Horse Slaughter Essay Research Paper The Slaughter

Horse Slaughter Essay, Research Paper

The Slaughter of America’s Horses

Any one who has wanted to travel to Europe or Asia, or go on a cross-country trip should follow along with one of many horses at local auctions. That s right, the symbols of the Wild West get to travel where most Americans will never go in their lifetime. However, its recommended that traveling and housing accommodation be booked separated from the horses.

One morning they get on a trailer, a week or two later they are on plates as delicacies in other countries. For years the slaughter of horses has been a highly profitable, low guided practice and what takes place from the time killer-buyers get hold of them, to the time they become another dish, has been kept from the public. Horses are inhumanely transported and held, for no other reason than enjoyment of those in other countries. What can be done to end this violation of animal rights, and why has it been allowed until now. These are the questions racing through avid horse fans’ minds.

Exposed to the eyes of the people is the slaughter of pregnant mares, foals, potential pets, and young but not-fast-enough racehorses. The need for explanation and reformation is at hand. Information ripped from the grasps of the unbeknownst is the best tool in this war. It is mandatory, that the atrocious violation of the animals that helped make America what it is today become know to every person. These pets have been there to help get food, carry materials, and take humans to go where they need to go. Nevertheless, more than helpful objects they have become our friends, loyal companions, and the subject of fantasies and never forgotten stories. A legend would have been lost had famous racehorses such as Eclipse, Flicka, Secretariat, Black Gold and many others been sent to slaughterhouses, all for the sake of taste.

It is true that the demand for horsemeat in this country is virtually non-existent, because it has said to be “tough and tasteless.” (McGraw, 1) However, horsemeat is highly coveted in countries such as Mexico, France, Italy, Belgium, and Holland. (1) The business is booming, and as it grows, so does the interest of the public as to how the horses are treated. Its estimated by the USDA that 346,000 horse were killed here in 1990 for shipment overseas, and 70,000 more were sent to Canada to be slaughtered (USDA,1) Another startling revolution: from 1986 to 1995 2,500,000 of America’s horses were doomed to that ill fate. However, for the Humane Society and a large portion of the concerned population it is not so much the use of the horse as it is the treatment. (McGraw, 1)

For example, the horses are led into auction rings, hair brushed, tails and manes combed, hooves shod and polished. These are the pets the family has lost funding or interest in, so they are up for sale. The selling owner assumes that the horse is off to a new home where it can be better cared for or where it will get the time, they just did not have for him. In addition, these promising homes sit in the viewers at the auction, checking available money, picking and choosing, and bidding. Also in these crowds of family’s, horse-lovers, and prospectors are killer-buyers. Their lack of emotional attachment to the proud magnificent animals allows them to buy large quantities, barely out-bidding the families. All so they can make a few hundred dollars profit and indulge the tastes of over charged well-to-do people in other countries.

Once a killer-buyer purchases the horse, it is led out of the auction ring, unaware it has just been appointed to a miserable death. The horse waits, as the buyer’s stall is steadily filled with more and more horses, some young, some old, some in their prime of health, and some with fractures and breaks that inflict pain with every step. This is the start of the trouble. Mares, geldings, all types of horses wait in one stall, scared, and uncomfortable: fights start. Sates Temple Grandin (noted animal behaviorist) “The number-two thing (largest problem) is horse fights.” (Lehr,1) She was subject to view the many horses, of which had large cuts, knocked out eyes, bite marks, and kick wounds. Horses are then loaded onto a trailer, usually a stock trailer made for hauling animals with no-necks, because they enable the buyer to transport a greater quantity of animals that he will collect on the way to the slaughterhouse. Carolyn Stull, Ph.D., found that 29.2% of horses shipped in such trailers had abrasions and lacerations. Fifty eight percent of these were on the head and face, due to a low second level, which even prevents some horses from standing. This is in contrast to 8% in straight-decked trailers: typical “horse” trailers. (Lehr,1)

The cattle trailers allow room for forty to forty five horses, while the straight decked only allows room for thirty-five to forty. During the trailer ride, the bewildered horses go without food or water. These are horses that come from as far as Washington, New York, and Missouri which often are taken to Texas or Canada, the two places where slaughterhouses are most prominent.

They arrive at their “grave” usually early in the morning, before the vacant, looming buildings have even come to life, but the forbidding silence is enough to keep eyes darting, and ears rotating, as the worn and exhausted horses struggle to figure out what’s next. The buyers wait in their