Wait4It..boom
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"Interesting" take from the Wall Street Journal last week that slaughterhouses bring an economic boost to rural areas and that animal welfare groups are pro for their U.S. return. Good luck to all those Wyoming inmates that don't have to have their horse meat inspected because it didn't cross state lines! Especially for those horses "Not for Human Consumption" with all their worming pastes, anti-inflammatory drugs, etc. Or maybe that's just a way also help out with that overpopulation problem too. :shrug:
Ranchers, Animal-Welfare Groups Rethinking Horse Slaughterhouses - WSJ.com
Less than four years after the last equine slaughterhouses in the U.S. closed down, an unlikely coalition of ranchers, horse owners and animal-welfare groups is trying to bring them back.
The group, gathering in Las Vegas this week for a conference called Summit of the Horse, aims to map out a strategy for reviving an industry that slaughtered as many as 100,000 horses a year in the U.S. before it was effectively shut down by congressional action in 2007.
Advocates say the slaughterhouses could bring an economic boost to rural areas and give owners who no longer have the means or inclination to care for the horses an economical and humane way to dispose of them.
"We believe that humane processing is absolutely a moral and an ethical choice," said Sue Wallis, a Wyoming state lawmaker who organized the event.
Ms. Wallis is working on bringing a slaughterhouse to her state, but said her coalition first must overcome what she called "the 'ick' factor."
Indeed, animal-welfare activists opposed to the resumption of slaughter say the public will rally to stop it, since many Americans grew up with such books as "Black Beauty" and TV shows like "Mister Ed" and consider horses companions, not meals.
"Public opinion is with us," said Patti Klein Manke, executive director of the Hooved Animal Humane Society.
Kathy Hamm, who operates End of the Trail Horse Rescue & Sanctuary near Olathe, Colo., takes in horses from people who no longer want them but are hesitant to send them to slaughter in other countries.
Pressure from animal-rights groups and from undercover videos that circulated on the Internet and showed apparent cruelties in the horse-butchering process prompted Congress to shut off all funds for inspecting equine slaughterhouses in 2007. That dealt the industry a fatal blow, as federal inspections were required by law before the meat could be exported for human consumption. Most horse meat from the U.S. was sent to the lucrative markets of Europe and Asia, where the flesh is stewed, grilled or sliced thin and eaten raw.
Though horse lovers cheered when the last slaughterhouses were shuttered, some now say they may not have thought through the consequences.
The slaughterhouses disposed of the thousands of horses abandoned or relinquished each year by owners who find them too old or temperamental to be useful or who simply can no longer afford to care for them. Now, many of those horses are sold for $10 or $20 at low-end auctions and packed on crowded transports to be slaughtered in Mexico. Animal-welfare experts say the horses often suffer greatly on the journey.
In 2006, just 11,080 U.S. horses were shipped to Mexico for slaughter. In 2008, after the American industry shut down, that number jumped to 57,017, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Animal-rights supporters have been lobbying Congress for a ban on exporting horses for slaughter. They've had no success—but even if a ban did pass, some activists say, it would do little to ease suffering, as owners desperate to shed responsibility for their animals might simply abandon them to starve. Hiring a veterinarian to euthanize and dispose of a horse can cost hundreds of dollars. Horse-rescue groups take in some unwanted animals, but they don't have the resources to care for them all.
"Every day, I'm turning horses away. I feel like I'm playing God, because I have to pick and choose," said Whitney Wright, director of Hope for Horses, a rescue group in Asheville, N.C. She worked to shut down slaughterhouses but now would like to see a few reopen under strict guidelines for humane handling.
The American Humane Association, which monitors the treatment of beef cattle, pigs and poultry nationwide, is considering helping the proponents of horse slaughterhouses develop and implement such guidelines. The group may also create a media campaign to explain the issue to a wary public, said Tim Amlaw, a vice president.
A renewal of equine slaughter still draws sharp opposition from some veterinarians, horse owners and animal-rights groups. They suggest instead providing free hay to economically strapped owners; opening low-cost clinics to geld horses to reduce breeding; even requiring anyone buying a horse to pay an up-front fee to cover euthanasia by a veterinarian when needed.
In the past two years, however, seven states, including Arkansas, Missouri and South Dakota, have adopted resolutions urging Congress to support horse processing, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Montana restricted court challenges to future equine processing plants. And Wyoming passed a law allowing any state-licensed meat-processing plant to sell its products, including horse flesh, to state institutions, such as prisons. No federal inspections are required if the meat does not cross state lines.
While U.S. slaughterhouses in the past processed primarily domesticated horses, the conference in Las Vegas will also discuss the thousands of mustangs the federal government removes from Western rangeland each year to keep herds in check.
