Vicki, you're very well spoken, but you trot out the same, tired old arguments that I've heard over and over, especially the one about slaughtering dogs and cats for the Asian food market.
We kill thousands of unwanted dogs and cats a day. If someone wanted to utilize that meat, who am I to say no? The animals are dead regardless, so what does it matter what happens to the carcass?
Not all vets are against equine slaughter. Of course the vets who oppose equine slaughter are going to have problems with how the animals meet their fates. In fact, some vets won't euth a healthy animal even if requested to do so by the owner. Does that mean all vets take that stance? No. Many vets see no problem with rendering horses for meat, nor do they impose their personal morals upon the general horse owning public.
I've known many beef cattle farmers. There are no regulations in place that vet and vaccination records are required with the cattle who are sold at auction that will ultimately go to feed the population.
The EU may track livestock, but their regulations and requirements do not carry over to the U.S. NAIS was defeated because as Kevin said, it's expensive, cumbersome, and does no more than the system already in place.
Whether or not an animal is specifically raised for meat is a moot point. Whether or not they receive vaccinations and dewormers are also moot points, because beef cattle receive vaccinations and dewormers, too. In fact, the dewormers used on cattle are the very same used on horses, just in a different dosage because of the breed and size of the animal.
I agree wholeheartedly with animal welfare. I think that all animals, regardless of whether or not they're turned into food, should be treated humanely from birth to death. You'll get no disagreement from me on that.
As long as you've done the proper research and reached your own conclusions based on the data presented, I have no problem if your opinion differs from mine.
The facts are still the facts; we have thousands of unwanted horses in this country, and we don't have the funds or space to take care of all of them for the next two or three decades.
We also don't have the space with which to bury thousands of chemically euthed large animals without endangering the water supplies and human populations.
Burning the carcasses would create pollution of another kind, cremation is expensive, and since the animals would be chemically euthed, rendering them for non-food use would be prohibited.
So, knowing all of that, what is your personal solution for caring for these animals who may live to be 30 to 40 years of age? How many of the thousands are you going to take?
I'm full up. I can't afford to take on even one more without putting the financial ability to care for the ones I already have in peril. Most of the people I know who own horses are in the same situation.
I'm lucky, because I have the land and can bury my own animals. I also own several guns, so if push came to shove I could euth one by bullet if I had to.
It's okay to love your own horses. It's also okay to be sad to think of all the unwanted ones going for meat. What's not okay is somehow thinking that because you don't like the idea, then it should be illegal.