “There is a need for proper disposal of unwanted horses…it should be available for those people involved in the horse industry…” If the horse ‘industry’ would stop breeding horses for ONE YEAR or ONE SEASON, the number of “unwanted” horses in the U.S. would plummet. If a person wants to dispose of their personal equine, then they should take it to a slaughter house and see it disposed of properly. It should be THEIR responsibility to make sure the death sentence they are imposing on their animal is carried out humanely.
I’m glad you said: “I don’t necessarily agree with horse slaughter…I do see a need to establish a consorteum where we need to listen to both sides of this issue…” I do believe we advocates all want a dialog. The problem is no one is listening, not those in favor of equine slaughter and not the government. How do you get SOMEBODY ANYBODY to listen? PLEASE let us know.
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If a horse owner (whether breeder, show, racing or back yard idiot) had a life-time commitment to the longevity of that equine (in any form), we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
I would also add that the current tax system encourages uber breeding (ergo end of life disconnect), the freakin’ hobby v. business rule and fails to recogonize preservation; to include the numbers of businesses that are benefited by owning a horse (feed, farriers, vets, green space preservation, local taxes, etc).
Mr. Weber appears to be a hit and run arteste! If response comes in a timely fashion, great. If not, proves the antislaughter, prohorse crowds points.
Whatever.
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Every horse owner knows that some day that horse is going to get sick and someday die. Taking care of that animal from the first day to the last is strictly the owners responsibility. Instead of pushing off your responsibility into the slaughter loop and complaining about how activist are trying to keep you from sending your horse into the horror of slaughter why don’t you get together as a community and see if there is a vet that will euthanize a horse for a lower fee? If not realize that YOU brought this horse into YOUR life and it is YOUR responsibility. Put the money aside and quit snivelling about how expensive it is to own and to euthanize a horse…. YOU KNOW THIS GOING IN!!! I would love to own a horse and have property available to keep one. Unfortunately I ran the numbers and realized that I could only afford to keep one if they never got sick and lived forever, I therefore did not go out and bring a horse into my life. Slaughter is only there because of dilusional or uncaring owners.
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Morgan – I think there are two types of people who bring animals into their lives: Those who understand and embrace a lifetime committment and then everybody else.
I can NOT get my head around people who adopt an animal, then get rid of it for what I would term frivolous reasons.
Nearly every animal I have right now was broken in some fashion. I think the Creator runs an underground newspaper only animals can read and in the Classifieds, under ‘Sucker’ is my name in bold black. This has been a running theme for about 25 years.
Both my horses were similarly acquired. I do worry about what to do when their time comes, but have moved Heaven & Earth to fulfill my personal committments to them.
While they all may not have had the most luxurious of lives, they are all cared for to the best of my abilities and loved beyond measure. Eyes wide open and not a single regret.
Slaughter without validity is the bastion of cowards – people who refuse to take responsibility for the choices they’ve made and continue to make because they know – with that as an available option, they never have to.
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Lisa I too run a house for broken, wayward animals, did ya notice my picture next to yours? I do dogs–chihuahuas to Great Danes, if they are damaged and need someone to take time to help them become whole then they find me. I do animal communication and Reiki healing and this certainly helps. There was a time when financially I almost lost everything but I found some really creative ways to feed and doctor my animals. I know they are going to get sick or injured and am prepared for that. I’m not that special, I just care. No animal that entered my life ever left until it was their time to cross over.
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Hi Morgan
I, too, help special needs dogs and cats, and look for special folks to adopt them and care for them. If not, they stay here! I am a retired teacher now massage therapist and I do Reiki and energywork as well. Our vet is holistic, homeopathic, Traditional Chinese med and acupncture/chiropractic and we have one that is Western/traditional for clinic needs. Sounds like we have much in common.
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“No animal that entered my life ever left until it was their time to cross over.”
GIMMEE A ‘AMEN’!!!
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AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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AMEN!!!!!!!!!!
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AMEN!
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Absolutely! AMEN! I was posting on another site and I talked about this – I said that I’ve been a horse owner for over 30 years and in that time I’ve had FOUR horses, two of which are still with me. One guy said, well that was fine for ME, but did I expect everyone to do that? I said, “Yes, I do.” Grrrrr…..
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That’s a no brainer HELL YES
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You know something?..I really do want to see the horse survive, they are a magnificent animal…they hold an iconic position in our society…just as much as the cow and dog do!
The horse did in fact pave the way for the western expansion in this country, but as I have said, so did the cow, the covered wagon and the handcart!
If we hadn’t of expanded the great herds of cattle across this country, we wouldn’t have had near as much use for the horse…the Mormons did in fact cash in on the handcart industry during the Oregon trail day simply because not everyone could afford a horse… even those people realized how expensive and to what extent responsibility plays in the ownership and use of a horse!
The Buffalo and even the dog share an integral part of history in the west, as does the Winchester, the knife and the frying pan!
History dictates that on more than one occasion different parties migrating through the west had to on occasion resort to eating their horses. Even the nomadic noble red man ate of the flesh of horses… history is full of examples of the desperate act of eating horses and mules…read about the Lewis and Clark exploratory travels up and down and across the breath of this nation…who hasn’t read of the Donner Party?
the Mustang was replaced by the Native Americans when they started finding and stealing horses from the pioneers and calvary troops, simply because the domestic horse was bigger and more robust and gentler…The Indian bred their horses to suit their needs…consequently the wild herds were somewhat tainted with introduced bloodlines…that practice continues to this very day with people releasing unwanted horses into the public domain…
I don’t recall that the Mustang was in so much jeopardy when I was growing up as you all seem to portray now-a-days…We did in fact see a need to reduce the horse numbers out there on that domain through shooting and capture…in the 50’s and 60’s there was a distinct need to control numbers to merit range management.
A lot of us harp on the fact we are sick and tired of subsidized cattle ranching on the public domain…yet if we continue to just let the wild horses increase in numbers without management they do in fact define their very existence as subsidized recipients by every taxpayer!
There is no easy, transparent fix to the management of the wild horse or even the domestic horse for that matter without a place to go with the unwanted horses…
I don’t recall seeing a fall in the domestic horse industry till people banded together and closed the slaughter and rendering plants down…we have created a condition detrimental to the existence of the horse by those actions… there are factions that will let these horses die of starvation because they cannot market them elsewhere…look at the records if your hung up on statistics…there are more failed horse rescues on the books than secure ones…there is just recently inception of accredidation of rescues… that’s one of the best tools I’ve seen instituted yet, in regards to the welfare of the horse!
If the need arises, if the horse market can expand through the issue of horse slaughter it is just a matter of time till some pharmacuetical company comes up with safer products intended for horses destined to slaughter…then what do you do?
You undoubtedly consider it inhumane to butcher a horse, but who are we as a nation to condemn other societies in regards to slaughter of horses…if we have too many horses…if they are being cruelly starved to death under the auspices of rescue facilities, who are we to condemn slaughter?
..I do however, think you have to give my discussion some merit if you are to justify the attempts in saving the horse to the uneducated public… I love the horses I now own…I take care of them…if they become crippled or sick I will take the neccesary steps to assure their survival…if on the other hand I want out of the responsibilty of that care…it’s up to me to decide their fate…as long as I do it humanely that is my choice…if on the other hand I wanted to raise horses for food purposes…do it humanely and market that product, even export it, who are you to condemn those actions just on the basis of your belief?
