- by Alan Keck
- Updated April 6, 2009
Introduction
In the context of the current debate, “horse slaughter” refers to the killing of horses primarily for human consumption. It is not to be confused with euthanasia, or the process of rendering euthanized horses. Most slaughter opponents do not oppose humane euthanasia for unwanted horses.
The topic of horse slaughter is complex, with valid arguments on both sides. This missive is designed to give an overview of the horse slaughter issue, not in-depth coverage of every nuance. With several bills before Congress that could affect all U.S. horse owners, it is incumbent upon every horse owner and lover to research the facts and become part of the debate.
Since 1980, over 4.5 million American horses have been slaughtered for meat. It is estimated that 100,000 U.S. horses are currently sent to slaughter every year – roughly one percent of the entire U.S. horse population. The average age of a horse sent to slaughter is 7-11 years old. Each year, roughly 700,000 American horses are either killed or die of natural causes. Slaughter represents only 14 percent of the total.
According to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, horse meat was part of the American diet until as late as 1970 when even the Harvard Faculty Club served horse steaks. However, there are currently no viable markets within the U.S. for the human consumption of horse meat.
Until recently, there were only three horse slaughtering facilities in the U.S. (all foreign-owned) – two in Texas and one in Illinois. Almost all of the meat they harvested was exported to Europe and Asia for human consumption. According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), roughly a thousand horses a year were slaughtered for domestic zoos, where the horse meat was fed to carnivores. Responding to public opinion, many American zoos are removing horse meat from their animals’ diet and replacing it with beef, chicken and deer. A few still import horse meat.
Horses are not slaughtered for pet food. The protein in pet food comes from the rendering process and has myriad animal sources, including horses that have died accidentally, of natural causes or were euthanized.
Contrary to popular belief, no federal law has been passed to outlaw horse slaughter. The Texas plants closed in response to a state law that forbids horse slaughter. The Illinois plant closed in response to Congressional action that cut off United States Department of Agriculture funds for the inspection of horse meat.
Despite the closing of the three U.S. horse slaughtering facilities, horses once destined for these plants are now shipped to plants in Mexico and Canada. The horses are often transported very long distances, in all sorts of weather, without food or water. Many arrive at the slaughtering facility in poor condition, either from lack of water or food, or from injuries sustained in transit.
Canadian methods of slaughter are similar to American methods, and usually involve a rifle or captive-bolt shot to the horse’s skull, resulting in immediate death.
Mexican methods are less costly and low-tech. They paralyze the horse by severing it’s spinal cord at the base of the neck (a la bullfighting) with a large knife (puntilla), and then render the horse unconscious with a sledge-hammer blow to the skull. There are reports and videos of fully conscious horses being hung by their legs while their throats are slit.
Here’s a synopsis of events and federal action related to horse slaughter as of February 2009: (Note: The 110th Congress adjourned in January 2009 and none of the bills designed to outlaw horse slaughter became law. All bills are “dead” and must be re-introduced in the 111th Congress.)
The Horse Protection Act of 1970 primarily deals with soring.
The Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 (Wild Horse Annie Act) protected wild mustangs and horses from inhumane treatment and slaughter, although subsequent revisions created loopholes for those adopting wild horses and burros. Tens of thousands of wild horses and burros have been slaughtered for food since the act was passed.
In 2001 the United States Department of Agriculture adopted rules that subjected commercial transporters of horses for slaughter to federal regulation. The rules were designed to make such transport as humane as possible. There were many loopholes in the rules.
In 2002, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn issued an opinion that a 1949 Texas law prohibiting the transport and sale of horse meat in Texas applied to the state’s two horse slaughter facilities. The plants remained open while the law was challenged in court.
In 2004 Montana senator Conrad Burns put a rider in an appropriations bill, which was signed into law, that removed much of the remaining protection on horse slaughter offered by the Wild Horse and Burro Act.
110th Congress:
In January 2005, H.R. 297 (To restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros) was introduced to the Congress. This bill was never passed and died with the 109th Congress.
In February 2005 H.R. 503 (110th), the Horse Slaughter Prohibition Bill was introduced to Congress. This bill would prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling or donation of horses to be slaughtered. It passed the House in September 2006, but died with the 109th Congress while waiting for Senate action.
In November 2005, Agriculture Appropriations Bill 2744 was made law. In it, Senate Amendment 1753 prohibited the appropriation of funds to the United States Department of Agriculture for the inspection of horse meat slaughtered for human consumption. The aim of this amendment was to shut down the horse slaughter facilities in Illinois and Texas. However, the U.S.D.A. worked around this law by allowing slaughtering companies to pay out-of-pocket for the U.S.D.A inspections and continue operations.
