This is a vary contraversial subject in our American society. Yes I have known about this for as long as I can remember and Yes I was a born a horse lover. I currently have 15 horses myself so I dont write this becouse I do not like horses I write this becouse I love horses.
It might sound odd to you that someone that loves horses is for horse slaughter but there are many of us. When some one has been unable to care for their horse where does it go? Not many horses are lucky enough to find good forever homes. A horse lives 30yrs or more and too many unexpected life changes happens to people in that time that bought a horse to "have forever". The horse market is vary poor right now, at auction horses are bringing as low as 25$ a head and private sales are becoming more and more rare. Your lucky if you can sell a horse at all these days. So what happens to these horses that owners can not take care of and can not sell? They take them to an auction as a last resort, and that is where the kill buyers get them.
People are starting to let horses go in some parts of the US, whole herds have been let loose unlawfully into national parks. Owners who can not afford them anymore will be geting prosecuted for animal neglect becouse now there will not be anyway for them to get rid of the horse they can not feed. This country is seeing a drought, the hay supply has been geting smaller each year for several years now. Farmers have to keep what they can for their own cows and livestock and its geting very hard to find decent hay for horses and what you do find is very pricey. What it cost 7 or 8 years ago to feed 2-3 horses now costs for just 1. And its not even a matter of these owners not being able to afford their hay, sometimes they can not find it. I also find it hard to understand why people think it is crewl to kill a horse in the exact same way they kill cattle, but cattle slaughter is not crewl?
Why cant they just give their unwanted horses up to rescues? Well the rescues are already full and if they take on to many more then their "rescue" is going to be a neglect case. Search the intenet you will find "rescues" giving horses away free, why? becouse they already have to many. I just wanted to show you anouther side of the story, it is going to cause a lot more animal suffering if and when the last few plants close down. Their truely will be no where for horses to go. I used to be one of those, you mention horse slaughter and I gringed, but now that I am active in the horse world I understand why. Its a quick death to a horse that obviously noone wanted, otherwise the horse would not have ended up in the killers hands. It does not cost much to out bid a killer buyer, its nothing personal to them, they bid up to a certain amount per pound as thats how they will get paid on the horse.
As long as we have slaughter houses we will have kill buyers. I am not against those that want to rescue horses from the killers but they are far out numberd in the amount of horses they can take in as oposed to the killers.
It brakes my hart to ever even think of one of my horses ever going to kill and I certainly would not ever take them to slaughter. However what if I can find no hay, or I loose my job, or a tornado or fire destroys everything I own? No one wants to buy my horses or even has the room for anouther freebie horse, what then, I go to jail for animal neglect becouse I had no other option but to either starve or turn my horses loose?
What will become of the 100,000 horses every year that the slaughter houses are closed? The mustangs are already getting over populated and are being sold for slaughter. So if they stop going to slaughter and then we start dumping those extra 100,000 horses in with them every year what will happen? They will starve and die anyway.
Everyone has their own thoughts on this but I just had to add my 2 cents give you something to think about. Please feel free to post comments.
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You need to reread your comments and then take a look at your own horses. They are not in good condition themselves. They are several hundred pounds under weight and your stallion doesn't even look the same as he does on the you tube video from 2003. You are now in the same situation as others in regard to the care of your animals, what will you do? Keep starving them, give them away, down size, what?
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