| |
Dear Ms. Simon,
I read with great interest your article entitled Rethinking Slaughterhouses: Animal-Welfare Groups Are Joining Ranchers in a Push to Revive an Industry That Died in 2007. As the President and Founder of a horse rescue organization working to help end equine slaughter for human consumption, I was deeply curious exactly what "animal welfare" groups you had found that were supportive of the butchering of US horses for human consumption. Nearly all proponents of animal welfare view equine slaughter as barbarically inhumane, utilizing methods not intended for the destruction of a prey animal such as a horse.
The nefariously misleading title of your article implies that there has been a recent movement within animal advocacy groups to now support equine slaughter. In researching your sources, I found no foundation for support of your position.
A review of the "Summit of the Horse", the conference that you claim is a coalition of "ranchers, horse owners, and animal-welfare groups..." does not list one single animal welfare group as sponsoring the event, and barring one Mr. Bill desBarres of the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada, all other attending "welfare" groups hold close financial ties to the deep pocketed pro-slaughter ranching and beef industries.
You state "The American Humane Association, which monitors the treatment of beef cattle, pigs, and poultry nationwide, is considering helping the proponents of horse slaughter develop and implement such guidelines." Ms.Simon, this is a very grotesque misrepresentation of the AHA and it's programs. The American Humane Association runs a small program called American Humane Certification, which provides a third-party, independent verification that certified producers’ care and handling of farm animals meet the science-based animal welfare standards of the American Humane Association. This program is intended to certify small farms producing livestock. No one within the anti-slaughter movement is debating how the horses are being raised, Ms. Simon. In no way does the AHA's farm certification program have any relevance to the issues surrounding horse slaughter.
You also referenced Ms. Whitney Wright of the organization Hope for Horses as "liking to see a few (slaughterhouses) reopen under strict guidelines for humane handling". While that may be Ms. Wright's personal thoughts, the organization Hope for Horses holds a public stance of being firmly against horse slaughter, and their web site contains a page titled "Help Stop Horse Slaughter". That page was updated as recently as July 12, 2010. Does that sound like an animal welfare agency conspiring with pro-slaughter supporters to bring slaughter back? Ms. Wright may well have been the founder of Hope for Horses, but I found with great interest that she does not even currently serve on the Board of Directors. To present a horse rescue as advocating equine slaughter for human consumption without knowledge of their stance and opinion and without consent of their Board of Directors is grossly irresponsible.
However, Ms. Simons, what offends me the deepest was the missed opportunity for a truly fair and enlightening piece on equine welfare. Those of us on the anti-slaughter side of the fence don't negate that there are serious problems in the equine industry within the US, or that there are more horses than there are available homes. But your article neglected the two biggest issues surrounding horse slaughter, and those are the two elephants in the room that it seems no one wants to talk about.
First of all, the horses being slaughtered for human consumption were someone's horses: kids ponies, Amish plow horses, Thoroughbreds that failed to entertain us on the racetrack, breeding mares who dared to age and no longer get pregnant, and show horses who stopped winning ribbons. While certainly that creates an unsavory image of just how unappreciative the humans who use horses for entertainment or sport truly are to their beasts, it also presents a larger problem. All of those horses have, at some point in their life, routinely been given drugs that are labeled "NOT FOR USE IN ANIMALS INTENDED FOR FOOD. Many commonly administered drugs and even dewormers to combat intestinal parasites are not safe for use in meat animals. These drugs are given consistently through most recreational and performance horses lives. Their meat is not safe to eat!!!
Secondly, slaughter of horses creates a vicious economic cycle. Right now everyone is clamoring because there are more horses than there are homes. While that may be true, slaughter is not to blame. Slaughter is a demand driven business, not supply driven. The numbers of horses slaughtered hasn't changed much since 2007, just the location has. Bringing slaughter back to US soil will not decrease the number of "unwanted" horses. But here is the dark underbelly of slaughter. Slaughter on US soil creates a base value for every horse. While that value may not be much (in 2007 it averaged $500 for a horse in good weight), its enough to keep low end uneducated breeders creating quantities of poorly bred and unwanted horses destined for the slaughter market. This irresponsible over breeding of horses is what really has to stop. While $500 is not much money to many, it is a tidy profit to the back yard breeder- especially when your horses are not fed well, your mare doesn't see a Veterinarian throughout her pregnancy, your horses hooves are never trimmed, and you don't intend to geld any colts. These uneducated horse owners should not be financially rewarded for perpetuating this cycle of cruelty.
There is no debate that animal welfare advocates and most equine veterinarians find the current standards used to butcher our horses are barbaric, inhumane, and induce serious pain, suffering, and terror. Veterinarians for Equine Welfare states openly their stance that "Horse slaughter has never been considered by veterinary professionals to be a form of euthanasia. Congress and the general public must hear from veterinarians that horse slaughter is not and should not be equated with humane euthanasia. Rather, the slaughtering of horses is a brutal and predatory business that promotes cruelty and neglect and which claimed the lives of more than 100,000 American horses in 2008."
Ms. Simon, I took me less than one hour to research your sources and find them incorrectly used or completely invalid. One would hope in today's media that a professional would use more researched and thoughtful content, and abstain from the use of inflammatory shock value tag lines which bear no basis in reality.
Best Regards,
Christine Hajek, President and Founder
Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue
www.GentleGiantsDraftHorseRescue.com
|
