Reprint from Horseback Magazine
”Even if Wallis could convince Wyoming’s tiny population to gorge themselves on the meat, there is yet another problem. The meat is not safe.” by John Holland ~ President of the Equine Welfare Alliance
President of the Equine Welfare Alliance ~ John Holland
CHICAGO, (EWA) – Newsweek recently carried the condensed version of an article by Sue Wallis, a Wyoming State representative, titled Wyoming proceeds with plans to build state-of-the-art processing plant. The article gives the impression that Wyoming is about to open a horse slaughter plant. It is not and here is why.
The “plans” are not those of the state of Wyoming, but of horse slaughter proponent Sue Wallis. The Wallis business strategy appears to be “If you hype it, they will come.”
In the article Wallis claims that this plant will go into operation in just six months and will slaughter all the excess wild and domestic horses in the comfort and serenity of a Temple Grandin designed facility of the highest standard. One can almost hear the Muzak playing as the grateful horses line up to be “euthanized” by gentle and caring workers.
Yet buried in the artfully understated text is the admission that Wallis does not have investors, a business plan or even a cost estimate. Over the past year, Wallis sold just over $30,000 worth of raffle tickets for a Dodge 4×4 truck, only to announce on August 27th that she had not sold enough tickets to actually buy the truck and asking if she might just keep the money as a donation. Apparently that potentially lucrative business gambit was not well received.
Most recently Wallis has indicated ticket sales have, not unpredictably, stagnated since her announcement that there might not be a prize, but that she intends to announce the winner anyhow at her “Summit of the Horse”, a planned seminar in January composed entirely of pro-horse slaughter speakers and lobbyists. She did not indicate whether the announcement would be accompanied by an actual truck. Other than these ventures and a stint as a cowgirl poet, Wallis has little business experience. So here is some advice.
To get started on the cost estimates for her dream horse slaughter plant, Wallis might wish to consider the case of the Natural Valley Farms (NVF) horse slaughter plant that went bankrupt two years ago in Saskatchewan, Canada. According to Henry Skjerven, a plant director, they had gone through $42 Million dollars.
It had not been enough money, said Skjerven, for them to build a waste treatment facility, which explains why they were caught dumping tens of thousands of gallons of blood into a local river and into a lagoon behind the facility. The Cavel plant in Illinois and the Dallas Crown plant in Texas were continually fined for similar pollution problems. So Sue might want to add $10 million or so for that and other nice-to-have amenities.
”Even if Wallis could convince Wyoming’s tiny population to gorge themselves on the meat, there is yet another problem. The meat is not safe”
There is another pesky little item Wallis lacks (and NVF had), and that is a market. As admitted in the article, Congress removed the funding for required USDA inspectors in 2007, making it illegal for such a plant to export the meat across state lines for human consumption. So Wallis proposes to sell the meat intrastate (inside Wyoming) for human consumption and to pet food manufacturers.
The population of Wyoming is approximately 544,270. That is about 3% the size of New York City. And since Americans don’t eat horse meat, Wallis proposed a law to force it on prisoners and school children. With that idea rejected, the only remaining customers would probably be the Wallis family which, though large, is likely insufficient to consume the estimated 10 million pounds of horse meat the plant would need to produce every year to make a profit.
Even if Wallis could convince Wyoming’s tiny population to gorge themselves on the meat, there is yet another problem. The meat is not safe. American horses are given dangerous drugs that are forbidden in animals intended for human consumption. The EU is currently in the process of cracking down on the lack of documentation for American horses.
Perhaps the most common of all horse medications is phenylbutazone (bute). In humans this drug is a known carcinogen, and causes liver failure, aplastic anemia (bone marrow suppression) and other lethal blood disorders. Bute is banned for use in all food animals.
Click (HERE) to visit Horseback Magazine and read the article in it’s entirety
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Thank God for small favors. Seems that when He decided not to give her a heart, He also didn’t give her a brain. At least that makes her a little less dangerous.
LikeLike
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your comment, Erin! Too funny!
LikeLike
THIS WOMAN IS COMPLETELY NUTS. WHAT A MORON. SHE NEEDS TO SEE A PSYCHIATRIST BADLY.THIS WOMAN NEEDS TO BE SENT TO A LABOR CAMP ALONG WITH HARRY REID AND HIS CRONIES TO DO TIME SHOVELING HORSE MANURE UNTIL THEY BASK IN IT AND BURY THEMSELVES SMELLING IT 24/7. WHAT A CRAZY PROPOSAL TO BUILD A PROCESSING PLANT IN WYOMING. WE WILL SHUT THIS ONE DOWN COMPLETELY. WORKING ON THIS AS WE SPEAK. WOW, WE HAVE SO MANY INSANE PEOPLE LIVING AND MAKING STUPID DECISIONS. WE MUST PROTECT OUR HORSES FROM ANY MORE SLAUGHTER AND DEATH. ON TO VICTORY FOR OUR HORSES. THE ARMY IS FORMING AND WE ARE MIGHTY AND STRONG. DON’T FOOL WITH THE HORSE WORLD AND WE ARE HORSE LOVERS. WE ARE COMING AFTER YOU MORONS. JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL, MARK MY WORDS.
LikeLike
Well said, Judith!! And yes, I believe justice will prevail.
LikeLike
I second that – excellent comment, Judith!
LikeLike
Judith, I, along with many others, are right behind you! We will fight this to the end! If Sue was born with any brains, maybe someone dropped her on her head at birth. She IS one SICK human, that’s for sure!
LikeLike
I read the article. If I weren’t laughing so hard, I’d leave a comment! I think 544,269 people ought to get out of Wyoming!
