Freshman Senator Tyson Larson
I applaud you!

Regardless of where the meat is going, regardless of whether or not we choose to be Vegetarian or Vegan…or eat meat - the animals are unwanted, uncared for and suffering.  This is wrong!

I think in some ways the kill trucks are a good thing,but in someways bad. Just because you get tired of taking care of a horse or it don’t him races they shouldn’t be allowed to kill them.

what better purpose than to feed people?  Closing down the slaughter plants just makes it harder on the horses.

It’s not a matter of “getting tired of caring” for a horse.  These are large animals that are expensive to keep.  Are you absolutely CERTAIN of what your situation will be 10-15-25+ years from now, Jeanie?  NO.  It’s not as easy to find a home for a horse as it is for a dog or cat, and there aren’t enough homes for them. 

Couple the numbers with the fact that most horses bred for performance (whether racing or rodeo or working cattle or whatever), even if they don’t make it on the track or don’t buck… have that drive in them.  No matter how deep it is in their psyche, you certainly wouldn’t want a horse bred to buck as a saddle horse for a child.  You don’t know when or where that INHERITED drive will kick in.  The rodeo horse or the race horse that doesn’t perform as a youngster is too expensive for the breeder to waste good feed on it and take away from the ones that do perform.  A handful of them can be placed in homes, but the average rider is not capable of handling a thoroughbred.

I applaud him! Way to go! And I agree with Cathy 100%. What should have happened was to fix the problems first instead of just shutting the plants down. Educate owners, make a system for horses similar to dogs. EX, Broke POA’s for beginner to moderate riders. Make classes like that so people understand to some types of horses need a firmer hand and someone who knows what they are doing. Not all horses are the same, especially in their own breed but creating classes for the horses gives a potential owner an idea. Even people selling horses should classify them individually so a beginner rider doesn’t buy a horse that needs an experienced rider. People will see it clearly an know what kind of horse they need for their riding level. It will make it so people buy the horses and can use them, instead of just buying a horse at an auction then having to sell it because they can’t do anything with it. That would be a start atleast. Another thing would be to have mandated seminars for people wanting to buy a horse so they know what they are getting into. A horse isn’t a 3-4 year thing, a horse is for life. That’s a big responsibility that some people rush into, then realize that it is just too much for them to handle. Down in the States I realize that there was a shortage of hay and it was super expensive, I understand that is something people can’t predicte or change. But I think people should understand and expect thing like that to happen. Keep a bit of hay on hand for emergency, at least enough to last the horse till you figure out what must be done.

The federal government says plans from a rookie Nebraska legislator to bring horsemeat processing to Nebraska are as dead as the severed horse hooves at a Mexican abattoir.

“There is no possibility under the current law for a state-inspected meat plant to ship any meat, interstate or internationally, for human consumption,” said USDA spokesman Neil Gaffney to a Nebraska Newspaper.

As a bill is being debated in the unicameral Nebraska legislature, the federal agency reiterated that federal law TRUMPS state law, and to sell horse meat the product would have to have the imprimatur of federal meat inspectors. Congress years ago denied funding for the inspection of horse meat thereby applying a killing captive bolt to the horse processing industry in this country. There is no possibility under the current law for a state-inspected meat plant to ship any meat, interstate or internationally, for human consumption. I guess Larson and his cronies have forgotten about this!!

Well said. Well - said.

You have got to be kidding! This is not about the HSUS this is about killing horses in Nebraska. The real issue of “homeless horses” is the crashing economy, loss of jobs, and homes. I testified at the hearings on these bills. They do not want to know the real facts of “homeless horses” they want THE MONEY pure and simple.

I’m a 100% behind Sen. Larson and the rest of the Senators here in Nebraska that are seeing the truth. We will never all agree about what is the right way and what is and isn’t inhumane, but we should have the choice.  That’s what America is about!!! And yes Valerie, it is about HSUS if it wasn’t for organizations like them spending millions of dollars sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong (because their inevitable goal is to eliminate animal agriculture.) We would not be in this situation we are facing know. I also was at the hearing, and disagree with you on most points. As far as for processing horses, it needs to come back plane and simple.

Horse abandonment is a consequence of the stoppage of horse slaughter in the U.S., brought about by the HSUS. Those who do not abandon their horses, instead, ship their horses to Mexico and Canada to be slaughtered there, resulting in arguably far less humane conditions for the horse than the previous status quo. I would rather see humane horse slaughter taking place in Nebraska, even if the carcass is disposed of, than what we have in place now.

@Valerie Hinderlider, I believe you’re wrong. This IS about HSUS and their blind devotion to animal rights regardless of the consequences. At one time, people were paid cash for their horses to be slaughtered because horse meat processing was a profitable business. Thanks to HSUS, an old, injured or sick horse is not only worthless, it’s a liability.

I have been involved with the racing and 3 day eventing circuit since i was 12. The number of unwanted horses is outrageous, because so many of these horses “don’t make the cut.” Maybe with the mental attitude but so many of these animals just break down and really cant handle another life because they don’t know how to wind down and be a pasture pet (as if anyone could afford one these days), and i will say some of these horses are just absolute lunatics because they are such HOT breeds. Very few people know how to handle EX-Performance horses. and instead of turning these animals over to inexperienced riders that don’t have the means to train them and inevitably will end up hurting the rider and animal. Many people will hate me for this but Slaughter Houses for horses saves money, time, and needless suffering both emotionally and physically. The sad thing this is just a small area of the horse world that slaughter takes the stress off of.

Valerie you are so right.  It’s more than money it has been an avenue for way to many years for these ranchers to get rid of their excess horses.

Who in their right mine would wnat to eat any horsement from the US?  The meat is loaded with
carcinogens.

