Site Presented By
Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Pets before People.
Cows, sheep, chickens, rabbits, goats, turkeys are all meeting gruesome ends.
Even people meet gruesome ends.
This is due to a design flaw in the universe.
Conditions need to be improved in the slaughterhouses but we eat other animals.
horse disposal is a problem due to the lack of slaughterhouses. The only practical disposal means is to hire a backhoe, dig a hole, and dump the horse. Many horses are suffering neglect and abuse, in many cases starving to death, and there is zero room in horse shelters. I know a horse slaughterhouse sounds cruel, but it is humane to give a quick end to an old horse, and ethical to use that animal's remains for good use.
I feel bad for the horses described in the article. However I have a hard time respecting the opinion of people who get all up in arms about mistreating those animal species which are commonly kept as pets, such as horses, dogs, cats, or bunnies; while mostly ignoring the plight of other animals, such as pigs, cows, sheep, or chickens, which aren't treated any better than the horses described in this article. I'm quite sure the slaughterhouses being criticized in the article don't treat other animals any better. I'm certainly not going to buy into the idea that someone who would slaughter a horse for food is any worse a person than someone who would slaughter a pig. Either slaughtering animals for food is bad, or it's not, and either treating animals humanely is good, or it's not.
This quote from the article was especially richly ironic:
It's a betrayal to put [horses] on a cattle truck and send them to slaughter.
She's condemning putting horses on a cattle truck for slaughter. Did she even realize as she was saying this that it might make sense to also be concerned about the cattle that the truck was meant for? What's special about horses, other than that people in this country tend to keep them as pets and work with them one on one.
so the only humane way to handle the situation is to apply the same legal standards and practices that are applied to cats and dogs. (You can legally shoot your own dog, but if you miss and therefore aren't quick you are legally liable, this would work with horses too when necessary).
Nothing wasted. Efficiency to use them well in life and then use them well in death. We eat other animals as well. Your arguement seems more pro-vegan than anti-meat. To each her own I say; if you don't like it, avoid anything that may have horse in it. Dictating to the rest of us only makes you a dictator.
But if you really wish to try to make a difference then I suggest finding ways to convince legislators to tax the process and products to death. At some point other cheaper alternatives will sway demand away from equine products. This would have to happen across North America so be prepared to take your fight out of country.
The animal welfare people in this article want to 'humanely euthanize' these animals. However, if slaughter can be regulated by the US government, rather than turning away as another country lets anything go in their slaughter, then isn't that better? Yes, people eat horse meat, and slaughtering horses for meat IS ethical if we can regulate the slaughter.
Problem is (and I realize this), it appears we don't always effectively regulate the humane slaughter of animals we're generally okay with eating (see: downed cows, the PETA film on chicken slaughter). But, we're never going to 100% NOT eat meat. Overall, it's important to treat all humans AND animals humanely...I wish we could do so all of the time...
as a result of public pressure on publicity sensitive fast food companies. It's not good, maybe, but horses would be much much worse.
We must outlaw the exportation and slaughter of horses. The slaughter of vast numbers of animals always, always involves brutality and incredible violence perpetrated by underpaid, overworked people subjected to miserable working conditions. No good comes of this.
The mass slaughter of cattle and pigs and chickens in the United States and abroad also always involves sickening levels of cruelty to animals. If you eat meat, buy it from small producers. If you buy meat from large companies, you are paying for cruelty to animals on a hellish scale.
The first thing the United States must do is end the export of horses overseas (including Mexico) where animal protection laws are even weaker than they are here -- and they are barely existent here, despite all the happy talk from industry.
Meat may not be murder, but meat is almost always torture of animals. That is a sad fact.
I am one of the happy converts who regularly, when traveling in Europe, orders horse at a variety of restaurants. A nice horse steak is different enough from beef to make the experience a unique and enjoyable one. I am extremely disappointed that the federal government has outlawed horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. and am dismayed to hear that our Congress is contemplating outlawing the live export of horses for slaughter. This is ridiculous. Horses are livestock. I'm all for the humane slaughter of any animals used for food, and I make a point of buying free-range chicken. I'm willing to pay a premium for the meat of animals that were treated well versus those that are treated poorly. But to have our government, at the behest of the Willie Nelsons of the world, decide for our farmers and ranchers what kind of livestock can and cannot be sold for slaughter is crazy. In my world, PETA stands for "People Eating Tasty Animals."
Bilbo caught the same thing I did: "It's a betrayal to put [horses] on a cattle truck and send them to slaughter." is full of ridiculous, rich irony, reeking of speciesism. Cattle are different from horses... why? Pigs? Crocodiles? Chickens? Turkeys? Anything slaughtered for human consumption? I'd argue that if we're going to allow one, we might as well allow all of them. Heck, we might as well allow the consumption of human beings as well (there's my irony for you, with such a modest proposal).
You get to choose between one or the other: eating meat or not. If you can justify one and not the other, you better have good reasons. I've been heading more and more towards the vegan option myself.
Yet, horse meat does taste good, especially prepared in a nice Italian fashion with some roasted vegetables on the side.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