The government has had difficulty finding adoptive homes for the wild horses. Last year, taxpayers spent $37 million to hold nearly 40,000 animals in corrals and pastures indefinitely, the Bureau of Land Management said. But the agency's director, Bob Abbey, told the summit that slaughter was not an acceptable option.
Write to Stephanie Simon at stephanie.simon@wsj.com
Ranchers, Animal-Welfare Groups Rethinking Horse Slaughterhouses - WSJ.com
Less than four years after the last equine slaughterhouses in the U.S. closed down, an unlikely coalition of ranchers, horse owners and animal-welfare groups is trying to bring them back.
The group, gathering in Las Vegas this week for a conference called Summit of the Horse, aims to map out a strategy for reviving an industry that slaughtered as many as 100,000 horses a year in the U.S. before it was effectively shut down by congressional action in 2007.
Advocates say the slaughterhouses could bring an economic boost to rural areas and give owners who no longer have the means or inclination to care for the horses an economical and humane way to dispose of them.
"We believe that humane processing is absolutely a moral and an ethical choice," said Sue Wallis, a Wyoming state lawmaker who organized the event.
Ms. Wallis is working on bringing a slaughterhouse to her state, but said her coalition first must overcome what she called "the 'ick' factor."
Indeed, animal-welfare activists opposed to the resumption of slaughter say the public will rally to stop it, since many Americans grew up with such books as "Black Beauty" and TV shows like "Mister Ed" and consider horses companions, not meals.
"Public opinion is with us," said Patti Klein Manke, executive director of the Hooved Animal Humane Society.
Kathy Hamm, who operates End of the Trail Horse Rescue & Sanctuary near Olathe, Colo., takes in horses from people who no longer want them but are hesitant to send them to slaughter in other countries.
Pressure from animal-rights groups and from undercover videos that circulated on the Internet and showed apparent cruelties in the horse-butchering process prompted Congress to shut off all funds for inspecting equine slaughterhouses in 2007. That dealt the industry a fatal blow, as federal inspections were required by law before the meat could be exported for human consumption. Most horse meat from the U.S. was sent to the lucrative markets of Europe and Asia, where the flesh is stewed, grilled or sliced thin and eaten raw.
Though horse lovers cheered when the last slaughterhouses were shuttered, some now say they may not have thought through the consequences.
The slaughterhouses disposed of the thousands of horses abandoned or relinquished each year by owners who find them too old or temperamental to be useful or who simply can no longer afford to care for them. Now, many of those horses are sold for $10 or $20 at low-end auctions and packed on crowded transports to be slaughtered in Mexico. Animal-welfare experts say the horses often suffer greatly on the journey.
In 2006, just 11,080 U.S. horses were shipped to Mexico for slaughter. In 2008, after the American industry shut down, that number jumped to 57,017, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Animal-rights supporters have been lobbying Congress for a ban on exporting horses for slaughter. They've had no success—but even if a ban did pass, some activists say, it would do little to ease suffering, as owners desperate to shed responsibility for their animals might simply abandon them to starve. Hiring a veterinarian to euthanize and dispose of a horse can cost hundreds of dollars. Horse-rescue groups take in some unwanted animals, but they don't have the resources to care for them all.
"Every day, I'm turning horses away. I feel like I'm playing God, because I have to pick and choose," said Whitney Wright, director of Hope for Horses, a rescue group in Asheville, N.C. She worked to shut down slaughterhouses but now would like to see a few reopen under strict guidelines for humane handling.
The American Humane Association, which monitors the treatment of beef cattle, pigs and poultry nationwide, is considering helping the proponents of horse slaughterhouses develop and implement such guidelines. The group may also create a media campaign to explain the issue to a wary public, said Tim Amlaw, a vice president.
A renewal of equine slaughter still draws sharp opposition from some veterinarians, horse owners and animal-rights groups. They suggest instead providing free hay to economically strapped owners; opening low-cost clinics to geld horses to reduce breeding; even requiring anyone buying a horse to pay an up-front fee to cover euthanasia by a veterinarian when needed.
In the past two years, however, seven states, including Arkansas, Missouri and South Dakota, have adopted resolutions urging Congress to support horse processing, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Montana restricted court challenges to future equine processing plants. And Wyoming passed a law allowing any state-licensed meat-processing plant to sell its products, including horse flesh, to state institutions, such as prisons. No federal inspections are required if the meat does not cross state lines.
While U.S. slaughterhouses in the past processed primarily domesticated horses, the conference in Las Vegas will also discuss the thousands of mustangs the federal government removes from Western rangeland each year to keep herds in check.
The government has had difficulty finding adoptive homes for the wild horses. Last year, taxpayers spent $37 million to hold nearly 40,000 animals in corrals and pastures indefinitely, the Bureau of Land Management said. But the agency's director, Bob Abbey, told the summit that slaughter was not an acceptable option.
Write to Stephanie Simon at stephanie.simon@wsj.com