reported by Amber Ningen of the Wyoming Platte County Record-Times
Blood, Guts and Gore are the Stuff of Sue Wallis
Land near Guernsey is looking “very promising” as the location of a multi-species processing facility that would likely be in operation by 2012.
This multi-species processing facility would slaughter horses, cattle and bison.
Sue Wallis, the Republican state representative from Recluse – who has publicly stated the United States has taken a valuable asset and turned it into a very expensive liability – is proposing the facility.
Wallis said the site they are currently evaluating is just outside of Guernsey, near the American Renewable Energy Associates (AREA) waste-to-energy plant. They are still in the beginning of this process, she noted, and nothing is set in stone. Their preliminary findings, however, show that this site is likely the most viable.
Working in conjunction with AREA, she said, is attractive because there is the possibility of “them providing us with power and waste heat.” Wallis also said they would provide AREA with feedlot manure and other organic waste that they could burn in their plant.
This processing facility is expected to create around 80 jobs.
Wallis said these would be high-paying jobs with good benefits.
“I think it would be a good opportunity for people in Platte County as far as job opportunities; as far as what it’s going to do to the economy,” Dan Brecht, Executive Director, Platte County Economic Development, said.
Brecht said while he believed there would be people opposed to the facility, there would probably not be as many in the state of Wyoming opposed as there would be in other states.
Thus far a limited liability company known as Unified Meats has been formed. Wallis said they’re working with a group to develop the business.
According to Wallis, the same equipment may be used to process all three of the species.
The facility would be capable of processing 200 head of whatever species a day or in a shift. There is also a possibility of adding a second shift if needed, thus a maximum of 400 head a day would be processed.
Wallis said they’re estimating it would take six months at least to get through the initial business plan phase. Once that is done, it will take at least six to nine months to construct the plant.
One of their objectives, she said, is to create a sustainable economically viable model that the live horse handling facilities may use.
“It’s quite possible that Platte County could be the site of a model that’s used all over the country,” she said.
At this time there are currently no horse processing facilities in the United States.
“There are about six other projects seeking to get established just like we are,” Wallis said.
Wallis said the only outlet to get some return on investments for unusable or unwanted horses is currently in Canada or Mexico.
Related Articles
- Wallis’ Wyoming Horse Slaughter Plant Plans Turn Flaky (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- New Year’s Day Horse Eater Attack Backfires (ppjg.wordpress.com)
- SlaughterFest Promoter Blasted by Wyoming Constituents (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis Publicly Sticks Bloody Foot in Mouth (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
The time has come to stop talking and do SOMETHING – BUT WHAT ??? I don’t know what to do !!! DO THEY READ OUR LETTERS AND EMAILS???? Our government just will not listen to it’s people !!!!! WHAT CAN WE DO????? WHY WOULDN’T THEY LISTEN TO US???? ” 200-400 HEAD OF HORSE A DAY ….with 6 OTHER PROJECTS SEEKING TO GET ESTABLISHED” MAY GOD HELP US BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW WHO ELSE CAN
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“Multi-Species Slaughter Plant?” I think NOT. Wallis’s obsession is KILL HORSES. Read “between the lines.” This is another misnomer…a “front,” for a horse slaughter only slaughterhouse. Something tells me, IF this plant goes through (think not) it will be the most inhumane slaughter plant. And if I remember correctly, WY was very against a horse slaughter plant…so Wallis now says “Multi-Species.” Good try, Sue.
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Why is it that some peoples rights are always more important then others? People that kill for any reason offend me deeply, but since I have given up on any humanity in the human race I have chosen to help horses, the most social of all beings. Natural survivors, willing to work and slave for people for not much more then a field of grass. I’m deeply offended because I have found a relationship with beings I feel are justly entitled to LIFE and DIGNITY. I feel pain, sadness, and hatred because of the greed that mandates my rights and feelings are insignificant and can be whisked away by their right to profit.
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“Return on investments”? Do we have to wring every last penny out of an animal’s being? Do we have to use it up, meat,hooves,hide and all, to justify its existance?
Horses have contributed by working or being companions or just by living on our planet. Are we going to start having to slaughter every living creature to “get a return on investments”?
Sue Wallis makes me sick.