Last I heard this was a free country…last I heard being an entrapranuer wasn’t against the law…If Wyoming creates a slaughter plant for horses don’t go there..if your going to save Your horses do it, but don’t expect everyone to share your point of view just because you say it has to be so!
The beef industry has a check off bill in a lot of states that promotes advertising and research in the industry…maybe as part of the plan on the salvation of the horse…we should make it mandatory that some proceeds from every sale of a horse has to go into a pool to insure the wild horse’s survival…
by working like that through the industry you generate money paramount to the very existence of the horse…isn’t that thought provoking?…how about a license being required to procure or own a horse?…those proceeds also going to the salvation of your horses…kind of like hunting and fishing permits promote the wildlife in this country…park permits?…how about ranching and farming licensing?…again the proceeds going to the industry… the burden becomes lifted from the taxpayer and onto the individuals who want to see the horse survive?
Anyway just thoughts.
Jim
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Dude, I am not going to spend any more time educating you or trying to change your mind after this post. You are an adult perhaps, not a child, go find out for yourself. If you are not an adult this is a good time to take your own responsibility. If you are really interested in the truth you will do your own research. Otherwise you will not – like you said this is a free country. If you do not want to research or provide evidence of your statements you are free to not post here. Speaking of posting and free speech – where are the free speech pro BLM and pro horse slaughter sites? I would sure like to provide them with some links to our facts and science. Oh, yeh, THERE AREN’T ANY!
What will be the name of the first human slaughter plant? Yes, humans have eaten other humans in the past, some cultures still do. A great entrepreneur would jump on this one right away! You continue to use tht point – why don’t you start it up yourself.
Anyway my last thoughts to you: 1. No one implies NO management (why do you keep HARPING on this?!?!?!), but there are natural solutions to this and there are more humane ways of doing this business. Gathers should be based on real science and real need, not so helicopter roundup crews and holding facilities and their buddies, or some BLM employees who will one day go to work for them, can make huge amounts of taxpayer money. 2. If horse slaughter were truly humane for domestic horses, there would not be this uproar. However, business people as a whole have proven over and over again that they cannot operate humanely or in a socially responsible way toward animals, their fellow humans, or society (current Wall Street as evidence) on any level without extreme oversight. Time is money and profit has no conscious – the end. 3. There is absolutely no way to humanly slaughter a wild animal. 4. Like I said before – you are on the wrong blog site if you want praises for inhumane horse slaughter or current BLM practices. It is just not going to happen here. We have already researched, we are not mindless “bunny huggers” or “radicals” (you come on here calling us names, blaming everyone but Meduna and BLM for 3-Strikes, blaming us for too many horses etc, etc. and you want us to treat you with respect after that? I don’t care how many horses you helped rescue! Your insults will only generate them right back at you! I have little hope that you will actually do any research on your own, as you continue to use these tactics still today after we responded to you already 2 or 3 times without calling you names.); we have science and truth on our side. I call the slaughter and breeding group the radical element, sociopathic bottom feeders! Hold on before you reply to that – It is my right to have that opinion, and anyway, I am not even reading any more of your posts. 5. “horse market” – buddy, YOU SAID IT THERE – the only reason for excess horses is excess breeding for gambling, greed, trophies, ego, our societies lust of consumption and “ownership”, and power over all, etc. 6. How do you compare horse to cattle? Where are the rodeos where cowboys ride cattle to rope horses, where are the legions of cattle depicted carrying men into battle, where are the rehabilitation sites where people ride cattle, etc? 7. Everything, EVERYTHING, every government, every law, every regulation, every war, every religion or none, is based on someone’s “belief” – only idiots do not know this (I can insult you back as good as you try to insult me)! That is my belief and my opinion and you better not condemn me for that in this free country! 8. You want government to impose a tax on every business to care for wild horses? Great! Then we’ll see how long it takes to find other solutions (not slaughter) to helicopter roundups and current holding practices. 10. How about a license being required to BREED a horse (or dog, or cat) – the source of the problem. Part of that targeted to end of life and part to potential rescue and adoption efforts. Tax ranching? How about just not subsidizing it instead? How about having them pay market value for grazing permits? 11. “don’t’ go to a state” You and I agree on this one and I am spreading the word – I will not, if at all possible spend any money on tourism, products, or even travel through any state that has a horse slaughter plant as long as wild horses are still a target and/or current inhumane practices exist, where cattle still occupy what was already legislated to the horse for its primary use, nor the products from the corporations that lease that grazing land, same for any country that eats horse meat or has inhumane slaughtering practices. And I will bad mouth them and create as much ill will as I possibly can. This is sad for me as I used to (until the videos posted one week ago) love going to Mexico and Mexican products – no more. 12. “Thought provoking” – try that one on the BLM Advisory Board! Have you even watched any of those yet? That should be first on your list for an education.
Your next post says you just raised questions? You better go back and read those – you raised insults to us as a group and individually! What questions? I did not see any real questions, just intentionally insulting ones.
Ok, I stooped to a level equal to the post I am replying to in in a few spots – sorry to all other readers.
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Roxy ~ I agree with almost every thing you have posted except for the intimation that here might be a way to humanely slaughter domestic horses but not wild ones. Let me assure you, there is no humane way to slaughter a domestic horse either.
Horses are not nearly as “domesticated” as other livestock or even dogs for that matter. “Shallow domestication” is what the geneticists call it They still have all the instincts of the prey animal, and they are still creatures of flight. In an assembly line slaughter situation, they literally go wild.
I could be wrong – and if I am, I’m sure someone will correct me! 😉 – but I believe the horse is the only domestic animal that is still the same species at it’s wild ancestors. By latest DNA, Equus caballus arose in North America about 6 million years ago, and was the only species of Equus still standing at the end of the Ice Age. Although E caballus survived thousands of years later than formerly believed, they did die out and were reintroduced by the Spaniards in the 1500s (I’m sure most of you know this). Those horses were E caballus. ALL horses and ponies are E caballus – even, according to the latest DNA, Prezwalski’s (sp?) Horse – are Equus caballus. So, it’s not so surprising that “domestic” horses revert to non-domestic behavior under such great stress.
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Mr. Weber:
I’m sure every criminal thinks he/she is really just an entrepreneur…still doesn’t make the activity ethical OR morally correct. The devil is in the details; the details of horse slaughter are hellish.
Everything dies, Sir….but not this way. No, Sir. Not this way!
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“I don’t recall seeing a fall in the domestic horse industry till people banded together and closed the slaughter and rendering plants down…”
Now you’re parroting the pro-slaughter propaganda. This DID NOT HAPPEN. The people in Illinois and the feds closed that one, and the DA in Dallas closed Dallas Crown by enforcing a law against killing horses for human consumption that had been on the book in Texas for years.
We have always sent thousands of horses to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. We still are – thousands and thousands. Slaughter is booming. If there’s a problem then slaughter is NOT the answer!
And where did you get that stuff about rendering plants? They haven’t been shut down! Where does this crap come from, for God’s sake!?
