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Free Essays - General Studies Essays
Legalizing Horse Slaughter
Abstract
Horse slaughter has had a prejudice formed against it causing most to vote against it. Yet there are several benefits overlooked when it comes to this problem. There are veterinarians also speaking up and viewing their opinions on why horse slaughter should reopen and once again become legalized. With the continual growing problem of abuse and neglect cases, market prices going down for valuable horses, increased backyard breeding, and hay/grain prices going up the overpopulation of horses is becoming a major problem with no solution. Lastly, there are now problems with shipping horses over borders due to mishandling and abuse when the solution could be solved by having the slaughter monitored here in the U.S.
Legalizing Horse Slaughter
Many of us are from the rural areas of Minnesota and North Dakota and have at one point or another hit a deer. We have experienced the continued growth of the deer population and how that affects the traffic. Now picture dozens of horses being released and causing traffic accidents because people can no longer afford to care for them and have nowhere to bring them. In addition imagine abuse and neglect cases gradually increasing. With the increased horse population the prices of these valuable animals are decreasing while the cost to care for them is going up including hay/grain, and medical care. With the increase in prices for these services many owners are then unable to care for them. For these reasons horse slaughter should reopen and be reinstated in the United States.
Background Information
The horse slaughter plants first opened in order to reduce the population of horses in the United States. With having a high population of horses, there needed to be another source of getting rid of them. Having horses slaughtered, their remains were used for different purposes such as meat in foreign countries, glue, dog food, etc. Then in early 2006 there were petitions to close down the last three remaining slaughter houses due to mistreatment of animals and inhumane death. In order to stay open and resume business these three remaining slaughter houses, two in Texas and one in Illinois, had to pay to have inspectors such as the USDA come and make sure their activities were to protocol. Later activist groups and animal protection groups joined together to form the now American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act which came into effect September 30, 2008. Due to this act the last remaining slaughter houses were forced to close their doors and people have now resorted to transporting these horses over borders to Mexico where these activists are now worried slaughter is worse (Motavalli, 2006). Currently, the activist groups have joined together to now make an amendment to the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act to make it illegal to haul horses over borders for slaughter. By making it illegal to haul horses across borders for slaughter, it will add to the population making this an even bigger issue for the horsemen and women, more importantly the environment and natural resources.
Overpopulation of Horses
Throughout history America has always had the wild mustangs roaming the land preserving the history of the West. Mustangs run across the range with their manes flowing in the wind while many sit back and admire their elegance. With the process of natural death as well as having the ability to hunt the mustangs, there has never really been a problem of the horses becoming overpopulated. Then the process of slowly taking away the right to hunt and kill horses has played a major toll on the ranges in which horses roam. There is no longer adequate nutrition for these animals, causing a slow death through dehydration and starvation as well as making the weak a prime target for predators. Now picture a herd of horses walking along with dead eyes, ribs barely covered by their thin carcass, and thinning mane and tail (Foote, 1991). The beauty of these animals has been taken away from the land when animal activist groups have made it illegal to hunt these animals or slaughter them as we do with all other wild and farm animals.
Knowing the information about the mustangs, now picture every breed of horse in America in that situation. With the closing of the horse slaughter houses there are horses being released into nature or rural areas. Horses that have been raised in the care of humans since the time of birth are now being released into an unfamiliar place without knowing where to find proper food and water sources. People are doing this because of the abundance of horses and no where to bring them. Having the slaughter houses close has made it very hard to find a place for the thousands of unwanted horses to go. It has become difficult for rescue facilities as well, because they only have a limited amount of space to house the horses. With the additional 50,000 horses per year that are not being slaughtered, space is running out and it is hard to dispose of the horses in a humane nature or find homes for them (“Unwanted Horse Discussion”, 2005). This will then lead into the mistreatment of horses through abuse and neglect.
In a more recent article there is a prediction that by the year 2016 it will cost the government $530 million to house the surplus of horses. According to the graph below the number of unwanted horses has increased dramatically in just ten years due to the decrease in horse slaughter. Every year the horse population rises by 500,000 horses which is why there is a result in the 3 million plus horse surplus in the time frame (Holland, 2007). This in not counting the number increase in horses that has (Holland, 2007) accumulated since the horse slaughter houses have been closed down all over the United States.
Abuse and Neglect
Far before the horse slaughter houses closed concern began to rise towards abuse and neglect cases. There have been numerous reports of horses being abandoned out in the wilderness by area farmers and ranchers which had then built up to over 850 horses. These horses have overgrazed the area and wrecked the natural prairie grasses (Carter, 1993). There is now a shortage of potential buyers of these animals since there is such an abundance of them.