In January 2007, H.R. 249 (To restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros) was introduced to Congress. It is virtually identical to H.R. 297 and passed the House in April 2007 and is now waiting for Senate approval.
In January 2007, H.R. 503 (110th), Horse Slaughter Prohibition Bill, was reintroduced to the 110th Congress and is still waiting for House approval. This bill would prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling or donation of horses to be slaughtered.
In January 2007, S. 311, a bill to amend the Horse Protection Act was introduced to the Senate. This bill would prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling or donation of horses to be slaughtered. It is still awaiting Senate action.
In January 2007, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth District, upheld Texas’s ban on horse slaughter and within days the two plants in Texas closed.
In March 2007, Federal District Court ruled the U.S.D.A. could no longer provide meat inspections to horse slaughter facilities for a fee and the one remaining U.S. horse slaughtering facility in Illinois is closed.
In May 2007, the Illinois State Legislature outlawed horse slaughter.
In May 2007, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear an appeal by the horse slaughter industry in Texas and the slaughtering facilities in that state remain closed permanently.
In July 2008, H.R. 6598 was introduced to Congress. It is a proposed amendment to Title 18 of the United States Code to prohibit certain conduct relating to the use of horses for human consumption. The bill is similar to H.R. 503 (110th) and S. 311, but according to the Humane Society of the United States, this bill has better potential to move through the legislative process since it “specifically addresses the extreme cruelty inherent in horse slaughter.”
111th Congress:
On January 14, 2009, H.R. 503 (111th), the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009, was introduced to Congress. It proposes, “To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain conduct relating to the use of horses for human consumption.” The act, “Amends the federal criminal code to impose a fine and/or prison term of up to three years for possessing, shipping, transporting, purchasing, selling, delivering, or receiving any horse, horse flesh, or carcass with the intent that it be used for human consumption. Reduces the prison term to one year if the offense involves less than five horses or less than 2.000 pounds of horse flesh or carcass and the offender has no prior conviction for this offense.”
On March 26, 2009, S. 727, a bill to “amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain conduct relating to the use of horses for human consumption” was introduced to the Senate by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA).
American horses destined for slaughter come from three main sectors of the horse world: Wild mustangs, thoroughbred and Premarin surplus stock and unwanted pets.
The Bureau of Land Management is charged with guardianship of the U.S. wild mustangs. There were nearly 2 million wild mustangs in the U.S. in the 1800s, but according to the Humane Society of the United States, their numbers dropped to 60,000 by 1971. Most of the attrition is due to slaughter. Now it’s estimated that there are only 33,000 wild horses and burros in the country, and an additional 30,000 are kept and maintained in holding facilities managed by BLM.
BLM will adopt-out these horses for a little as $25, but fewer and fewer people are buying. In the meantime, nature takes its course and the number of horses increases. BLM has limited money and resources to deal with the horses, so they’re looking for the most effective means of dealing with the excess horse population. If people won’t adopt them, slaughter is the only remaining option.
Still, only a fraction of a percent of yearly slaughtered horses come from wild mustang stock.
Most slaughtered horses are “unwanted” for economic reasons. These include show horses no longer fit for the ring, race horses not fast enough for profitable racing, breeder mistakes resulting in confirmation defects, barren mares, sterile stallions, etc.
According to Tim Cordes, D.V.M., author of “Take Care of Our Horses,” almost 60 percent of U.S. horses slaughtered in American and Canadian plants in 2003 were registered quarter horses (34,197). Over 11 percent were thoroughbreds (6,511). These numbers do not include horses shipped to Mexico.
Premarin is a drug used to combat menopause, and is made from pregnant mare urine (PMU). The living conditions of these perpetually pregnant mares is considered quite inhumane, and since most of the foals born each year are surplus, they’re shipped to feed lots and then the slaughterhouse. According to activist websites, as many as 15,000 to 17,000 foals are sent to slaughter each year by the Premarin industry.
A very small percentage of owners sell their horses for slaughter because they are incapable of providing care for them, either physically or financially. There are no statistics available on these horses, but just about everyone agrees the numbers are very low. Still, almost everyone agrees that the numbers are likely to go up as the economy falters.
The arguments against horse slaughter are many and varied, but the most prevalent ones are emotionally based.
Horses are considered a national treasure and a cherished symbol of our western heritage. Horses are not bred for slaughter, and most are raised initially with compassionate human contact and trained to interact with and trust humans. It is analogous to slaughtering cats and dogs for food (anti-slaughter forces recognize that such animals are eaten in other countries, just not here).