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I am sure all of you opposed to horse processing own several horses? As for the drug deal…….horse vaccines and wormers were no tested for “withdrawl periods” as other food animal vaccines. TO do o now would cot the vaccine companie millions of dollars. These drugs as drugs in other food animals flush out of the system. Ivermectin is a drug uses in cattle, hogs, etc……….if you look on the withdrawl periods for “cross over drugs” you will find that those drug flush out of horses in the same time period as other food animals……..Lasix will really flush out a body system. If you do not have a financial commitment to a industry then you need to go take your opinions and go elswhere. The Wyoming Plan that Sue Wallis and the voting majority of the legislation approved is a sound one and will reduce the sufferring of abandoned horses. As for the BLM giving wild feral screw mustangs bute…………….yea right?????? The bleeding hearts need to get a life and getin the real world. As for these know it all animal huggers responding to stop breeding horses……in the last THREE years every major equine registery has seen a reduction of mares submitted on breeding reports from 30 to 60 PERCENT EACH YEAR!!!!!!! and Foal Registrations DOWN 30 to 60 %%%% EACY YEAR!!!!! THat deal ain’t workin!!!!!! If you want to keep your horse in your house I do not care……if I want to send them to processing that is my choice. As for horse meat eat what you know and buy horses for meat that you know the past production records on ……pretty simple deal! As for pet food…….good clean horse meat is the best food you can feed a dog as part of their diet!!!! GO SUE YOU DID IT RIGHT! FOr you people that disagree…..real ALL THE LAW!!!!!!!! Now that would be a change for a liberal democrat!!!
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Hey CJ, I’m one that you are targeting here in your spell-checked, grammatically correct little comment.
I DO own several horses, I DO treat them with wormers, bute, etc. I am quoting from the ivermectin wormer packaging when I write: “WARNING: do not use in horses intended for human consumption.” there is no disclaimer on the package that says the drugs will be out of the horses system after 6 months/ 1 year, ever. There is nothing to indicate that this wormer residue will not remain w/in the horse forever.
Have you been on a tour of horse slaughter plants? because if you haven’t, then YOU need to educate yourself, if you think THAT’S a happy solution to unwanted horses. If you want to eat horsemeat and feed it to your pets(poor animals) that’s your choice, but the majority of Americans don’t agree. AND since this is a HORSE advocate site, if you don’t like what WE have to say, then YOU need to go somewhere that supports YOUR views, not try to convince us proud horse-huggers to agree with you and Sue, cause, trust me, that ain’t EVER gonna happen!
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actually you horse eater- they can’t use horsemeat in pet foods. Last time they tried to feed dogs horsemeat many dogs died. You see the ivermection killed outright several dogs. There are breeds of dogs like collies and greyhounds that can NEVER have ivermection as those breeds are hypersensitive to ivermection.
Also the birth control drug that is given all the time now to many mustangs, is a hormone that causes miscarrage in humans!
so are saying sir you want to feed toxic meat, even wild horse meat that causes woman to miscarry? do you have children? would you feed your pregnant wife meat that may cause her to miscarry your baby?
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CJ ~ You are correct about ivermectin and some others having stated withdrawal periods in other livestock. However, that does not make one damn bit of difference as far as horses are concerned – it is STILL a banned substance because it has not been studied in HORSES and probably never will be because the FDA considers horses to be companion animals and does not require that kind of testing for ANY horse product. Let me quote: CVM HomePage [CVMHomeP@CVM.FDA.GOV
Thank you for sharing your concerns with us. We do not consider horses to be food animals.
All of the phenylbutazone products that are approved for uses in horse contain a warning on the label:
Not for use in animals intended for food purposes.
While USDA may classify them differently, for our purposes they are not considered food, thus manufacturers of drugs for horses are not required to submit residue depletion data (as is need for food animals) in their new animal drug applications. I would recommend that you contact USDA with your concerns. Also, note that there are no longer any horse slaughter facilities in the United States.
I hope this is helpful.
Sincerely,
CVM Home Page
That’s what they said. As for bute, there is NO withdrawal period for ANY food animal, and it someone told you differently, they are WRONG. Sorry about that.
Considering the obscene over breeding that has been going on in some of the largest registries for YEARS, those percentages of decline in production seem about right, especially in such a poor economy. EVERY producer of everything has had to cut back. Law of supply and demand. Ever hear about that? Horse breeders aren’t immune to the laws of economics, they just want to be.
As for that “good clean horse meat” that might contain ivermectin, some breeds of dogs are VERY sensitive to ivermectin, especially the Collie breeds. I KILLS them. That’s why horse meat isn’t in dog food anymore. Zoos are also looking at the problem of drug residues in horse meat, and many are going to beef.
Sue Wallis is a liar, and you’re a fool for believing anything she tells you.
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I love discussion…don’t think I’m against your intents just because I raise questions…don’t get so defensive…if you can convince me…you got a chance of convincing far smarter people than myself…
I got nothing to prove…I was part of an attempt to save a bunch of horses…We were successful…I’m glad we pulled it off…I hope every horse we saved (214) is in good hands today…(100+-) didn’t make it because of starvation by a horse killer… I know first hand what abuse of an animal looks like…every horse walked off that stinking hell hole deserves a good chance at life today…jim
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I know those mustangs touched your soul and you listened to them.
However, if Jerry Finch hadn’t signed for them,…those horses seized by the state would have gone to the nearest auction and sold for meat.
For to long some in the meat industry has gotten away with treating a horse like some spent dairy cow. meat on the hoof. We horse lovers, the majority of horse owners have said, enough of this crap! I don’t care if they sing the horses gently into the kill box qith a final last meal of oats and carrots. end of life for the horse, WILL NOT be a slaughterhouse.
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Well as you say that during extreme situations people have eatent their horses, the people that were shipped wrecked by “Moby Dick” which was a true story ate their fellow humans, some of them also went permanently crazy when they came back to society and others were pariahs. What one does during a time of extreme conditions doesn’t convince me to slaughter horses on a daily basis. As far as your argument that other societies eat horses and why should we condemn it? Other societies eat monkeys, dogs, cats and at times humans. I don’t accept that either. Attempts at making horse slaughter humane have not been at all successful even when the 3 slaughter plants were up and running. All these plants caused great costs to the communities through increased sewage and health concerns which have been documented time and time again and I won’t go into again. I don’t say that there should be NO management of the wild horse I do state definitively that the BLM as a department as a whole has been proven time and time again to be full of it, to lie, change their lies, issue reports in direct conflict with one another, to have their own employees testify under oath that their current range reports are inaccurate (that’s being REAL nice). Horse slaughter only exists because of greed and lack of responsibility and common morals. When I bring an animal into my home it stays there till it dies a natural death or becomes so ill it needs to be veterinarian euthanized. I do not own a horse because I know I can not afford the upkeep the horse would deserve. That is what more people need to consider. Animals should not suffer just because their owners are asses and refuse to complete the responsibility they began or they want to breed for that perfect horse whether for speed or agility. Sorry James we disagree. As I stated to you once before I’m glad you were there for that awful rescue, that again was the fault of a human. Slaughter doesn’t need to exist to clean up the funk that people design.
