Horse Slaughter!

[DarkStar]

Do you think that slaughtering horses for meat should be banned? Or are you one of those people that thinks meat is meat?


This is something I can talk with some pretty good knowledge on. I worked at a packaging plant of horse. I think that slaughtering horses if they are injured is alright but most of the time the horses being slaughtered are in perfect health. Somedays we were processing baby horses. You can tell it is baby's because the meat is a lot lighter color and the pieces are very small. There was rump roasts as small as my hands sometimes. It disgusted me to think that they killed babies for meat.

Here is a video that CBC did on the slaughter plant of my old work.

http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/no_country_for_horses/no_country_for_horses.html

I was aware they weren't feeding them because they usually killed them within a day or 2 of getting them, but I didn't know they were not given water too =(. I knew about them not feeding them because at christmas they made us work 2 10 hour days on the 22 and 23 because they wanted to kill all the horses so they wouldn't have to feed them while it was closed for 5 days over christmas.

So do you guys think slaughtering horses is ok? or do you think it should be banned?

[Charlie]

If they're being eaten, I don't mind. If they're being killed for no reason though, then there's no excuse for it. None what-so-ever.

[DarkStar]

Just to make things interesting, and since I am in the middle about this I am going to go extreme against this =).

If they're being eaten, I don't mind. If they're being killed for no reason though, then there's no excuse for it. None what-so-ever.

But Charlie horses are peoples pets. Thats like saying killing cats and dogs is for meat is fine. Horses are our friends, companions and pets just as much as cats and dogs. Horses aren't raised to be meat they are raised as someones companion to help them do work and compete in events. The slaughter plants are going to auctions and buying up horses by the masses to kill. How is it right to kill someones pet for dinner?

[Charlie]

Consider this, for example:

The world's in this 2030 food crisis or worse. Some people have an issue being able to acquire it, by other means. The Johnson family, for example. Who haven't eaten much in over a month or more due to the rising costs, and the overall demand. They know that death is going to eventually come if they don't amend this issue, somehow. Suddenly, they all agree on something, as they're watching Road Triscuit and Cuddlebunches running through the yard. What would you do in their position?

A: Die
B: Kill the horses, and eat them in order to survive

[DarkStar]

But that is not the current situation. Horses that are in perfectly good condition are being slaughtered needlessly because europeans and japanese people think that they are tasty. Its not like there is any food crisis going on in those places. Most of these horses are in perfect condition and the slaughter plants are treating them in humanely!

[Charlie]

Well, for the current situation, I stick by what I already said in my first post. As long as they're not being used for target practice, or someone's sick, demented desire, or whatever, and they're being eaten after death, I've got no issue with it. That's not to say I don't go for the pet concept of things, too. Maybe I'm neutral here. I'm neutral in a lot of things..

[Aingeleag]

From what my experience is with horses, and being in a farm community all of my life.. around here, putting down a lame horse is just as bad as taking a family member off of life support. I mean it's hardcore around here how much people value horses, perhaps even more than dogs and cats. My best friend growing up stopped talking to me because her parents bought her a horse and she "didn't have time" for me anymore so she could teach him barrel racing.
So to me, I think that's outrageous. I think that although there is this big thing about food shortages in the future.. if people would be less wasteful and eat better portions of things, we'd have food and people would be the better for it. But that's just me. Of course this is coming off of living in this area and not seeing any other opinions, but I'm also very sympathetic to animals and would probably not feel any different otherwise. There's a fine line between domesticated animals and pets, but I do think a horse falls into the pet category.

[RonDo]

Just to make things interesting, and since I am in the middle about this I am going to go extreme against this =).



But Charlie horses are peoples pets. Thats like saying killing cats and dogs is for meat is fine. Horses are our friends, companions and pets just as much as cats and dogs. Horses aren't raised to be meat they are raised as someones companion to help them do work and compete in events. The slaughter plants are going to auctions and buying up horses by the masses to kill. How is it right to kill someones pet for dinner?

Just like some people have pigs for pets. People can raise animals as they see fit, whether for companionship or for the slaughter. I don't think they are going around killing people's pets for food are they? Just because it is a horse, or a pig, or something else doesn't automatically classify that animal as a pet.

[Mydra]

I could have as well a cow as pet as a horse. I'm carnivore.

[kell]

But that is not the current situation. Horses that are in perfectly good condition are being slaughtered needlessly because europeans and japanese people think that they are tasty. Its not like there is any food crisis going on in those places. Most of these horses are in perfect condition and the slaughter plants are treating them in humanely!

Why is it not okay to have a horse in perfect condition be put through a couple days of starvation before it is killed, but okay to but chickens, pigs, cows and countless other animals through a lifetime of pain and misery that ultimately ends the same way?

I see no difference.

