The USS “Horse-Eater” is Sinking and the Rats are getting Restless
This has been a banner week for the horses and that’s something that we cannot lay claim to near often enough.
This has been a banner week for the horses and that’s something that we cannot lay claim to near often enough.
Recent investigations at several Texas export pens reveal some disturbing issues. The pens, located in Eagle Pass, Socorro and Del Rio, are all operated by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Problems and concerns include: Despite the fact that horses will spend 38 hours or more in transit, no food is provided for the horses at the pens. This is a clear violation of the commercial transport of equines to slaughter regulations.
There is much debate about the best way to deal with horses whose owners no longer seem to have any desire to care for them. In terms of the solutions proposed by horse owners there are those who support slaughter and those who oppose it. Group A who view horses are mere property much in the same way one views a farm tractor tend to be pro-slaughter. Group B who view their horses as a part of their extended family believe they have a moral obligation to care for them in their old age and oppose slaughter.
CHICAGO, (EWA) – Wild horse advocates attending the much anticipated Bureau of Land Management (BLM) workshop on June 15 and 16 found the meeting a marked improvement from their past experiences with BLM, but still far from comforting.
The meeting was announced by BLM director Bob Abbey who promised a new direction in the management of America’s wild horses. But distrust between the advocates, ranchers and the BLM run deep and have grown deeper as BLM has ramped up the removal of mustangs from the range under Obama’s Department of Interior (DOI) director Ken Salazar.
OTTAWA – New Democrat Agriculture Critic, Alex Atamanenko (BC southern Interior) tabled a Private Members Bill (C-544) yesterday that would effectively shut down the slaughtering of horses for human consumption in Canada.
Official inquiries at the Jerez horse slaughter plant in Mexico have been announced by the EU. After meeting with Animals’ Angels in November of last year, EU officials responded to our formal complaint regarding conditions and treatment of horses at slaughter plants in Mexico.
As the equine advocates and the BLM struggled to understand each other’s viewpoints the whining drone from the bloody misfit could be heard speaking out of turn. The facilitators and BLM committee members were patient and tolerant but you couldn’t help but see them whispering amongst themselves and taking notes as “Slaughterhouse” and her only associate Dave “WhatsHisName” (did I hear someone say “DOINK”?) continually were shut down and told to sit down and wait until their appropriate turns. Either their personal hygiene was lacking with massive ear wax build-ups or they are truly so thick skulled that they just don’t get it. They were the scourge of the gathering by demonstrating that between the two of them they didn’t have the courtesy or the common decency of a gnat.
If there is one thing you learn as an equine welfare advocate, it is perseverance. You learn that change never happens overnight. You learn to accept change with little victories. You learn that weeks turn into months and months into years. You learn that for change to occur, you must stay steady on your path. You learn that you cannot do it alone and that you must work with and engage people that may have differing opinions on the road to a mutual goal. You learn which battles to fight and which battles will draw you closer to your goal
So Dale Steenbergen at the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce has no comment on a proposed horse slaughter facility here.
Well, here’s one suggestion:
Not only no, but hell no!
Mark Cramer likes lost causes, and in America’s slaughterhouse-bound, retired racehorses, he has certainly found one. These are the rejects, the horses who are either too slow or too infirm to win a meaningful amount of money on the racetrack or be sent to a cushy life on a breeding farm somewhere. Hardly anyone cares about them and the racing industry does little to protect them, which is why an appallingly high number of retired thoroughbreds are shipped each year to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada to be butchered for their meat.
Most Recent Comments