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There has been a lot of misinformation spread about horse meat. It has much less “drugs” than beef. Fenebutazone(Bute) is a short-acting anti-inflamitory given to performance horses. Most slaughter horses aren’t performance horses or haven’t been for a long time so its long out of their system. Ivermectin is a wormer that is routinely given to cattle , pigs goats and sheep. They are raises as slaughter animals.You worm for parasites so the animal puts on more meat. Beef are regularly given growth hormone injections. Horse meat is actually a lot safer to eat.I love my horses deeply. When they are old/crippled and no longer able to enjoy life I will have them humanely put down. Once they are dead they don’t care, and neither do I, what happens to their body. Their spirit has left it.
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Yes, Susan, thanks for this reminder – that is why EU, a more enlightened society, has banned these in all meat sources (bute, as I understand it, does not leave the system). USA citizens are not as protected – unless you read the labels on those chemicals yourself – ever done that? What do they say? You don’t know do you? That is one reason why I do not eat beef at all any longer, and why I do my best to eat only organic free range chickens, eggs, cheese, and pork. Thanks for reminding us though of our poisoned food chain and the lousy ethics of some!
Anyway you completly miss the point – you must be in the slaughter business or related industry. The advocates here do not accept horse meat for human consumption at all. Horses here are considered sentient beings like dogs and cats, and unlike cattle, pigs and chickens. The advocates here are glad of the EU ban and the spread of knowledgs of the chemical issue as just one way to stop horse slaughter. You are wasting your time here.
Or maybe you are of the opinon that we should market dogs and cats for human consumption in this country? Maybe dogs and cats also have less chemicals in them too – though you seem to like those chemicals – yum! Idea for you, just eat the chemicals straight out of the box and leave them out of my food.
Growth hormones – you have got to be kidding if you think that is a good thing. Good for profits and greed and that is all!
Anyway, for me, it’s the WAY animals in any “animal industry and backyard breeders” for companion and sport are over bred, treated throughout their lives as simply products, then tossed away, and the current day living conditons and poisoned food animals and slaughter practices – all at the hands of humans for greed and profit, not for actual needs. Have you not seen the evidence? I do not want to eat the meat of something that has been treated so badly for greedy purposes, and I certainly do not want those chemicals. You miss the point completely by trying to promote these chemcials in our food chain. Recommend you rent DVD Food, Inc.
And if the slaughter industry had not gone after wild horses I probably would not even comment here – keep your greedy hands off of our wild horses! There is no way to ever humanely slaughter any wild animal. Go out in the wild if you must and shoot that deer, elk, or rabbit between the eyes so it falls and it dies where it lives. However, they now give birth control to wild animals too – why not just increase hunting licenses? Answer – because this too is chemical industry profits driven.
I come from a family of hunters, of frontier people, closely tied to the our Native Americans, who knew nothing of today’s animal food production lines and profit only motives. And I was taught great reverence for all living creatures in life and death. The ways we have come to treat and poison our very life sustenance is an indictment of our society and it is evidenced in too many of our young people and our societies consumptive sociopathic ways. You are what you eat after all.
There is a huge paradigm shift occuring, one day at a time, one person at a time, one society at a time. You might want to consider a new star to grab onto.
Dear fellow bloggers, I seem to have gone from “preaching” to sheer sarcasm. I wonder what is next?
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You said it well, Roxy. The tone of the reply fits the original post.
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Yeah, and you’re the one spreading it. The Ivermectin that is given to horses is especially formulated for HORSES, and it clearly states NOT FOR USE IN FOOD ANIMALS. Bute – phenylbutazone – is a known carcinogen in humans and can also harm unborn children. It is absolutely BANNED in food animals.
Once a horse is already dead, it is safe from slaughter. They can only slaughter LIVE horses for human consumption.
You need to educate yourself before you try to educate others. Your “facts” are dangerous!
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Yes, Susan. The slaughter proponents have been spreading quite a bit of misinformation. Fortunately, the consumers of meat from US horses and the EU have recognized this and are doing something about it. Phenylbutazone is a known carcinogen that can cause aplastic anemia (bone marrow suppression) in humans. The medicinal benefits to the horse may be short acting but the drug residue in a horse’s system, is not. That is why it is banned by the FDA and EU in ALL food producing animals. If a horse has had phenylbutazone, it can never enter the food chain. You cannot compare drug regulations for livestock (traditional food animals – cows, pigs, sheep) with horses. They are a different species and have different systems.
You sound like a responsible horse owner and are to be commended for being prepared to provide a humane end of life for your horses. The overwhelming majority of horse owners are responsible and yet, the likes of Sue Wallis want to force the owners of 98% of US horses to comply with a national tracking system so the owners of 2% of the horse population can continue to be irresponsible.
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About bute: http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwxnQ91Hgo-LODY3OTM5Y2YtZTA3OC00ZTQ2LTk4YjEtZGRkMTJlM2M5Njkw&sort=name&layout=list&num=50
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Susan ~ You may mean well, but you’re the one who’s spreading false info here. Go look at your own horse products. On the label of all the drugs you mentioned there is this warning: NOT FOR USE IN HORSES INTENDED FOR USE AS FOOD or some variation of that. That means that if a horse has EVER in his/her ENTIRE life been exposed to that substance they are out of the human food chain FOREVER.
Yes, ivermectin has a stated withdrawal period in CATTLE. NOT in HORSES because the FDA does not require the studies on drug clearance times for horses because they don’t consider horses food animals. Therefore, ivermectin and other drugs that have been studied in other species but not in horses are banned – for the rest of the horse’s life.
So, it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since they were exposed, because they are not eligible for human consumption at all. It is AGAINST the law to sell horses for slaughter that have been exposed to these substances. Banned Substances in Horses: http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/medications.php Horse Meat is Deadly to Humans: http://www.box.net/shared/smhn2fmdeb Food and Chemical Toxicology: http://www.box.net/shared/smhn2fmdeb
It doesn’t matter whether you agree with this or not. It is illegal – period. And the unsuspecting consumers over seas have no idea that American horses are not regulated. When Belgium – the largest importer of horse meat at the time – they demanded that NO more 3rd country – that’s us – horse meat be imported. THEY considered it important, and so does the EU. Since the horse killers are not following their new rules on traceability, I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t end up banning American horse meat completely.
Even if if weren’t for this issue, I would be adamantly, eternally against horse slaughter because it is cruel beyond the line a so-called “civilized” society does not cross.
Captive Bolt Study – Humane Slaughter Act: http://www.box.net/shared/3jbna7fyga
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Good Gravy Susan Humphrey! Please go study the “Red Book” (medical, not the magazine) for starters. Then stroll on over to the FDA and see what they have to say about “bute” and many other drugs, for that matter. Seems the European Union doesn’t agree with you either. Go check out their new standards.
Since equines are not raised as food animals in the US they are not subject to the same pharmaceutical pre-protocol testing (that includes anthelmetics) or prophylaxis as our accepted meat animals are; they can’t be tracked either.
And just exactly is “humanely put down” as defined by you Ms. Humphrey….a vet?…a gunshot?…or the meatman’s CBG???? If it is the latter, you are cruelly mistaken peddling nontested/dangerous meat to humans strictly for convenience and profit.