We can't start putting certain animals at different ranks based solely on whether someone might "love" them or not. Horses are magnificent creatures, I used to have one and was surrounded by them when I was young, but I still don't think that is grounds to make them so much more valuable than any other animals. What about rabbits? They are definitely a household pet and are eaten everywhere. I've known people with pet pigs and sheep. We could also get into the fact that cows are viewed as sacred in India, does that mean we should stop drinking milk and eating beef because "Western people think it's tasty"?

Basically, I think there are many other, MUCH bigger issues in the meat industry that need to be dealt with before we start talking about the much smaller issue of horse meat, which isn't just a Japanese and European thing; it's widely eaten across North America as well.

[Killer_Man_]

I thought Horses were only slaughter to make glue out of them?

You know, the running gag from Young Frankenstein?

[Seegtease]

Why are horses any worse than any other animal? Any animal can be a pet, it just requires some training/domestication. Horses are no weird exception. I can't imagine I'd be overly fond of horse meat, though.

As for what you said before about cats and dogs, I feel no differently. If it's okay for a deer or bovine, it's okay for anything else.

And why the heck is okay not considered to be a word? Psh.

[deathofcheese]

Thats like saying killing cats and dogs is for meat is fine.

Sure it is. e.g. Mexico and China.

I don't think it's wrong to slaughter horses for food. It's just something we didn't really focus on because we found a better use for horses instead of as a meat source and we found a meat source that is better as a meat source than horses are. Sure it's kind of awful that animals traditionally used as pets and companions, but they're meat just the same.

Now, if doing this impacted people wanting horses for non-meat purposes or the current meat market, that might be a problem.

Just remember, you can't spell slaughter without laughter!

[Gio Takahashi]

go to San Miguel. There are dogs everywhere. Something to think about.

(San Miguel is in Mexico, fYI)

[chefTENGU]

Horses are usually considered too valuable as working animals to be slaughtered for food. Which is why most people in North America don't do it (if memory serves me correctly, Steph, your plant slaughtered horses exclusively for export overseas, though I could be wrong).

But, as for my personal feelings, meat is meat. Kill 'em and grill 'em.

I'd like to point out that I do have SOME conscience about slaughter, though. Animals shouldn't be made to suffer needlessly. While I can understand not feeding the horses for a couple days, denying them water too just seems sick.

[Z]

I know this is an old topic but my dad is actually leading a political action committee (mostly regarding the legalization of video lottery terminals in Texas) but in his formal report, he had to touch on the horse racing industry and the horse slaughtering issues.

The process for Horse Slaughter is, indeed, inhumane.

http://savedahorses.org/id5.html

^ There are a couple videos there that shows you the actual process.
WARNING: These videos are a little graphic.

There are other videos out there that show the process as well. You can find them fairly easily on Google.

I understand and can even agree that the 'Pet' category shouldn't make a difference in how we treat animals and I am no animal activist, myself, but even I can concede to the fact that there's got to be a better way of doing things than this.

[Seegtease]

Is ammo really so expensive that a bullet to the back of the head is unreasonable? It would cut back on employee cost, too, since it's quick. Of course, then you have to load a bunch of horse corpses on a truck, so I dunno!

[Killer_Man_]

I remember Chef saying something that they use a harpoon like weapon to shoot it in the head... But that could have been cows.

[chefTENGU]

Cows. I'm not clear on all the ins and outs of horse slaughter.

[dinowoman]

I have always loved horses and Mac and I used to have horses before our children were born, but I don't see why slaughtering horses for meat should be different to slaughtering any other animal. If the animal is killed humanely and is not an endangered species, I don't see why it should be an issue. Yes, it's a shame to kill a perfectly healthy horse, but isn't it also a shame to kill a perfectly healthy cow? And the fact that they are kept as pets doesn't seem a valid argument. Rabbits are kept as pets, but people eat rabbit. Humans are naturally omnivores, so unless we're going to start eating carrion, it is necessary to kill animals and, to me, the species doesn't matter.

My only objection to the horse meat trade is that countries that traditionally eat horse meat don't always have such stringent animal welfare laws as we have in the UK (and probably in the US), and there have been cases of French traders coming over to Britain, buying up batches of unwanted horses in the sales, and then transporting them hundreds of miles back to French abbatoirs in overcrowded conditions, without food or water. But I think the British authorities have now stamped on that, at least at the British end of the journey (I suppose there would be nothing to stop them being unloaded and squashed into an overcrowded lorry once they've crossed the Channel, but I doubt if it'd be worthwhile. Once they're underway, they might as well finish the journey.)

[chefTENGU]

Darky always said that the vast majority of the meat that was processed at her slaughterhouse was exported to Europe. I'm wondering exactly who is consuming it, whether the horses are being eaten by certain segments of various countries, or whether it's being bought up by dog food companies and the like.