LikeLike
What a hack. Sue Wallis, give it up!! We’ve got to get Pelosi to break the slaughter bill loose!! It doesn’t even need that many more supporters. I feel like the fate of american horses lies in the hands of about a dozen greedy men somewhere in a large conference room with big leather chairs; expensive suits, smoking big cigars. Deer head hanging on the wall, optional… Sigh…
I see a lot of money being spent every week on saving horses from kill pens. I’ll admit to mixed emotions. Saving horses, awesome. Supporting Kill Brokering, hmmm. Wouldn’t that money be better invested on Adoption Programs for unsold animals, Subsidized Euthanasia for infirmed animals and Hay Banks/Food Share for healthy animals whose owners just need a little stepping stone – before they need to send their daughter’s pony to an auction? I’m sure I don’t have all the answers, but 1% of the population doesn’t seem like it should be that difficult to absorb.
LikeLike
It makes a difference to the horse saved from the kill buyer.
LikeLike
I’m surprised that more people haven’t picked up on the fact that the horses have been various carcinogenic over their lifetimes and the government has been adding PZP into the mix. (When I first read about the medications, I had hoped this might protect them from slaughter, when thinking of a market in the EU, but realized that someone will always buy something, somewhere.)
I apologize for the rude behavior, but I laughed out load when I read that Wallis asked if she might keep the $30,000 as a donation.
LikeLike
This is one evil woman and enemy of our wild ones that we don’t need to worry about stopping. Although she says some words the cattlemen want to hear she will never get anything done.
Slaughter house Sue is so grossly incompetent, she couldn’t get her plans to first base with a team of wild horses dragging her there. I just hope the cattlemen don’t wise up and find someone more competent to support.
LikeLike
Sue Wallis’s backers are said to be some big guns. I think they need to reconsider their alliance and maybe shut down the Summit of the Horse if they are footing the bill.
Common sense just makes her look like the fringe element she is. mar
LikeLike
Mar, the backers know they don’t have an ethical argument to stand on and want to maintain the human convenience of the status quo as long as possible.
They covertly (albeit somewhat obviously…AAEP, AQHA) support SS as she is willing to be the frontman for an immoral and antiquated cause.
When the pooh and science gets thrown at their “cause”…they want it to stick on her, not them.
IOWs, they will fund the foodfight she is a part of, but they won’t get any dung on themselves. Why would they? Especially when they have “players” like SS and the Duke of Doink to do it for them.
LikeLike
The Princess and the Duke are sure lucky, that’s all I can say…. mar
LikeLike
Shouldn’t we ALL be dropping notes to Newsweek, asking about covering the other side of the story? Were have they been for the last couple years? Or was their intent to make a fool of her?
LikeLike
The serious public health threat of horse meat is evident, to all but Wallis and Duquette who is nothing but a meatpacker. Horses are not raised for human food consumption and the presence of toxic drugs makes horse meat even dangerous enough to be banned from dog food. The ignorance and greed of Wallis add only more bad taste to the national disdain that is looming over her proposed plan, which will affect the health and welfare of her state with a public health risk. Bute, Clenbuterol, PBZ (horse aspirin, widely used for Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds) Stereoids and Banamine… are not a cocktail to be fed to unsuspecting humans. Also the risk of a potential Trichinosis outbreak is unsconscionable. People do not eat horses in America, period.
If Wallis’ bloody lust for horse flesh would indeed be initiated by a concern for the “welfare” of horses…, one can wonder why the country so vehemently opposes such ideas. There are alternative solutions, horses need no slaughter plant, only a second chance.
Hay banks, special programs within rescues, cost-reduced humane euthanasia (administered by a licensed vet) or programs such as the Arizona Dept of Agriculture’s Equine Rescue Registry –
http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2010/10/26/state-agriculture-department-launches-registry-to-help-abandoned-horses/
are available. Wallis is nothing but a self-appointed, grotesque entrepreneur, who is using people’s naivete and economic pressures for personal gain. http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/medications.php
It is the strong position of VEW members that absent any formal regulation or structure by the United States with regard to medications and food safety withdrawal schedules for equines entering the food chain, horsemeat derived from any U.S. horse can never be regarded as safe for human consumption.
Furthermore, VEW member veterinarians strongly object to the AVMA and AAEP position in favor of horse slaughter for human consumption. For the AVMA and AAEP to condone the human consumption of meat derived from equines that have not been raised or medicated in a manner consistent with food safety regulations is, in our opinion, unethical, disingenuous, and dangerous.
So Wyoming is on America’s map for national outrage, tourist boycotts, contamination and sanitary hazards, ignominy and shame, brainwashing a new diet of horse carcass/meat/product which is unfit for human food, misbranded or adulterated (laced w. ingredients not approved for food safety standards) and Wallis’ view on wholesomeness a total insult to our intelligence and health, so join the rest of us with sane minds and say no, hell no !!
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2010/06/09/opinion/staff_editorials/ourview291.txt
LikeLike
I agree kill brokers are not the answer!!! Then what is the answer?
this Sue reminds me of 101 dalmations Cruella,cold hearted & self absorbed
was shocked about children and prisoners comment! The woman is pure evil,,,
yes we need to get the message out that horses are carcinogenic when used for human consumption but what are the best sources to get the message out to?
LikeLike
Seems ol’ SS has taken the DOI/USDA “how to count” and “effective money management” courses….she graduated with honors!
LikeLike
It would be very interesting to find out who the real backers are. Would they possibly be not even from our country?
LikeLike
Ahhhh! the beauty of a “global economy”!…alll the take out and non of theaccountability. Globalazation… ain’t it a keeper…NOT!!!!
It disregards environments, cultures and species.
Sorry energy corps (extracting trolls)…I can live with a candle if need be.
LikeLike