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Susan, I would like you to show us proof of your statement regarding bute. For one it is a common drug given to alot domestic horses for a variety of reasons. You don’t seem to know much about drugs or horses. They can test tissues of horses for the presence of bute and it does accumulate in the tissues–just not in the circulating blood which they were guilty of using to test with. Of the 40 horses living right near me almost all have been administered bute at some point in their lives. If you love your horses and have them humanely put down at the end of their lives I am assuming you are speaking of a vet administered euthanasia as there is no other form of humanely putting down a horse. You couldn’t very well eat a horse after that. We don’t eat horses here–there are other blogs you can write about horse slaughter all you want but it is not welcome here. There is never going to be any argument that can convince any of us that horse slaughter is OK.
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Hi, guys ~ I’m sill working on my letter to SHS. After reading R.T.’s description of the horse he saw slaughtered at Dallas Crown on that other post, too many memories of what I had seen at Dallas Crown came flooding back. Didn’t see any horses actually slaughtered – I’d probably be in a straitjacket – but I saw the plant, the blood in the gutters of Kaufman, horse parts all over the place at the plant.. What I didn’t see were the dear, sweet horses that had shared the barn with my beloved DJ that had been stolen. The one across the isle especially – she was an older TB mare, 20 or so, belonged to the same woman forever, you know. I can’t even understand why they would take HER. I can still see her so plainly – she was on the thin side, being an older TB and all. Why HER? This darling old lady that had never known anything but kindness, and then to have her life end in such a way…. I can’t STAND it!
I’m am a “picture thinker” myself. I’m not autistic, but I do think in pictures instead of words. Vivid pictures. I couldn’t even turn my computer on for two days. I went into a full-blown Major Depressive episode. I’m back to normal – normal for ME anyway! ;o) – and ready to soldier on. Cannot let the deaths of those innocents be for nothing. Right, R.T.?
This may not be a good thing, but if I had found the persons who stole those horses and I had a gun, I would have used it. The owner of the stables did patrol the grounds every night with a .45 until he could get infrared sensors installed. He would have pulled the trigger too. Too bad they never came back.
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Suzanne, I’m sorry you saw what your mind took an indelible picture of. I’m certain that it would bring anyone who feels to the brink of insanity. I’m sorry that this whole barbarity ever occurred. Sorry for all those who were somebodies babies who lived thru this as a final testimony of the absolute worst in mankind. That’s why I think we all fight so hard, so that no one equid or human will ever have to see this again.
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Thank you, Morgan. Those horses were stolen in 1992, and the thought of that mare in particular still brings me to tears. Her owner was a total basket case, as I would have been if my horse had been taken.
I don’t think the pro-slaughter people take this kind of thing seriously enough. ALL the horses that get slaughtered are NOT unwanted.
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We are definitely making headway out here! The head of the Livestock Board was quoted in an editorial in the Casper Star Tribune that no horsemeat would be served to anyone in WY state institutions. Now I’m waiting for the Senators and the Legislators to start taking back their votes since the bill was totally misrepresented to them to get their “blind” votes. Bet the elected representatives in WY will be reading every bill they vote on much more carefully and “in its entirety!” from now on. Thanks for all of your support, your facts and your willingness to stand up for horses everywhere and to help us discredit SHS and her disgusting attempts to mistreat horses!
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Susan humphrey:
And the repsonse to counter opinions you posted are what and where? Thanks for your input…looking forward to study based reply.
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Jim, I appreciate your comments and your experience in the slaughter industry. I do have some questions. First, do you call the cattle you slaughter unwanted cows? How about the chickens – unwanted chickens? I’m sure you get my point. That was a phrase from a disinformation campaign that stuck. A brilliant campaign. By calling the horses unwanted, the slaughter proponents have successfully transferred all accountability from the owners to the horses. Now the victims are the criminals. They are the horses that breeders cull so they can breed more. The 100,000 horses going to slaughter are not 1 horse from 100,000 owners. The AQHA alone registers over 135,000 foals every year and QHs also lead the trucks rolling to slaughter. Don’t you think that is a good place to start fixing the excess horse issue? Nobody is trying to regulate breeding or stop breeding but if an owner chooses to breed, it is their responsibility for any horse they bring into the population. Allowing slaughter to continue will only perpetuate the breed and dump mentality. There is no reason to change as long as a dumping ground is available and they are paid to dump their excess.
Can you name one other US non-food animal besides horses that we allow to be slaughtered? Can you name one other business that operated in the US that sent their entire product and profits over our borders? So why the exception for horses? There is a market for dog and cat meat but we don’t slaughter them. Aren’t horses performing the same functions in our society as dogs? They race, they’re sport animals, they’re used in law enforcement, in therapy, as companions, they work and they provide service. They are raised and bred for those purposes, not as food.
Do you think it’s fair to impose additional expense to responsible horse owners for a national tracking system so the owners of less than 2% of the horse population can continue to be irresponsible?
I give you credit for acknowledging the drug issue. Given that just about every horse in the US has had bute at sometime in their life, how would a slaughter plant stay in business? You would be hard pressed to find a horse that hasn’t been wormed or given bute. Do you think anyone with any business acumen is going to spend millions to slaughter a handful of horses? The market is declining and consumers are aware of the lies they have literally been fed.
Regarding our wild ones. What are your thoughts on the hundreds of millions of dollars tax payers shell out to subsidize the millions of privately owned livestock grazing on our public lands? Do you feel that it’s balanced when the wild horses and burros have had almost 50% of their land taken away and number now in the range of about 20,000 vs. millions of privately owned livestock? Do you hear the slaughter proponents complaining that the horses are ruing the ranges while completely dismissing GAO reports that have proven the livestock, not the horses are at fault? Don’t you find it questionable that the BLM keeps saying the horses are starving when the footage and photos from round-ups reflect healthy horses being removed?
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Vickie, very informative and agree with your points. However, I do have a question though, and one statement, as I am not in the horse business, nor do I own a horse or intend to own a horse (unless I somehow fall into enough money to rescue wild horses from holding). I do not see the need to own a horse to care about it. I do not own a whale or a polar bear or a wolf either, yet I care deeply. I do have rescued dogs. Both of my horses from early days (almost 60 years ago) on a farm were rescues. I counter this point often on You Tube when accused of not owning a horse or being in any animal business – as somehow I have no right to what my taxes go to, or care for animals needless suffering?
I do however need to understand this particular issue as it seems to be recurring without any further discussion – What is wrong with a national tracking system or micro chips or licensing breeders? This seems like a good way to keep ones horse from going to slaughter or being stolen. Both of my dogs are microchiped and licensed and I do not feel any restrictions or bother into my privacy. I certainly feel that if they are stolen or run away I will most likely get them back, barring them running in front of a car – or someone hording them. And someone has to apy for animal control – it should not be all on the backs of non animal owners. I have been working for licensing of dog breeders – my further comments will explain why.
I used to try to stay out of the horse slaughter issue. But now they want our wild horses, so I need to know more so I can at least send someone to the right link to learn about what is wrong about tracking systems or licnesing breeders for horses.