Now that the horse slaughter houses have been closed the number of cases of abuse and neglect have dramatically risen and the availability of medical care and attention is now limited. The number of unwanted horses in the United States in one year averaged between 90,000 and 100,000 horses that were slaughtered which is no longer an option for these horses. At the present there is an estimated 2,700 rescue facilities, but if the number of unwanted horses stays at this rate the number of facilities needed is going to double. With each horse there are additional expenses that will add up to nearly $2,000 per horse a year. This is excluding the cost of veterinary care and farrier work or taking into account the dramatic rise in hay. Taking into consideration all of these expenses, the average life span of a horse is 30 years which means these facilities could be spending an average of $60,000 per horse throughout its lifetime. The number of unwanted horses being exported across state lines has risen over 311% in one year. Since the slaughter houses closed there is nowhere for these horses to go except for over borders, to Mexico and Canada, where slaughter is unregulated and inhumane which ties into the number of abuse cases as well (Unwanted Horses, 2008).
There is now another issue at hand for southern and eastern states with the abandonment of horses. In a news article written not long after the horse slaughter houses closed, it talks about the issue in states such as Kentucky and having horses being let loose. Where these horses are being released, they are going into abandoned strip mines that cover thousands of miles. The shape these horses are in when they are let loose are horrendous: they are blind, crippled, starved, and/or emaciated. Causes of the horses being released are numerous, but all get narrowed down to the same issue, horse slaughter. Letting horses loose into abandoned areas are a last resort due to not having money to care for them, hay shortages, increase in both fuel and grain costs, and not having a place to sell the horse for the deserved value (Ryder, 2007).
Health Care Shortage
With the closing of the horse slaughter plants there are more horses to care for with limited resources to do so. Due to having a lack of interest in equine veterinary medicine there is a shortage of them as well as the cost and time it takes to complete veterinary school. Another issue is getting into veterinary school; it is hard to be accepted into veterinary school. Many students going on to vet school are going for small animals because they are from an urban area and are not willing to make farm calls and are intimidated by the animals. In addition large animal veterinarians start out with lower pay making it less feasible than becoming a small animal veterinarian.
Next, equine veterinarians need to have a strong interest in horses and know all of the ins and outs of the horse industry, showing, and racing business as well as the breeding industry. There are many aspects to look at when potential veterinarians are looking at possibly specializing in equine, they are turned off due to the knowledge they need to acquire. In addition these veterinarians need to be able to work with both the trainers as well as the owners of the horse in most cases. Veterinarians need to be able to communicate to a wide variety of clients and they all have a differing range of knowledge (Marcella, 2004).
Communication is a major problem in the equine industry between the trainers, veterinarians, and owners as well as having the proper knowledge in order to care for such high maintenance animals. Right now there is not a law that trainers must be certified before they can train a horse or give lessons, which can be a danger to the trainer as well as the horse and owners of the horse. Some states have made it mandatory to have proper training and then become certified, and many more are beginning to take that into consideration and do so as well. When the trainers are inexperienced with little knowledge there are many misdiagnoses as well that can add up. These trainers don’t know how to handle green horses and the personalities don’t match up causing it to appear as if the horse has a lameness, yet in all reality the horse just doesn’t get along with the trainer. The horse will actually act up and appear as if it needs its teeth floated or has some lameness causing it to be uncomfortable (Marcella, 2004). With this sort of miscommunication the veterinarians are out on calls that are unnecessary causing the much needed veterinary care become even harder to come by. This then leads the horses in greater need left lower on the list and the abuse and neglect cases just keep growing.
Hay/Grain Shortages
Having a horse is a big responsibility and when horse owners are unable to fulfill those needs it is difficult to sell them for a reasonable price. Why is it these animals are so expensive? Due to having and additional 500,000+ horses added to the horse population, food sources are becoming harder to come by making them more expensive to purchase. There is also a problem with buying shaving for bedding due to low production levels. When production is low the prices increase. Another issue with horses is that about 34% of horse owners make an annual income of less than $50,000 while hay prices increase making it nearly impossible to provide proper nourishment to their horse(s). For example, a square bale that would have cost $3 last year will now cost $7 due to the economy and gas prices increasing (Gardner, 2008). With the gas prices on the rise as well as the horse population, the cost to feed and care for these animals will increase annually.