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I know for many people a job is a job is a job…but are there really a lot of people who want jobs slaughtering horses? Do they know what it entails? How inhumane it really is? Do they really want to work on the kill floor? Why is Sue Wallis so obsessed with opening a slaughter plant? Any kind at all? Can she not think of any other type of business that would bring jobs to her constituents? What is her problem? Anyone so driven to open a processing plant of this kind has to have issues…apart from her evident stupidity. And why are the voices of the few being heard so loud and clear, when there are so many opposed to this who seem to be shouting into the wind and not being heard at all? We write and email and protest and sign and no one seems to care that the majority are opposed to horse meat and horse slaughter, and would like to find better ways of dealing with over breeding and the other issues that have left us with “excess” horses. Damn Sue Wallis. Damn. Damn. Damn. Excuse my language, but I am totally fed up.
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How many of those 80 “high-paying jobs with good benefits” would go to SS’s cronies? I’m talking about managers, not those on the “kill floor”. Maybe she wants to be (or already is) CEO/CFO/COO of “Unified Meats”. She’d certainly receive a higher salary (and perks) than her pay as a Wyoming Legislator, and just think how many years she could play that job out!
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Those on the kill floor are more than likely going to be illegal aliens.
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This is an article from a bison producer who once sent his animals to a slaughterhouse. He now “field kills”, because traditional slaughter ruins the meat. Many bison ranchers have switched to this method for the same reason. He seems to have a pretty good understanding of where to place the “kill shot”, and has reverence for the animals he kills.
http://www.edibleaustin.com/content/editorial/editorial/58?task=view
This part of the same article is off-topic, but I still consider it important. Notice what he says about the sharp bison hooves re: aeration of the soil. Cattle don’t have sharp hooves, so they aren’t “aerators”. Bison are ruminants, like cattle, goats, sheep, giraffes, bison, antelope, pronghorn Ruminant dung doesn’t contribute much to reseeding. I think a combination of bison to “till” the soil, and wild horses to reseed it would be a winner.
AND PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE! It has so much information on the destruction of the American West (from Thoreau’s observations in the mid-1800’s to the present day) that a summation would be too long.
http://weberjournal.weber.edu/archive/archive%20D%20Vol.%2021.2-25.2/Vol.%2024.3/Michael%20Engelhard%20Ess.htm
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That is a good article about buffalo and why using a slaughterplant for ‘wild’ animals taints the meat.
Sue Wallis is so flip-floppy with her business plans…guess she met the chicago meat company in Vegas and is trying to get in with them now. What idea will she have next year for some small town with less than 2,000 total people (25 percent are children)
Hope the small town has the commen sense to use a search engine and take note of the danger to humans killing ‘multi-species’ and take note of all the other small companies that set-up near a slaughterhouse to work with the slop.
google madcow and note the use of feedlot manure and many parts from cattle are a serious concern and can’t be mixed in with other species.
Kind of crazy these ‘plans’ out of the blue with Sue. Why can’t she help even one animal have a LIFE instead of dreaming of ways to kill.some charity!! what will be next out of her brain? a kitten coat factory?
ref from small search doesn’t she read the rules from usda and from experts like buffalo ranchers (successfull ones)
Click to access colocationlivestocksla_F4E3BD0B49C27.pdf
Click to access colocationlivestocksla_F4E3BD0B49C27.pdf
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and I hope the small town mayor or whoever is their town leader reads about slaughterhouses and especially ‘multi-species’. the ref in my above post has these quotes. Important concerns of anyone having a slaughterplant in their town.
“”Major Issues
Multi-species
The conventional approach is a single species per plant. This is largely done for cost efficiency reasons. In addition, some customers feel more comfortable with food safety from a single species plant. Whatever the reason, a single species plant is what most customers expect.”””””
When it comes to multi-species plants, beef and pork, in combination, are the most acceptable. All of the potential customers to whom we talked, because of sheep scrapies, expressed concern about slaughtering sheep at the same facility as cattle and/or pigs. When animals eat feed containing infected sheep by-product, they sometimes contract the devastating disease, sheep scrapies. Should beef or pork by-product become contaminated with sheep by-product, it would be impossible to sell them. Small packers were cautioned against including sheep in a multi-species slaughter facility.
