People that are for horse slaughter please see this! Thanks!

I agree with Xoras. It is a neccessary evil. I don't think anyone wants to see a horse slaughter. I would rather see them put down humanly then to starve to death. We have auctions here every month and it is sooo sad to see all the skinny horses. If I could afford to I would take them all in.

I think people should be responsible with their breeding. It seems that most of these horses are from "backyard" breeders which contribute to the problem. Not to say that it doesn't happen to quality bred horses but most of the ones i see probably shouldn't have been breed in the first place.

Thats just my opinion tho. I don't want to argue with anyone. :)

I completely agree with you cowgirlfitzy. If you are not going to be responsible for the life you are creating when you breed (and I do mean forever) then you shouldnt breed. This applies to any animal. If you are going to breed. be willing to take the animal back if it needs a home. Do not let it go to slaughter.
I don't agree with slaughter. I dont agree with people who view horses as possessions that they get to rule over. They are just animals, but they are alive. A life is a life. Period.
(Sorry, this is a sensetive subject, as I'm sure it is to veryone, whichever side you are on)

Currently horses that are marked for slaughter may spend days in a overcrowded sometimes double decker trailer where they may then spend a few days in a holding lot. In Mexico, slaughter house workers with sometimes stabs the horse in the back or head several times before the horse drops, and then the horse is hoisted (sometimes still alive) by the back legs and then the neck is cut to drain the blood.

In Canada I’ve heard that it is a little better were they take a shot to the head and then it is done... but the horses still have to endure the long trailer ride to the slaughterhouse.

Now Im for slaughter if it were regulated in the United States. What if multiple plants were opened throughout the states? What if the trailers had limited numbers of animals per the size of the trailer? If there were more plants the ride wouldn’t be as long and the animal wouldn’t go without food or water for as long. If the FDA could overlook how things are done maybe it wouldn’t be as brutal...

Don’t get me wrong... I love horses, if I didn’t I wouldn’t but a good chunk of my income into them, but I still feel that slaughter is a necessary evil.

How can this be prevented??? IMO breeding needs to be regulated or at least held to some standard. How are we going to do this? Im not sure but it would need to be a collaboration of the breed registries. I have a hard time with embryo transfers and having multiple babies born out of the same mare and stud in one year. I don’t think we should stop AI but maybe studs can only service a limited number of mares each year. It isn’t the horses fault that they naturally breed it is our responsibility to ensure that quality is put in front of quantity. If a stallion doesn’t carry quality traits he needs to be cut and mares need not to be exposed if they aren’t of quality.

I rather a horse be slaughtered in which they may endure a few days of hell then stand starving for months…

I still think it's amazing how everyone can classify horses as being more worthy of life than a chicken or cow, or pig. Any of those animals can be made into pets and show animals, as horses are, but they are our favorite meats, so nobody really fusses over their slaughter, do they?
And for the old horses that are suffering just from the cumulative wear and tear on their bodies,even if they are loved and wanted, eventually have to go. What's wrong with their bodies being processed into something for the living instead of becoming land fill and rotting? I personally don't want to eat a horse steak, but I doubt the horse cares after he's gone. In nature he'd be dinner for something, not become a chemical laden dead zone under ground polluting water tables. That's a bit graphic and morbid, but is the truth.
I do think breeding should be done more carefully, but extra laws are not really going to help,unless you want Uncle Sam living with you to micromanage your every movement, which I don't, and I don't breed nags that go to slaughter, either. I just feel that slaughter in US is a more humane option than the tailer ride to other countries, the crappy conditions that it happens under elsewhere and is definitly better than starving somewhere and/or being crippled for years.
The slaughter ban didnt' stop slaughter, it just made "getting there" a lot harder on the horses.Is THAT humane? I don't think so. I love horses as much as anyone, but do feel slaughter should be back in the US.

barefoothooves, I agree with you. But I also think that the way slaughter is done, as Angel_Leaguer said, is cruel and should be done better. If it MUST be done, it should be done better. In my mind, and this is my opinion, either stop the slaughter and breeding entirely or better regulate the slaughter. But I doubt that will happen. Its not a fast enough fix for society nowadays.

I do have a question though, if you could not afford your dog, would you send it off to slaughter so the meat could be used in China? What about your cat? (theoretically in case you do not have a dog or cat)

Whipple - I don't mean to be rude but I don't think your question to barefoot is fair or realistic.

I wouldn't send my dog/cat to the slaughter plant and onwards to China for people to eat... but I wouldn't send my horse either.

However, a really important thing to remember is it costs A LOT of money to put down and dispose of a horse's body in some areas of the country. We just had to put our gelding down this last fall. Vet told us about $175 and rendering truck told us about $185. A lot of people don't have enough land to bury a horse or the resources (gun/experience) to kill a horse w/o a vet & rendering truck.

My point is that if you don't have any money, like you cannot pay rent/mortgage, & wondering how you are going to feed your family... how are you going to find the money to get the vet & rendering truck out to humanely dispose of your starving horse? For a lot of people esp now it is coming down to which mouths to feed or which bodies to put a roof over. It isn't easy to give horses away in some parts of the country... The abandonment statistics are through the roof in most parts of the country. So yeah I think we need slaughter plants, but they need to be regulated and the transport to the plant needs to be regulated to make it as humane as possible. The same as it is (or should be) for cows...

Sorry my reply is all jumbled and not totally what I was trying to say... hopefully everyone gets the jist of it

Sorry, I meant to be more clear. I was basing my question more on the bond issue. Like are we more bonded to our dogs and cats because theyre house pets, and horses are livestock. Is that why some people find it easier?
My answers are quite jumbled, but I understand the jist of yours. And I agree. I wish that nessesary things were done better, or the easier things (like rendering, ect) was cheaper. Life isnt fair, and most of the time it just plain sucks!

LOL, at least we understand eachother. I think for some people its easier because they are livestock... but I think for most people its a pretty traumatic experience no matter what they have to do.

i would in no way sign this petition before they banned slughter house most were killed for orse meat and thats wrong on soooo any levels! and if the adoption fee could be a little less people would buy them