And I did tell Jim that I do object to the horse business being the breeders and wish horses and all animals would be bred only for needs, not over bred for gambling, show & trophy business, etc. Anyway it seems like the people in that business should be required to take care of it, and not expect society to. I was a realtor for many years and had to pay annually for a license for that very reason. Then I worked for a construction company, and they had to be licensed. Just like attorneys, doctors, etc – seems to cause them to be more watchful of each other’s ethics when the whole industry has to pay for transgressions. I know it does not always work out that way or seem that way – but look at wall street and the mortgage industry now where there has been no oversight and we are expected to foot the bill (that is actually law that tax payers will bail them out – just found that out – see Wikepedia Consumer Reinvestment Act and the history – scary. CATO also has a report, but I have not read it yet) – and what a horrible tragedy to so many people and what a pickle the world in is because of it – wonder what all those other professions would be like if there was no oversight through licensing?
Looking forward to the response and discussion.
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Unless someone can give me a good reason why not I agree with Roxy. Perhaps with ID and licensing when anyone does abandon a horse or when their is a cruelty or neglect case they can track the horse back to the registered owner. The one down side to this is that if you legitimately change ownership in anyway and the new owner doesn’t re-register then you could be held responsible for something you didn’t actually participate in. There would have to be some protection for that.
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Thanks Morgan, and I look forward to others.
In my imagination the money for breeding licenses would be used, instead of taxpayer dollars to rescue, rehabilitate and euthanize animals and, in the case of horses, enforce a ban on slaughter. This would possibly help curb overbreeding and keep this deposit amount down due to the consequences, as money pulled out of this kitty, would result in increased license fees when more animals were overbred and not taken care of. This does all depend of course on slaughter (other than humane rendering operations) or the transport of horses for slaughter being illegal. Just like car ownership, I would hope there would be a way to post where someone sells or gives an animal away – these are doable things in todays computer world. The llicnese like all licenses would be based on volumn – probably number of animals born and then change in ownership the first time only.
Licensing of owners there after would simply pay for existing animal control, just like dog licensing does now. And would result in more officers and abilities to do a better job.
I do not see this as a way to have recourse on anyone, whether a breeder or owner, except as the law already allows for animial abuse – that then becomes criminal and outside of licensing. It would, however, be a way to keep track of charges and remove some people from the industry by removing their license as a breeder – this would have to be proven of course.
This will not keep bad people from doing bad things necessarily, but pressure from legitimate business people will help. And keep the impression of “unwanted” horses from existing, at least not an expense to taxpayers, who might otherwise think horse slaughter is the only solution. Just like all other industries (UNLIKE BLM) these regulations would be scrutinized by the public, the industry, either by individuals or industry organizations.
I know I am a dreamer and this is off the wall – but there is some growing interest in something of this nature for dogs. Dogs however, being much worse off than the horse industry, as horse are not currently as much of a burden on animal control, as horses are still going to slaughter.
Realistically though, I think if horses are not going to slaughter, then some other non-taxpayer system must be created.
We can through in Jims idea of part of the license going to wild horses in some way for thier betterment.
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RE: MISSOURI HORSE SLAUGHTER BILL. This is the page from Kinship Circle. I’m adding it to a lot of posts on slaughter, because I want it to reach the widest audience possible. My OUTRAGE isn’t just about the bill itself, but the underhanded and downright dangerous tactics by the opposition.
The page was apparently hacked and unavailable for a time, but has since been restored – who knows for how long. What happened to them should be illegal. I hope someone is recording those harassing phone calls & caller IDs.
http://www.kinshipcircle.org/letter_library/letter_new2.asp?LetterID=1894&seriesfirst=true
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This is scary. I work with lots of rescues and rescuers in MO, and just sent this out to them. I suspect like many of us, they get so busy in the field, that they often don’t know what is happening right under their noses. Got a reply from a friend in KCMO: he is going to send this out to people in Bethany, MO area and throughout the state to try to get people to contact their legislators. Thanks so much, Linda, for sending this out. More and more the requirements for representation are sinking to new lows! Frightening!
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Thank you Linda. In all the years and years I have done activist work and contacted individuals and governments both here and abroad I have NEVER seen adult men stoop to such juvenile tactics. These are the people making laws? Ya gotta wonder.
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I have a horse named Josey that needs a new home. Is anyone out there willing to put their money where their mouth is? She is 22 years old, very well broke to ride with excellent manners. Unfortunately she was wire-cut in June and it is not healing up. She is still limping on that leg. Money is really tight for me right now due to a change in cicumstances. I have nowhere to put an 1100 pound body and don’t have the money to pay someone to take the body away. She doesn’t seem to be in alot of pain, but she isn’t rideable. My daughter and I each have a horse that it takes all my budget to care for. The money I would get for Josey would buy feed for the other horses. She would bring about $400 running her through the salebarn. I would very much like to see her go to a good home.
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what do you mean “put your money where your mouth is?” you are asking other people to pay for your responsability??
You do with your animals as if you have a beloved pet. For example If you have a dog with a broken leg and you have no money. What do you personally do? throw your dog out the window?. dump it? no you use a credit card, sell something!, borrow from a family member, or in the worse case cough up the few dollars and have the Vet put your pet to sleep.
You don’t send a companion animal to the slaughterhouse!! you as a owner call the Vet and have the animal put to sleep!
If you live on a ranch you have many acres of land.. you MUST know someone who can humanely shoot a kill shot and help you bury. Can you afford the cost of ONE bullet and can you dig a hole. That costs about 50 cents!!
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sorry to sound so harsh but it really makes me pissed off that any human would take a hurting horse and make it ‘go through a sale barn” and be sujected to what could be months of pain and suffering. Months of lack or food/water beatings and abuse. Even if you got 10 thousand dollars from the sale.!!!
what the heck are you teaching your children with this?
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Please call a rescue and ask their advice. We don’t know where you are or any details. If Josie was good she deserves to live out her life in peace. Please call a horse rescue. If you do not know any tell us where you live and we will get info to you about people who can help where you are. mar
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Laura, if all the options have not been looked into, then it is rather premature to shoot a horse. mar
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I know its just that “Put your money where your mouth is” statement she made.
Unless she is sitting on a street corner himeless with nothing to sell at all. There are ways to take care of this problem without threatening to send to a fate worse than death any animal.
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Mar, thanks for helping – I hope you find her a rescue soon enough.
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Awww, she’s not ridable, so the only place for her is on the trash heap, huh? Frankly, people like you make me sick. If she is pasture sound you keep her and take care of her – that was the RESPONSIBILITY you took on when you voluntarily purchased a horse. Didn’t you know there is always the possibility of illness or injury? She is still your responsibility – you understand that word?
If you put her through a sale, she will NOT get a good home. She will go to slaughter. How could you even consider such a thing??? I kept an older horse that wasn’t ridable for almost three years, until he passed away in my arms. I would have given ANYTHING if he had lived another 20 years whether I could ride him or not. My money DOES go where my mouth is – taking care of my horses no matter what.
In addition to options the others have mentioned, you can compost a deceased horse. If you feel so strongly that a horse you can’t ride is of no use to you, the very LEAST you can do is give her a decent death.
I’m not sorry if this is harsh. It’s even worse for your poor horse.