Segregation and Documentation
There are niche markets for muscle meat from breed specific, natural, grass-fed and organic beef, pork and lamb. The breed specific opportunities are the largest of all the niche markets, followed by natural, organic and then grass-fed (which is only relevant for beef and lamb).
“””””One of the biggest issues with these niche programs is that they require segregation of the meat. This is normally handled by running the niche program animals on different shifts or at the start of a shift. It often means that the slaughter line needs to be stopped (and, in the case of separate proteins, cleaned) between niche programs. It also requires significant documentation. This adds a great deal to the cost of running multiple niche programs and/or multiple species.””””
A large concern aswell is what slaughterhouse is going to pay HIGH wages with insurance when small slaughterhouses have all the extra expense and major concerns. Do local cattle ranches want to chance exotic species bringing in diseases? or the offal drips on roadways spreading diseases. Look at how today many auctions and even BLM horse holding are hotbeds of horses with STRANGLES and buffalo are a concern to cattle ranchers aswell.
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I don’t know… That Edible Austin post just sounds like another canned hunt to me. And of course the man who owns the place predictably confuses “honoring the animal” with butchering the innocent. And no wonder money makes it so easy to substitute nice sounding words for the greedy reality of it all.
Fits right in line with Sue Wallis and her “humane” “multi-species” slaughterhouse project. Just another way to sneak in those pesky horses on to the kill floor in a more convenient manner… Her agenda and tactics are riddled with deceit and rubbish!
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This is never gonna get off the ground, and if it does, it won’t be what Sue says it is. I can’t imagine how she comes up with 50 – 60 high paying jobs. I’ve been in some of the top beef plants in the country, IBP/Tyson. When you walk in you don’t see ‘high paid” employees. My partner on one of these trips said it best. “We walked in to see dozens of aliens with a knife in each hand.” A small plant like Sue’s is going to have more labor and less profit per animal, so where do the high paying jobs come in?
They have gone multi-species because they know there isn’t enough demand for the meat from a dedicated horse plant. You can’t do a few horses, then a few cows, then a few buffalo. You need a total shut down and cleaning between species. I would guess they are targeting doing horses one day a week. But still, where is the demand for that meat inside Wyoming? Does she really think she is going to get federal law changed?? With her reputation I can’t see it.
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I find it incomprehensible that one would make it their life’s mission and legacy to fight relentlessly to open a slaughterhouse for horses and now other species.
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Is “Unified Meats LLC” a new company, or associated with “Unified Meats and Produce” in Chicago? I’m guessing the former. How much does it cost to create an LLC or non-profit? I’m thinking “Horsemen United against United Organizations of the Horse”, “Drugs in Horse Meat Cause Cancer so Sell it to the French”, “Horse Slaughter Propaganda Unlimited”… well, I think that last one is more or less taken.
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No one will really know what this plant will ultimately be as Sue changes her story every time she opens her mouth. I hope potential investors do some research over past press releases and statements and past efforts to get such a plant up and running. I find it incomprehensible that a plant could be used for multiple species slaughter, thats SLAUGHTER not processing. A horse is a species unto itself when it comes to slaughter so if they are planning on slaughtering anything but horses already they are admitting to inhumane slaughter practices. As was previously posted it is highly unlikely there will be good high paying jobs, that’s a joke. I hope this community also looks into past horse slaughterhouse plants and the increased expenses that were caused by this business. Better start raising taxes now so they’ll have some money in the kitty already.
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If SS and Doink really cared about ranchers, equines, livestock they would be expanding rendering for the highly underserved US, especially the West……not trolling for additional “tankage” through an additional slaughter house. Or here is a novel idea, how about funding a vocational program for qualified knackers if they are in the proverbal quandary as to what to do with animals and they don’t want to see them suffer.
I can’t wait to see how her pet project is going to fly with the mega-corporate meat trolls (Carghil, Tyson, Swift, etc). Last time I checked, they were not competition friendly. They gonna oput the Mom/Pop custom butchers out of business too.
Idiots!
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Cargill, Tyson and JBS/Swift don’t care much about the state inspected plants that can’t sell across state lines.
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…those operations that can’t sell across state lines are non-USDA/State Ag inspected. If she wants a “multi-use”, they get inspectors for those meat products (excluding horsemeat and maybe some wild game) for ANY US consumed product.
