Equine Rescue

Equine Welfare Advocates Issue Slaughter Argument Challenge

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by: Pat Raia of The Horse .com

Jerry Finch and R.T. Fitch Challenge Would Be Horse-Killers

Jerry Finch and R.T. Fitch with several of Fitch's rescued horses, one of which thinks little of anti-horse terrorists

In November, passage of a federal agricultural budget bill restored USDA funding for horsemeat processing plant inspections. Now, a pair of equine welfare advocates is offering $2,000 to anyone who can make a convincing argument in favor of reviving the horse processing industry in the United States.

Prior to 2005, USDA personnel carried out horsemeat food safety inspections at horse processing plants in the U.S. In 2006 Congress voted to strip the USDA of funding for horsemeat inspections. Subsequent USDA funding bills contained specific language denying the USDA for revenue to pay personnel for horse processing plant inspections. However, on Nov. 17 Congress passed H.R. 2112 establishing budgets for the USDA through September 2012. That bill did not contain language denying the USDA funding for horse processing plant inspections. The bill became law on Nov. 18 when President Barack Obama signed it. Shortly thereafter, some horse processing proponents, including Wyoming State Rep. Sue Wallis, speculated that horse processing in the U.S. would resume sometime in 2012.

On Jan. 16 entry in a posting on the Habitat for Horses blog, Jerry Finch, president of the Texas-based equine welfare organization, and RT Fitch, executive director of Habitat for Horses Advisory Council, announced their offer of the cash incentive to anyone who can convince them that horse processing is in the best interest of horses, the horse industry, and the U.S economy.

“A total of $2,000 to be given to any person that can give us one logical, ethical, and scientifically provable reason why it is necessary to slaughter horses for human consumption,” Finch wrote. “Show us, beyond any doubt, that you are right and we are wrong.”

Wallis was unavailable for comment on the challenge offer.

Details about the challenge are available online. Deadline for responses is midnight on Jan. 21, Finch said.

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7 replies »

  2. Still waiting……..but won’t hold my breath because they have nothing to offer that isn’t easily blown out of the water with our USDA reports, FDA drug reports and government statistics. Then of course there is the EU, Ireland & France who will no longer be supporting their need to poison the globe knowingly to line their wallets. All at the cost of our tax dollars. The suggestion that our tax dollars go to build roads, etc., as a comparison is laughable. We all use those roads and it’s like trying to put apples and oranges together………lame. The excuse that it violates their Constitutional rights not to be able to violate our animal cruelty laws, use meat that can’t be controlled and is the ONLY meat going to market that is not regulated, by slaughtering animals with no traceable background or proof that they were raised by FDA guidelines, other than an often “forged” piece of paper, that a greedy kill buyer fills out, is probably the most ridiculous argument ever put in front of me in my 54 years of life. No where in our Constitution does it say the minority may profit at the majorities expense and disapproval. We live in a Republic, which means the majority rule. No where in our Constitution does it say you may knowingly send high risk meat across the globe to risk the poisoning of innocent people while we the tax payers pay for it through the funding of 5 million a year in USDA horse meat inspections. Like I said…….I’m still waiting.

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  3. Still the Challenge goes un addressed, we all know why because they have no rebuttal on this totally senseless issue !!!!! or will they ever have one …………………

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  4. You mean ——-Charlie Stenholm, Tom Lenz, Harry Reid, Max Baucus, Jack Kingston, Cynthia Lummis, John Falen, Sue Wallis, Dave Duquette, Trent Loos, Bob Abbey, Mindy Patterson, Frank Losey, Tom Vilsak, POTUS, or any of the 17 states’ veterinarians who contributed to the GAO tarnished copper standard report, no one from the PLC, NCA, NCBA——-no one has had the courage to face the team of Fitch and Finch for Equine Welfare. Well, I’ll just be a little old spring chicken over this one.

    Maybe Charlie Stenholm got one thing right when he said, “It’s hard to find someone you can pay to be a speaker for horse slaughter.”

    I am surprised you have not heard from anyone in the group of AAEP veterinarians that supposedly visited a slaughter house where they decided to conclude that horse slaughter is humane IF you can disregard the absolute panic the horses go into when they get their first whiff of blood. And you know what, they are playing with a whiffle balll, and every person in this country who has ever loved a horse can tell the difference between a whiffle ball and the real thing. Duff, Duff, Duffers.

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  5. Did we even think for minute they would rise to this challenge ???????not one of the Greed filled liars will ever Man Up to this Challenge………………………………………..

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  6. Any Veterinarian that would condone Horse Slaughter, i would have to question there integrity……………………………………………………….. And would certainly question what kind of School they attended……………………………………………

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