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Susan, you did not indicate where you are located, are there any non-profit rescues in your area that would help you find a good home?
Are you aware that you can donate your horse to a non-profit and write off the value of your horse (up to $5,000.00 without a professional appraisal) on your taxes?
There are many alternatives that would benefit you versus the sale barn and it appears that you would like to find a good home for your horse. Check around and see what you can find.
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Thats ‘homeless’ with a tin cup in her hand and a sign..will work for food.
For gods sake lady give up your morning coffee and that will save you 200.00 a month to help your horse 🙂
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Susan, how dare you ask us on a blog to put OUR money where are mouths are???? as far as I can tell from your post, as long as this horse was rideable, and SELLABLE! everything was fine, now she’s hurt, lame and unrideable and therefore unprofitable, and therefore, disposable. Most of us on this blog have horses, many of us are supporting unrideable horses, so I don’t think you’ll find much sympathy here. She has been a good companion to you and now her fate is to be sold at a sale, which as a lame horse we all know what that means. There ARE other options out there. If you have a pasture, why can’t she live out her days there? If the wound is not healing, try barn lime on it. It is a very inexpensive old time healing method that works on wounds of all types. as others have said try to find a rescue for her.
But DON’T try to put YOUR responsibility on to us!
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By the way, has a veterinarian seen this horse? Do you even know if the wound would heal with proper care? Or did you just decide on your own that it wasn’t worth the trouble – or cost – since she wasn’t ridaeble NOW?
What about your other horses – what kind of vet care are you providing for them? Vaccinations? Check teeth? Regular exams? What are you going to do when another horse gets hurt are dies on you? These are things you MUST think about and make plans for. If you can’t – or won’t – pay for these things, PLEASE do NOT own horses!
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Josey has been seen by a vet. The vet doesn’t believe she will ever be ridable. My horses are more than just “backyard pets”. They are riding animals. We don’t do anything else for recreation. I was agriculture raised. I know a lot about vet care, including the care of cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. I made my living for a long time in the farm/ranch industry. We always had a steer and a pig we were fattening up for slaughter. They all had names. They were scratched during feeding, talked to. We had a milk cow that was broke to ride. I used to take her out on a lead rope in the road ditch to get the best grass, sit on her and read a book when I was a kid. She lived well for 20 years. We had one pig that could do tricks like a dog and was easier to train. They all ended up getting eaten. The most humane way I have ever seen is a shot to the brain stem. They are dead before they hit the ground. Much less stressful than a vet. Josey has never had Bute, she gets wormed with the same ivermectin as the other livestock animals, and I got “over” eating the meat of animals that I “knew” before they were dead a long time ago. I realize that some people have a problem with eating horse meat. Those people shouldn’t eat them anymore than we would want a Hindi to eat cattle. I see horses as a livestock animal. I have seen what has happened to horses since this law has come into place, and I don’t see anything positive being done for the individual horses that the people who enacted have “kept from slaughter”.
That is where my “put your money where you mouth is” comes into play. What are any of you doing, in a personal way, for the horses you are supposedly saving? I see many horses on the ranches near where I keep my horses(no I don’t own one, I rent) skinny, badlly crippled, too old to have any enjoyment out of life, having to go through very harsh South Dakota winters becouse of this law. They would have had a trailer ride to the salebarn, another to the slaughter house, go down a chute and have a relatively paainless death which would beat the months and years it will take nature to kill them. Slowly starving until they are dead from the cold, coyotes, or whatever. That is the REAL-LIFE circumstances of what theses horses are going through. I know that the vast majority of the horses I know of out here in the boonies have never had Bute and probably have never been wormed. Many have not only never been a “pet”, they don’t want to be anyones pet. We are over–run in this country with unwanted dogs, cats and now horses. It’s much easier to dispose of the body of a dead cat or dog than a horse. A friend of mine had hers buried then had to get the same guy back to “unbury” her horse because there was a nearby well a neighbor thought would be contaminated. Talk about a mess she had, trying to find someone with a flatbed trailer to haul the horse and pay a rancher who was willing, to put the horse in his “bone-pile”. Ranchers don’t like having dead animals on their place. They attract coyotes and other carrion for one thing.
This anti horse slaughter sentiment is great until you have to deal with the reality of it. Josey will, if nothing else, feed my daughter and I this winter. I don’t have any problem eating horse meat any more than beef. She will be dead and won’t know it.
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Have you exhuasted all the rescues in your area already?
If yes, it sounds like you are sending her to a humane rendering plant? I’m told that fee is low – about one months worth of food – hope you can swing that.
I don’t think any of us have a problem with rendering plants – she is no spring chicken and has this leg thing.
And having just put down two old dogs I say it is very caring to not wait until they are seriously surffering. Everytime I put an old or sick pet down, after I pass the shock and grief, in retrospect, every time I feel like I should have done it long before and saved them from that last week, month or more of suffering.
As far as killing, butchering and eating meat or not, and which kinds that is personal choice or cultural/societal – having been raised on a farm I do understand what you are talking about – I have no illusions where the food in the supermarkdet comes from or how it gets there and that is the circle of life. Carrots and Tomatoes both have “reactions” to being cut – so for animals it comes down to having them live and die as humanly as possible.
As to what people do to help animal cruelty as they see it, that is also personal choice or impacted by limitations – as many people as there are blogging there is different work going on.
As to the current movement to make eating hore culturally acceptable in the USA – I’d say forget it – same example you gave – like asking a Hindi to eat cow – unless we succumb to famine or something that is just not going to ever happen – horse slaughter cannot be run as a for profit – no money in it to do it humanely- the people here do not and will not see horses as livestock. You are just wsting you rtime on that.
As to your eating Josie – I don’t really care – its a way to justify the rendering cost I guess – that is your business – just hope not to your kids – you do know though that the Japanese sufffer the highest death rate to liver desease in the world and have no or few restirictions on chemical tainted meat products?
Sorry you are having a difficult time – hope it works our for you and Josie.
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Roxy, please tell me what a “humane” rendering plant is? it’s very different from a meat “processing” or “packing” plant.
I took offense from the “put your money where your mouth is ” statement from Susan. I HAVE done that, have adopted a mustang, DO take care of my horses, if she wants to shoot this horse and eat it, then why the hell did she even bother to post on this blog? If she was truly seeking a “good home” for this horse, then the last part about how eating her won’t bother her is heartless.
If I was faced with a similar situation, I wouldn’t throw it out on RT’s blog when I’d already made up my mind to do something else.
Susan, what most of us object to is horse slaughterhouses and the innate cruelty that happens to the horses as they go through it.
She’s your horse, do what you need and want to do, and be done with it. but don’t try to make people feel bad because son one offered to come get your horse.
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jan you asked “please tell me what a “humane” rendering plant is? it’s very different from a meat “processing” or “packing” plant.”
I have no idea – bloggers here have said that rendering is ok, so I take that to mean the method of death is humane. Anyone want to answer jan?
I saw someone asking for help for her horse, the horse being the main concern, not the way the person asked – it is “glaring” that my “outsiders” entry was not welcome – I’ll stay out of slaughter all together.