Still is stepping on the toes of custom butchers and fails to address the profit paradigm required to STAY in business….not to mention the EPA regulations; especially on a high waste/tankage product like equines.
BTW, anyone here realize that if this was a profitable enterprise, the Cargils, etc of the world would already be doing it?????
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Forgot to add…OH they most certainly DO care about all and any meat, grain, production operations….it’s their business.
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THIS WOMAN IS SICK AND I MEAN SICK. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT SHE WILL START SLAUGHTERING NEXT. IT IS A WONDER THAT HER OWN VOTERS DON’T RUN HER OUT OF TOWN.
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Slaughterhouse Sue is one sick individual. She goes from one killing fantasy to the next almost as quickly as night turns to day. Ever notice how she is constantly promoting how many she’s going to kill each day? It sounds like she gets a real charge out of the idea of mass killings. She is beyond psychological help even, I think, no hope for her to be human with a soul. Wonder what she really is? A devil who walks the earth, perhaps?
“At this time there are currently no horse processing facilities in the United States.”
That’s affirmative, there is currently no horse processing in the US — maybe because horse meat is CARCINOGENIC and TOXIC for human consumption! Or maybe because 90% of Americans find the idea of eating horse repulsive. Or maybe because Americans do not slaughter their companion animals in meat production plants, instead they give them a caring humane euthanasia at home or at the vet’s. Or maybe because Americans are not ever going to eat old, sickly, malnourished horses (the ones ol’ Sue continually targets as likely prospects for her moneymaking fantasy factory of equine death).
It’s not like ol’ Sue doesn’t know that the cattle going to slaughter are all fairly young, healthy, in good weight – she raises and sells cattle. We don’t eat the sickly, skinny, old ones so why would it be any different with horses? Oh, yeah, that’s right, old, skinny, sickly horses are great for slaughter in Sue’s world because they’re free or almost free so Sue will have virtually no “materials” cost in her blood money equation.
It’s really too bad we couldn’t all pitch in, build a 20′ solid wall around Ol’ Sue’s Recluse Wyoming ranch so she could stay there, breed her cows and focus her fantasies on killing her own animals. Very sorry for her animals but she really does need to be incarcerated away from the human race in this country. It must be a difficult life being an outsider such as she is, to harbor such heartless cruelty and greed that one doesn’t fit in with the mostly compassionate and caring human race.
Multi-species? What’s the matter, Sue, have you not been shopping lately in your local meat department at the grocery? They all have strict rules about cross-contamination between species and refuse to even grind some meats because the grinder is now reserved for beef. If the grocery stores are guarding against cross species contamination, what planet is Sue on to think a multi-species slaughter plant is acceptable?
She must be mentally ill, there is no other answer to the ravings of this creature called Slaughterhouse Sue. If it talks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck….. must be a duck.
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“One of their objectives, she said, is to create a sustainable economically viable model that the live horse handling facilities may use.”
This statement by Wallis, coupled with her statement:
“According to Wallis, the same equipment may be used to process all three of the species.”
Suggests that she may have been asleep (or distracted) during Dr. Grandin’s presentation at the “Summit” where it was concluded that establishing a standard of excellent humane handling for horses (or any species) “would be costly”, and I believe that Dr. Grandin has suggested modifications of common existing plant designs that would improve humane handling of horses (if not at the “Summit” then perhaps it was elsewhere).
IMO this new development speaks for itself, it clearly demonstrates that this small group is focused on profit-making enterprise (centered around slaughter/meat marketing) rather than being focused on anything that will benefit horses or the horse industry.
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The beauty is that the tankage kings of castoff flesh know their margins, pollute beyond belief and then cut and run when they get had….set up shop at another “stupids” location because of the promise of JOBS. Yeah right!
And no, if they knew the profit ratio and costs at the front end….they wouldn’t be proposing this. The Richileux (sp?) know the game. They make everyone pay the price to participate in the “salvage value” of equines (KBs, transport, holding) and they suck up 90% of the profits selling bad meat. When they come under scrutiny by regulators, they suspend, close and run. Why?????? If it is such a money maker on the up and up?????????
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Perhaps Dr. Fazio’s complaint will lead to some serious jail time, and perhaps the state of Wyoming will decide that she is unfit to hold office.
