Gotta Love a straight shooter in politics...

[GEMO]

Despite the fact that horse meat is not widely consumed in Canada, over 90,000 horses a year are slaughtered for food there. Its high-protein, low-fat meat is still consumed in many parts of the world, including Italy, Japan and Brazil. The taboo of eating horse meat persists in most of North America, however, and the Canadian horse meat industry remains controversial. If horse meat isn't your thing, perhaps you would like camel (Egypt), whales (Norway) or monkeys (sub-Saharan Africa).

[Tamara in TN]

alpacas and guinea pigs in Peru


Tamara

[jenm]

Get real people. Banning the Slaughter Houses has all but ruined the Horse Industry. People are left with no way out of the financial burden of horse ownership once the animal has become disabled. Regulations say you cannot bury a horse on your own property . . . so, what are people suppose to do with them? Every Rescue Organization you call is FULL, every Foster Home is FULL . . . can you not see the writing on the wall? How do the horses fend in the wild when a cougar runs one down for the dinner kill; do you think that being eaten alive is a fast death? It’s a natural food chain. Horses arn’t going to the slaughter houses for our dinner-table. If the meat goes overseas, who cares; if it goes for dog food, so what . . . it’s a food chain! Our Government does not support our horse fancy interests; it is up to each individual owner. With the economy the way it is, why should I be expected to spend what money I have to support my horse, when I need to feed myself? I don’t hear the same outcry for Cattle, Chickens, Pigs, Sheep, etc.; they are used as companion pets as well as any horse; but, reality is reality. There are far too many horses and not enough individual incomes to cover them and certainly no Grants. You cannot give a horse away these days; come-on get real people!!! Ban together and offer suggestions for a better way to get rid of the unwanted horses, if there is one; but, for right now, the Slaughter Houses are all we got.

You really should do your research before getting up on your soapbox. This topic has been covered multiple times and it's already been proven that horses in the U.S. were no better off even when there were slaughterhouses. Horses were still abandoned, starved, and yes, even shipped across the border to be slaughtered in Mexico.

Besides, horse slaughter still exists in the U.S.! Bravo Packing in NJ does continue to slaughter horses for exotic animal consumption: http://bravopacking.com/products/

P.S. There are also many posts on other threads discussing alternatives. I kindly suggest you get out of panic mode and do some reading.

[katyb]

Get real people. Banning the Slaughter Houses has all but ruined the Horse Industry. People are left with no way out of the financial burden of horse ownership once the animal has become disabled. Regulations say you cannot bury a horse on your own property . . . so, what are people suppose to do with them? Every Rescue Organization you call is FULL, every Foster Home is FULL . . . can you not see the writing on the wall? How do the horses fend in the wild when a cougar runs one down for the dinner kill; do you think that being eaten alive is a fast death? It’s a natural food chain. Horses arn’t going to the slaughter houses for our dinner-table. If the meat goes overseas, who cares; if it goes for dog food, so what . . . it’s a food chain! Our Government does not support our horse fancy interests; it is up to each individual owner. With the economy the way it is, why should I be expected to spend what money I have to support my horse, when I need to feed myself? I don’t hear the same outcry for Cattle, Chickens, Pigs, Sheep, etc.; they are used as companion pets as well as any horse; but, reality is reality. There are far too many horses and not enough individual incomes to cover them and certainly no Grants. You cannot give a horse away these days; come-on get real people!!! Ban together and offer suggestions for a better way to get rid of the unwanted horses, if there is one; but, for right now, the Slaughter Houses are all we got.

Seriously- the bolded part above discredits anything else you might say. It's not as if a horse just suddenly appeared on your property, right? You made a choice, at some point, to own them. If you can't afford to own animals, don't. That's pretty simple.

[luvmytbs]

Get real people. Banning the Slaughter Houses has all but ruined the Horse Industry.

No it hasn't; you can still send your horse to slaughter, just like you were always able to do.

People are left with no way out of the financial burden of horse ownership once the animal has become disabled.

Really? You can afford the horse when you can ride it, but not when you can't? LMAO

Regulations say you cannot bury a horse on your own property . . .so, what are people suppose to do with them? Every Rescue Organization you call is FULL, every Foster Home is FULL . . .

Since when is it a law that someone else is responsible for YOUR horse that YOU decided to get. They aren't like children that you can use to apply for welfare.

With the economy the way it is, why should I be expected to spend what money I have to support my horse, when I need to feed myself?

See above.....

There are far too many horses and not enough individual incomes to cover them and certainly no Grants.

People seem to always look for handouts instead of taking responsibility for their own.

You cannot give a horse away these days;

You can shoot it or have it euthanized humanely.
Actually, if you are that bad off, slaughter it yourself and fill your freezer.

[Guilherme]

Why not just say that if someone wants to kill and eat their own horse, let them. Why should the government get involved? People forget it is legal to slaughter and eat your own horse.

If you want your horse slaughtered, grow some pelotas and do it yourself. You wouldn't have to buy meat for quite some time which would most likely be a better investment than selling the horse for a paltry sum to a KB. The government has already said it's legal to kill your own horse, and that is as involved as the government needs to be on the subject. Period.

We don't have to "say" anything. People can do this now.

The controversy is over public slaughter and sale into the food stream.

Your logic, however, applies. Anyone who does NOT want their horse sold into that stream need only withhold it.

But that's not what happens. Trent and his fellow travelers want to ban anybody from selling into that stream as an attempt to impose their moral and ethical views upon the the entire populace. If the subject of this discussion were the governmental outlawing of abortion or contraception the outrage at governmental intrusion into private affairs would be a firestorm. But since it's horses we've got a totally emotional, and largely irrational, firestorm in the other direction.

G.

[Bluey]

Must be cabin fever or something in the water.
Lately, we seem to get uninformed new posters from all sides.
Some crying horses are being slaughtered, some crying horses are not being slaughtered.

Guess the search function must be not working right.

[JGHIRETIRE]

Did you read this for comprehension before you posted it??
Really?? If you can't feed yourself then why do you even have a horse??
You purposely, acquired this horse at some point and now you want to know why you should be expected to pay for it now that you're broke?
I hope you don't think of your children that way.

GEMO:Our Government does not support our horse fancy interests; it is up to each individual owner. With the economy the way it is, why should I be expected to spend what money I have to support my horse, when I need to feed myself?

[jetsmom]

!! Ban together and offer suggestions for a better way to get rid of the unwanted horses, if there is one; but, for right now, the Slaughter Houses are all we got.

We don't need sh's. You can shoot your own horse or have someone do it, and slaughter and eat it yourself if you are so hard up that you can't afford for a vet to euth/dispose of your horse.
Read some of the slaughter threads (just click on the search feature at the top rt of the forum, and type in slaughter.) There are lots of suggestions offered.

[lifesabreeze]

You really should do your research before getting up on your soapbox. This topic has been covered multiple times and it's already been proven that horses in the U.S. were no better off even when there were slaughterhouses.

Speaking of soapboxes,where has your opinion been proven?