Anyone who has witnessed horses taken to slaughter can recognize the intense fear these horses experience when their lives are turned upside down and they’re suddenly treated like cattle. Just the transport is mentally and physically painful. Horse enthusiasts who appreciate the potential difficulties in getting sound horses to load can imagine the horrors visited upon scared, unfamiliar horses who are beaten, dragged and crammed into stock trailers by unsympathetic “killer buyers.”
Slaughter, in the eyes of the anti-slaughter movement, is not humane. Euthanasia is a gentle, painless death to prevent suffering. Slaughter, for a large companion animal, even in the best circumstances, is not, and is considered animal cruelty by many.
The second most prevalent reason for opposition to horse slaughter is that if the practice remains legal, there will be no impetus for the horse industries to clean up their act. If the racing, show and Premarin industries can simply sell their cast-offs for slaughter, they’re unlikely to change their practices, and will continue over-breeding “unwanted” horses.
Opponents to slaughter have solid ideas for dealing with the surplus mustang population, including birth control and expansion of habitat. They also disagree with cattle ranchers who claim the wild mustang is destroying natural habitat.
The profit motive is also offensive to opponents of slaughter. “Killer buyers” snatch up cheap horses, often promising owners that their aging/ailing pet will be taken to a good home, yet ultimately sell the horses for slaughter, making several hundred dollars per head. Even well-meaning organizations that accept donated horses as part of a therapeutic program will sell to “killer buyers” as a means to rid themselves of a problem horse and make a few bucks. Prohibiting horse slaughter has also been shown to reduce the incidence of horse theft (California).
While no one claims to embrace the slaughter of horses, many individuals and organizations oppose a slaughter ban. This position is best expressed by Sally Baker of the American Association of Equine Practitioners in an interview with Paul Post of the Saratogian:
“Our decision to oppose the federal legislation [on horse slaughter] is not because we think slaughter is the best option,” Baker said. “The number of unwanted horses is so large, we don’t feel there are enough rescue and retirement programs to absorb them all. We’re concerned about an increase in abuse, neglect and starvation, which we’ve already seen since the [slaughtering] plants closed last year.”
“We really think that horse processing is symptomatic of a much larger problem, the unwanted horse population,” Baker continued.
The high cost of euthanasia and disposal of horse carcasses (often many hundreds of dollars) puts the option out of financial reach for some horse owners. It’s argued that the situation will get worse as the economy slows, causing horse owners to resort to desperate measures to relieve themselves of horses they can’t care for. In Western states, there are reports of people turning horses loose in state parks or open range.
“They’re domestic animals, so that’s actually more cruel and inhumane than sending them to processing plants,” said Barbara Linke of the American Quarter Horse Association and quoted in the Saratogian.
Pro-slaughter forces argue that anti-slaughter activists have no viable alternative to dealing with 100,000 unwanted horses every year. There aren’t adequate facilities in this country to deal with the surplus. The increased cost of dealing with unwanted horses is estimated to be over $200 million annually.
In addition to the prolonged suffering of starving and abandoned horses, there will be an increase in bio waste from horse carcasses (burial, landfill disposal, incineration, composting, etc.).
Pro-slaughter forces also worry about increases in equine disease as the population of unwanted and neglected horses rise.
Pro-slaughter forces claim that most American horse meat ends up in China and other Asian nations, where it supplies much-needed protein to a third-world population. Removal of this source of cheap protein could affect the national health of these countries.
Pro-slaughter forces argue that humane slaughter is more likely to happen in the United States, and therefore should be legal. They also claim that a ban on horse slaughter will result in lower values for all horses.
Each side in this issue has arguments to counter the other, and a clear winner isn’t likely to be found. At best, horse slaughter is a necessary evil needed to combat the surplus horse population. At worst, it’s a vile, repugnant, inhumane solution to a problem born of avarice within the horse community.
A Call to Action
The following bills have been introduced in the 111th Congress in an effort to prohibit American horses from going to slaughter.
Regardless of your position on federal legislation to ban horse slaughter, it’s incumbent upon every horse lover to get involved to insure that laws which will affect us all are not enacted or tabled based on a small minority of equine activists.
Please, write or e-mail your Congressman and Senators with your position on horse slaughter. If you know who your Congressman is, go to our Get Involved page for a link to his/her website. Click “here” to do a search for your representatives.
Many horse organizations are neutral on the issue of horse slaughter, like the American Horse Council, which states on its website, “The AHC is neutral on the legislation [pertaining to horse slaughter] because it has organizations and individual members both supporting and opposing a federal legislative ban.”
Still, such organizations offer plenty of information about the issue. For more information try:
Humane Society of the United States
###
Watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJMoyh57XOU – how can they do something like this . They are monsters . What horses do to them
Cant undarstand this …