Source: Ned Cantwell / For the Las Cruces Sun-News
“…seven of 10 registered voters in New Mexico disapprove of allowing American horses to be slaughtered for human consumption”
photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
The answering machine blinked ominously. “Hey, little feller, we need to chat. Heh. Heh. Heh.”
Just my luck. It was my friend Barney and he was clearly well in into cocktail hour. Barney has this screwy notion New Jersey is the world center of intellectual eminence and cultural superiority. He thinks New Mexico is still a stagecoach stop.
You never know what’s on Barney’s mind. I was quickly going to find out.
“Horse slaughter!” he barked into me ear, with nary a hello, how ya doin’? “Horse slaughter? Not a horse slaughter plant in the country, but we can always count on New Mexico to climb aboard if it involves blood and guts. Wild, wild west and all that stuff.”
The best strategy with Barney in his cups is to let him run his string. Ice cubs clinked in his glass and I could tell he was shuffling papers. “Just listen to this!” he commanded. “Eighty percent of people around the United States overwhelmingly oppose horse slaughter for human consumption, yet you folks want to put a horse slaughter plant in that town where the spacey people hang out.”
“Whoa, slow down,” I advised when he paused for a breath. “You’re talking about Roswell, Barney, and spacey people don’t hang out there. Space people visited there,” I corrected. “Obviously advanced creatures, they would be buggy-eyed to learn earthlings chose their landing site for a horse slaughter plant.”
“And, Barney, it might be helpful for you to check your facts before assuming all New Mexicans are backwards.
For your information seven of 10 registered voters in New Mexico disapprove of allowing American horses to be slaughtered for human consumption.”
I didn’t dare let up for fear he had his second wind. “Before you pour your next refill, Barney, understand most of us believe horse slaughtering for any reason is ugly and unacceptable. Of all the possible answers to the problem of aging and sick horses, slaughter is at the very bottom.”
“You talk big,” Barney answered, “but the report I saw said the USDA is just days away from giving the plant a go-ahead.”
The plant owner and his attorney are claiming that, I explained. The USDA has declined comment. We hope it doesn’t happen. “There is a key issue blowing in the wind. Our country is not going to permit contaminated, consumer-endangering meat to be shipped anywhere. And it’s going to take a lot of our taxpayer dollars to set up proper controls,” I said.
The administration budget for 2014 excludes money for horse slaughter plant inspectors and four of five New Mexico delegates are on board to fight such plants. They are Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, along with Representatives Michelle Lujan Grisham and Ben Lujan. Rep. Steve Pearce is mum so far…(CONTINUED)
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
I cannot read the rest of the story. The click here link doesnt work. It says website not found. Did someone discontinue the important part of the article?
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Judith – it works fine now, or an alternate way is to click on the La Cruces Sun-News at the top of the post
Way to go Ned ! – great article and loved the air traffic control question
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if none of the above works here’s a link http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-opinion/ci_23126154/their-view-no-inspectors-means-no-horse-slaughter
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Try clicking again – it worked for me.
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It is refreshing to see a columnist from New Mexico writing about how the majority of the residents in New Mexico and the American people really feel about this important and heart-felt topic. Now, if we can get someone to write about passing the Safe Act and ban horse slaughter in the U.S. for good! Ned?!
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I’m glad to hear some confirmation of what we all know. No one except a few callous and greedy individuals want this horse slaughterhouse. My fear is that apparently (yes, Oklahoma) the majority no longer seems to rule.
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It’s wonderful to keep reading about, & hearing about, how the majority of Americans, regardless of what state they live in, are against re-opening horse slaughter in our country, especially, GASP!, for consumption!!!! However, the ones who really NEED to know, don’t care, the ones supposedly “in charge”, are all either outnumbered, or they are like zombies sending out duplicate form letters to everyone. They usually say something stupid like, “having grown up on a farm, I …..”, or, “I’m against horse slaughter, but, since there are so many unwanted horses, & they’re being shipped across our borders, I ….”. It boils down to this, most politicians are afraid, they’re WIMPS, they are brainwashed, they are, short of a better descriptive, STUPID!!!! How is it that no matter how this issue is presented, animal cruelty & abuse aside for even a moment, they all seem to be completely deaf, dumb & blind to the fact that eating American horses is NOT safe? It’s like talking to a concrete wall, forget a brick wall! They’re not hearing?, they’re missing all the reality & the facts about all the drugs our horses are given, either orally or applied topically, & don’t seem to have a care or concern in the world, about shipping our poisoned, tainted horse “meat”(DISGUSTING!!), overseas for others to consume!? Are they silently declaring war on the rest of the world? Because when people start getting sick, dying, or coming down with mysterious ailments, AND, they WILL, those people are coming after us! They WILL trace the “meat” back to us & our horses, just like they’re already doing all over Europe & Asia. I really never thought our country & her “leaders” were that stupid & heartless, but, when you think about it, if they can’t run our country, how can they possibly do the right thing here? When this crap gets going, maybe, all of us will finally realize that we should have taken matters into our own hands, a long time ago. We should be walking the walk, not talking. They don’t listen. Some may, but, they are outnumbered. Even with powerful celebrity clout, it seems our equines are slowly losing their battle. Unless we intervene, that means fighting back folks, human protests blocking access to planned slaughter facilities, releasing horses being held for sale, & those already waiting in kill pens, burning down facilities before they can start, before any horses, or, stupid, low-life humans are there, not buying meat of any kind, slashing tires on slaughter trucks, & so on. We need to “declare war on ‘them'”. We need to take back what is ours. That includes all of our wild equines. If worse came to worse, it would be a far “kinder death” if they actually starved, than to be sent through that torturous, living hell of being slaughtered! Sorry for “ranting”, I am just so mortified & disgusted by all this, & by all those that continue to look the other way, as if, somehow, by not “looking”, or acknowledging, it “doesn’t exist”, or if they don’t get involved, it’s not real, & it doesn’t affect them!!!!
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what, why, and why not? – simple answer – financial gain
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So how does one triumph over a group clearly motivated only by financial gain?
1. Information
2. The Majority
Far more powerful than anything the cruelty peddling money mongers have up their sleeve
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add:
3. Truth
4. Honesty
5. Facts
6. Science
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Great article – Maybe Ned should have his New Jersey friend call Gov. Christie – have him call Gov. Martinez and tell her how to ban horse slaughter in NM. She says it’s up to the FEDS which is a strange thing coming from a Republican.
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Sounds kind of funny dosen’t it..let the Feds handle it..hmmm Sounds like she wants to protect her political butt. It seems to me she came out in the beginning totally opposed to the plant opening now she wants to pass the decision off to someone else. Governor Blagovich may be in prison now, but when he was Governor of Illinois, he didn’t blink when he signed our slaughter bill into law. We can thank him for that. He probably doesn’t know it, but he did save the lives of many horses. If things keep going the way they are it may be quite a while before any decisions can be made about its opening, regardless of the rhetoric being passed around. The guy who shot the yearling should have been sentenced to jail. Again, you have backward people who see nothing wrong with that..And they say that they are Christians…hmmm I think not!!!
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