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Roxy, I know what a rendering plant IS, they don’t kill the horses there, the horses have been killed/died somewhere else and taken to the rendering plant to be rendered into other things, such as fertilizer, glue and leather. This person wasn’t talking about that, she was talking about running this mare through a sale, which would result in her being sent to slaughter in Canada or Mexico. she said she could get about $400 for her; she started off asking for a home, and ended up talking about shooting and eating this mare.
My point to YOU was the humanity of a rendering plant is moot, the horse is dead before it gets there. I’m trying to figure out where you came up with the rendering plant in the first place from this post?
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I got the idea from bloggers here when we were discussing the UK slaughter video that rendering plant death was better – go blame them.
She already said she does not personally own any land adn has no money to haul off a body even if whe did.
So, she will I guess then be sending it to kill buyers – or some rescue will take it and “euthanize” it if they don’t have room and board available.
Either way I am out – it is an industry issue – you all take care of it or not – there is too much else to do just on wild horses without tit for tat.
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P.S. I know what it is like to have a good stable life, job and income and have that rug pulled out from under you and the desparate things one must consider – and the anger, that is normal – do the best you can – things have a way of working out – you do what you can when you can – that is all any on of us can do
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Susan, If you have come here to tell us your reality and what you feel you need to do, so be it. I am not shocked. If you know how to end Josie’s life quickly and you are too poor to do anything other than eat her, then I hope you do know what the effects of all the drugs she has had could have on you and your children. Because of laws and change it does not mean that all horses will be protected or benefit. It doesn’t work that perfectly. No one is shocked by this, I think. Some here are indignant. Maybe they really do not understand. But some of us can, I think. mar
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Susan ~ What am I doing for horses? Taking care of the ones I voluntarily decided to take responsibility for, that’s what I’m doing. I’ve owned horses for over 30 years, and in ALL that time, I have owned exactly FOUR horses. I lived in Dallas, TX at that time and had to board my horse, so I certainly could not afford to have but one at a time. It took almost all of my discretionary income – sometimes more – to afford the one. When he passed on, I got another one.
During the 20 years I had him, there were some rough times. I was single and my sole means of support. In my job I used a keyboard and I developed carpel tunnel in both wrists, tendonitis in both hands, but I was good at what I did, and it was the only way to support my horse. The final blow was when I developed focal dystonia in my right hand. Dystonia is uncontrollable muscle contractions in the affected muscles. Since I couldn’t do what I did before, my lovely bosses said I could keep the job, but I’d have to take a .$.80 per hour pay cut. So, I managed to FORCE my hand to do almost what it used to do, and kept my pay grade, but I was in great pain and wondered how long I could continue.
I sole everything I had that was worth selling, and I was prepared to live in my old Suburban if necessary. Fortunately, before it came to that I met someone and married for the first time at age 44. Mike is from Indiana, where we live now. The cost of land is MUCH less here than TX, and I was able to realize my dream of having my horse at home. We brought him all the way from Texas.
I got my 3rd horse as a pasture companion for him – a mare we purchased as a yearling. She foundered badly at age 4, and hasn’t been rideable since. Doesn’t matter. When my horse from Dallas passed on in 2002 and I got another, she – now 20 herself – is a wonderful companion for HIM – and me. And, while I was still boarding if my one horse had become unridable, I would still have kept him. In fact, I did keep my first horse for a year after he became unridable until he died. I never thought of anything else, because I couldn’t trust someone I didn’t know not to send him to slaughter. That’s the way it was down there when Dallas Crown and Beltex were operating. At least neither of my horses got stolen. I can’t say the same for my friends.
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Having worked in the Agriculture industry most of my life I can honestly say I have much less fear of eating Josey than any meat I get at the supermarket due to the regular use now of growth hormone injections. We always “ate our own” because we knew exactly what went into it. Home raised always tastes much better. This is, I believe, due to my personal theory: If the animal has had a happy life the meat tastes better, the milk, butter and eggs taste better. Grocery store animals are in very crowded conditions before being butchered. This causes stress. If you have ever spent time around other livestock animals, you would find they have personalities just like horses do. No animal, whether it’s a horse, a cow, a pig or a goat, should be treated inhumanely. In that, I think we will all agree. Were the horse slaughter plants treating horses inhumanely? Some of the time? All of the time? Is there a way to have a horse slaughter for human consumption that isn’t going to cause undue stress on the horse? Are horses any better off now than they were before? I think that is the biggest question. From what I have seen ( and I have seen a lot more than I want to see), the horse is much worse off now than they were before. As far as eating them…whether any meat can pass inspection or not for human consumpion or not should be made by the same “experts” who say eating beef that has been given growth hormone shots is safe. Consumer Beware! If the people who choose to eat horse meat know they may have been given medication that may cause future illnesses including….(just like labels of anything else,) why would that be a problem? If anyone on this site thinks people in this country aren’t eating horse meat…sorry…you are wrong. When my folks first got married, they ate horse meat because it was worth less per pound than cattle. We didn’t eat it very often when I was a kid because we could get more for the horses selling them at the salebarn, per pound, than the cattle. NO we NEVER raised them for the pupose of eating them. (Though I don’t have a problem if people do.)Now that has changed. You can’t give a colt of a yearling away at a salebarn. They aren’t worth hauling because they aren’t worth anything. Numbers of those being bred have dropped considerably, but there are always going to be those that didn’t turn out the way the breeder/buyer wanted, got crippled, etc. Horses aren’t very long lived usually. My Josey being sound up until this wirecut at age 22 isn’t common. As long as they are killed humanely, if people want to eat this meat, they should be able to. Personally, I think there is going to be a lot of people in this country who will be eating horse meat in the near future because it is so very cheap right now.
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Also wanted to add. I will be donating all my organs, etc, when I die. It is listed on my drivers license in case of an accident. When I am no longer able to enjoy life because I am in pain or incapacitated, I am ready to go to my Maker, who is the same One who made the horse, the cow and the pig. When I am gone, I hope good use can be made of my body. The people on both sides of my family, all Ag. people who have eaten horse meat, have lived very long, cancer-free lives. My grandmother was horseback at age 91. She died at age 93. My mother is 87. She regularly goes on 20 mile trail rides. She, however, now rides a mule.
I have never been able to envision Heaven without my favorite animals in it. I do believe all life has a “spirit” that goes with it. We take what we love with us when we die. The body, however, is just a temporary “host”. An edible one.
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And were in Wyoming is this…… Because Im pretty sure this might not be true…. WE USE OUR HORSES TO RIDE AND HAVE FUN WITH, NOT TO EAT!
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Ok, US stops horses from being slaughtered, but sends their young poor men and women to kill(and be killed by) other humans. It’s under hypocrit in the dictionary.
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The people of the USA do not want horse slaughter legal in our country. The people of the USA do not want to send their children to kill or be killed, either. Not that one thing has ANYTHING to do with the other.
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Magnus ~ Your name sounds German. Is it? Or are you from some country that has NEVER found itself in a war? If so, count your blessings and don’t make sarcastic remarks to those who haven’t been that fortunate. You ARE aware that we don’t have the draft anymore, right? And what the heck does this have to do with horse slaughter?
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SUE WALLIS SOUNDS VERY MENTALLY AND EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE!!
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