There are more available dogs, cats, and horses because of the economy. The horse breeding industry has largely failed to adjust to this. Stories of increasing numbers of dogs and cats taken to shelters and rescues are not met with pleas for slaughter for human consumption.
There is an overpopulation of cats and dogs, they are humanely euthanized if not homed. Horses can be humanely euthanized. There are clinics where people get licensed to do this. Renderers pick up the carcasses or they are buried. This practice is considered humane. Since there is a need for humane euthanizing of dogs and cats, the service is available. It is available for horses as well and would most likely grow if more humane disposal was required.
I heard a story recently of a family getting outbid by a kill buyer for a pony at a horse auction. The family wanted the pony for their daughter. People who go to horse auctions talk about the kill buyers jacking up the prices of the horses that rescues bid on. Horse slaughter is market driven, Europeans pay $20 a pound for horse meat, that money goes to the foreign owners of the processing plants, not the plant site communities. It is a gourmet meal, not sent to feed starving populations. The EU is getting increasingly worried about the amount of medications found in American horse meat.
If there are many horses at an auction and no private buyers, than there needs to be better advertising and networking for the sale of these animals. I would not take a dog to an auction and expect it to find a home in the minute or less it would be given in front of buyers, can't expect a horse to.
If the five year old racehorse was not sound for pasture and could not be rehomed, it should have been humanely euthanized, not sent to auction then shipped thousands of miles in a packed truck. The odds of it making the journey are low. Lame or disabled cows are not trailered long distances for slaughter, they are humanely euthanized.
There is an overpopulation of cats and dogs, they are humanely euthanized if not homed. Horses can be humanely euthanized. There are clinics where people get licensed to do this. Renderers pick up the carcasses or they are buried. This practice is considered humane. Since there is a need for humane euthanizing of dogs and cats, the service is available. It is available for horses as well and would most likely grow if more humane disposal was required.
I heard a story recently of a family getting outbid by a kill buyer for a pony at a horse auction. The family wanted the pony for their daughter. People who go to horse auctions talk about the kill buyers jacking up the prices of the horses that rescues bid on. Horse slaughter is market driven, Europeans pay $20 a pound for horse meat, that money goes to the foreign owners of the processing plants, not the plant site communities. It is a gourmet meal, not sent to feed starving populations. The EU is getting increasingly worried about the amount of medications found in American horse meat.
If there are many horses at an auction and no private buyers, than there needs to be better advertising and networking for the sale of these animals. I would not take a dog to an auction and expect it to find a home in the minute or less it would be given in front of buyers, can't expect a horse to.
If the five year old racehorse was not sound for pasture and could not be rehomed, it should have been humanely euthanized, not sent to auction then shipped thousands of miles in a packed truck. The odds of it making the journey are low. Lame or disabled cows are not trailered long distances for slaughter, they are humanely euthanized.
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