Issues For and Against Slaughter
Of the Americans that are concerned about horse slaughter issue, between 70 to 90 percent of them are against horse slaughter. Of that number most of them are activists against any type of cruelty to animals and feel that slaughter is murder. One of the major states against horse slaughter is California. The ironic part about it is the state doesn’t keep record of the number of horse abuse cases and how they have risen since the slaughter plants have closed. In addition California is right next to the border of Mexico where people have been shipping trailer loads of horses to have them slaughtered there. Along with this, there are incidences when horse owners feel that the horse should not have to die in fear and terror, but in peace surrounded by loved ones. If you sit back and look at the big picture, it costs roughly $400 to humanely euthanize and dispose of a single horse. Now consider having up to 70 horses and having to do this process to each of them; that can be a costly process when the owners could have sold them to slaughter and made around $700 per horse (Harkinson, 2006).
Yet some veterinarians believe that euthanasia is not as humane as it may seem. The first step of the horse’s euthanasia process, the veterinarian will have injected a sedative into the neck of the horse inducing sleep. Then there is a drug, called sodium pentobarbital, injected to stop the heart of the animal, but it does not kill it right away. There is a period of time the horse is unconscious and is in the dying process while all of the organs shut down. In addition, the drug injected into the horse is a poison that is toxic to the environment and several states has made it illegal to bury horse or any other animal carcasses due to it (Harkinson, 2006).
One of the counsels against horse slaughter said, “Until we have a better solution, I think we’d better pull back, and because we are going to cause more cruelty by stopping the slaughterhouses”. This spokesman was absolutely right. Due to the outlawing of horse slaughter in the United States, horsemen and women have resorted to selling their horses to kill buyers and having them sold to slaughter over borders to both Canada and Mexico. When horses are slaughtered in Mexico, the horses go through an awful process. The slaughter houses in Mexico are not regulated and there is a high chance these animals are subject to an inhumane death, sometimes before they even reach the kill floor. Other horses are being shipped along America’s northern border to Canada into Quebec. The process of horses being shipped here is known as the “torture trail” (Harkinson, 2006).
Moving into the United States slaughter houses and the regulations placed upon them. These slaughter plants were inspected by the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) to ensure the meat is suitable for domestic use as well as export, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved the petition to have the horse slaughter plants have to pay for their own inspections. With these inspections, the slaughterhouses had ensured safety to both the consumers and the animals (Harkinson, 2006)
Next is to the issue of disposing of the unwanted horses. What is supposed to be done with hundreds of thousands of unwanted horses that have nowhere to go? Ron Smith (2007) wrote the following:
“Any horse owner who does not choose to receive a value for (unwanted) horses don’t have to.” he said. “But it’s a property rights issue similar to water rights.” He said if horse owners prefer to consider their animals as pets they would forfeit the tax deductions they receive for farm animals. “The Humane Society and People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have a different opinion. But if they care about the welfare of horses, what do they recommend we do with more than 100,000 if we don’t maintain a market of last resort?” Stenholm said many wild horses end up on feedlots, ranches, and care facilities, at a taxpayer expense. “Can we afford that?”
This statement says it best: if horses are so much of a pet why are they treated the same as cattle that are slaughtered? These animals are a tax write off for many Americans, the same as cattle and they serve as the same purpose. There are also 9 million horses in America at a value of $9 billion for horse ranchers that have sold them to slaughter plants. Ron Smith said, “Horse owners have the best interest of their animal in mind. We should return the option of selling to a process plant. This is an emotional issue.”(Smith, 2007) Looking at this statement, you have to once again take into consideration that horses are not a pet, but livestock raised the same as cattle, sheep, and pigs. These animals are a tax deduction for agricultural purposes. All of these animals are used for meat, other food products, as well as other byproducts such as glue and dog food.
Conclusion
The horse slaughter plants close has caused the horse population to become overpopulated. In addition the number of reported horse neglect and abuse cases is on the rise due to having no where to bring unwanted horses of low grade. This then plays an impact on the prices of the horses as well and the prices of hay/grain due to the shortage of resources and an abundance of horses making these animals less valuable. Lastly, is the shortage of veterinary care and lack of knowledge attained through owners and trainers making the veterinarian’s job more difficult. Plus, having false visits cuts into the time the veterinarian has to care for patients that truly need the help which then causes the cost of farm visits to rise. For the reasons listed above I believe horse slaughter plants should be reopened and legalized in the United States. People will be able to drive with confidence knowing the horse population is under control and no longer worry about coming in contact with these beautiful animals on busy freeways. This danger to commuters can be eliminated by supporting the repeal of having the horse slaughter houses closed.
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