Meanwhile, she brings to mind the Orwellian declaration, “Four legs good. Two legs bad.” I am not sorry Sue, but every cat, dog, and horse I know is much more has far more dignity, kindness, honesty, and generosity than you.
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For those who didn’t get to hear the radio show Wednesday night, click onto the link and listen. R.T. and Laura Leigh were on. You will be glad that you listened to it.
From PPJ GAZETTE:
Truth Squad Radio
This Wednesday January 12: Wild Horses with RT Fitch
and
FDA GRAS Aluminum
6:00 pm PST
8:00 pm CST
9:00 pm EST
Call-in Number: (917) 388-4520
URL: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/marti-oakley
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I’ll tell you the three ‘species’ of animal that Wallis plans to slaughter- mares, stallions, and geldings!
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BY SUSAN BUSH; “People who are pro slaughter continue to make this argument that this has to be an option for unwanted horses. Slaughter shouldn’t be an answer.”
Recently there have been legislators who have tried to reopen abattoirs in the US for processing horsemeat. They contend that it is a viable business, and that our inspection and meat handling process could meet international standards. Legislators like Representative Sue Wallis of Wyoming believe that the US could elevate the standard for processing horsemeat, and she has proposed development of a slaughterhouse in Wyoming. It would require Congressional approval of funding for United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors for the meat processed at the facility.
“State laws that were introduced this year failed. The efforts in Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana failed,” Allen says. “People realize these are not really businesses. They’re very grisly practices that don’t bring anything to the community.”
Allen believes the momentum has shifted on this issue, though, and that there is little enthusiasm among lawmakers for reopening US slaughterhouses. “I think we’re moving towards banning the slaughter of American horses altogether,” she says. In addition, she points out that Congress has refused to fund inspections of horsemeat. These would be required in order to export horsemeat to other countries. Regardless of whether or not abattoirs are reopened in the US, it appears that the global market for horsemeat is shrinking.
(PENNSYLVANIA EQUESTRIAN) article……..
TKS, and I did not write this, but, i believe, by uniting togeather, US and Canada, we,re starting to shout and they are starting to hear us,News is spreading like Wild-Fire! Keep it going,,, I,m comfident, Horse-slaughter will be Banned. (C-544) (S)
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I know this is a highly “emotional” issue, however we must act “calm, and deliberate” , to disarm this poor mentally disturb person;Sue Walrus! :)) She keeps flipping from ideas to ideas, and I doubt if she even remembers where she started? Supposedly “Save poor unwanted horses, and rehabilitate them etc…..” this was the “cover spill” for her “Non-Profit”. Now all she talks about is SLAUGHTER FOR PROFIT, brings in the lure of HIGH PAYING JOBS, so isn’t this a bit of a contradiction? Or rather self-criminating evidence of “Non-profit FRAUD”?? I don’t know if anyone noticed, but now , at the bottom of the UH4H, it say “Hermistat, Oregon” is she trying to wiggle out of “charges filed in Wyoming”? Well the same charges can be filed in Oregon and federally, 501c3 is Federally regulated isn’t it?
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The other thing; “….the HUMANE specialized facility for horses, designed by Temple Grandin”…….so what happened to that idea? A “multy species” slaughter factory will NOT be “HUMANE” to horses. Of course we already concluded, that there is NOTHING HUMANE, about slaughtering horses. IT JUST CAN NOT BE DONE!!
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This from the HSUS yesterday, 3/23/11:
“Did you know that under current federal law, slaughter plants have the option of allowing calves who are too weak or injured to stand to be killed for food? Infant calves, some just days old, can suffer extreme abuse including repeated electric shocks, kicking, and beating as workers try to drag the helpless animals to slaughter.
“In response to a petition by The HSUS, USDA has tentatively approved rules to remove the option of slaughtering calves who cannot stand and require that downed calves be humanely euthanized. Please urge the USDA to protect calves from abuse by permanently adopting these new rules.”
Link to the petition:
https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4981
!!!WARNING!!! The video is EXTREMELY GRAPHIC, but PLEASE watch it. Read the comments by Temple Grandin. Listen to what the butchers are saying. And these atrocities were committed in the presence of a USDA INSPECTOR, who admits he could shut the plant down. He had the authority and RESPONSIBILITY to do it, but chose to look the other way!
Do you think calves or other young animals would be treated any better at SS’s “multi-species” slaughterhouse?
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