Yes it is all about the $$$.

Bring back horse meat! It’s FOOD!

It isnt so much for human consumption its also the big cats and meat eating animals at the zoos and circuses. They use to give them horse meat as it is leaner and better for them, now that they cant get it at the slaughter houses they are people who go out and kill horses in pastures for this black market trade. So they are taking someone elses pride and joy and slughtering them in the owners pasture. OR they horses are being turned loose into state parks or just on the roads. But worst is the ones being STARVED to death. Where the heck is PETA and HSUS why arent THEY helping take these horses, they are the ones who are responsible for these horses being done this way. Lets see them step forward and purchase food for these horses, buy property to take care of them since they are sooooo concerned about their welfare.

@Marge and Valerie. I’d have you know that I am one of the ranchers you say are just in it for the money. I disagree entirely. I care for my animals but I support humane horse slaughter. There are some horses that have been born mean and stay mean. We will disagree about this but when I have an animal that is just down right nasty and I can’t fix it, I’m going to send it straight to the slaughter house. That is the MOST responsible thing that I can do. I refuse to take that mean horse and put it through the auction, where it might end up in the hands of a new horse owner or a family. I refuse to allow anyone to have the chance of getting hurt because of that animal. I make money off of it, sure. But I would at the auction and I would at the slaughter plant. I could just shoot and shut up but why would I waste an animal’s flesh that someone makes the choice to eat? Or even for it to go to zoos for the big cats to eat. Hell, even for the miscellaneous products they can be used for. I’m my eyes, a horse is livestock. It is not a pet. It is not a dog or a cat. It is a giant animal that could hurt someone if it moves wrong. Horses are LEGALLY livestock and EMOTIONALLY companions. In these highly controversial topics we must use our heads and not our hearts. Logic must trump emotion. This world has been founded on logic, not emotion. But logic is ignored because ‘the horse is pretty’. Is a cow not pretty? Is a chicken not pretty? A pig, a goat, a sheep? Why are these animals ignored when faced with a horse? And I do not want to hear how ‘the horse was a major part in settling the west’. I’m sorry to say but the cow played a MUCH larger part than the horse. Without the cows there would be no drive to settle the west. No farms would be built, no giant cattle drives that turned the wheels of the old west. Without cows there would be no COWboys to settle the west. Stop being a speciesist and if you don’t like that horses are processed for food, the you shouldn’t like how cows, pigs, chickens, sheep or goats are processed. I certainly hope you are vegan because the slaughter house rules are basically the same right across the board. Also, Canadian plants are heavily regulated and are now fixing the problems with their chute systems. Mexico is the place everyone should be trying to shut down.

My opinion of slaughter:
It’s a cruel way for shady and irresponsible horse owners to easily divest themselves of horses that were born the wrong color or didn’t get in foal on command or didn’t run fast enough or that they lamed up, allowed to get hurt on some fence, used up in some way, failed to train, failed to be talented enough to ride, bred in the mistaken belief they were going to make money…you get the picture.
It has never been anything more than that. It’s a paycheck written in blood instead of a VISA charge from the vet for euthanasia. It’s an easy way out instead of removing your backside from the couch and actually working with that rank youngster you forgot to train because you were to busy doing other things. Equine slaughter has, for many years, shown us just how cruel and money-motivated human beings can be, as we watched the Krazy Kolor Breeders sell their poor little red colts off to the kill buyer at $50 a pop every September.

And now that we are finally making significant progress toward ending slaughter forever and forcing horse owners to make more responsible choices, because responsible choices will be the only choices that are legal, we have to contend with the hold outs — a small but noisy group of angry, cheap, stuck-in-the-1800′s who say that being asked to be responsible enough to at least put a ten cent bullet in the head of that old broodmare or sterile stud or red colt is going to ruin their life and drive them out of business, dammit! (Never mind that thousands of anti-slaughter people are able to make ends meet and show a profit in the horse business by providing quality services and not breeding.

Horses are not livestock in my neck of the woods they are listed as companion animals, as it should be.

I have loved and taken care of other peoples’ horses since I was10. I was never able to have my own horse until I moved to Nebraska - and I adopted a 10-year-old pinto mare who had been abandoned when the riding stable (2 states away) shut down. Gracie Lou is a wonderful horse, gentle and kind and a good herd mama for my small herd of miniature cattle, as well as a superb mount with a ‘rocking horse’ gait. Not all horses are Gracie Lou; one I tried first was just plain mean, and I had no use for her, so did not buy her. I can’t afford to adopt every horse, or even more than one; my property is not big enough to support two horses.

As much as I love horses, I totally support the idea of a regulated horse-slaughtering plant in Nebraska, my adopted home. I have seen what happens to the ‘wild’ abandoned horses of the plains; disease-ridden, bug-infested, half-starved, many crippled or at least partially so. Most people won’t rescue them because they would take too long to feed up, train, or know if they will be good workers or good mounts. And what about all the breeders for the “Premarin” horses - the horses who were bred for the now disallowed drug made from pregnant horse urine? No one has found homes for even 1/3 of those horses, three years later!

Most people who want to “save the horses” have a picture in their minds of horses running free, their manes and tails blowing in the wind, healthy and exuberant. This is NOT the natural state of a wild horse, and certainly bears no relation to the reality of abandoned horses. Yet few of these soft-hearted dreamers will step up, buy the property, the food, the medicines, the training necessary to save ONE horse, much less the thousands that exist today. They want to make laws that restrict “all those other horrible people” - but won’t take any responsibility themselves. “It’s easy to be a farmer when your plow is a pencil and you are 1,000 miles from a cornfield.” What isn’t easy is watching animals suffer and die slow horrible deaths because of a few self-righteous folk who have no conception of - or interest in - reality.

When I said all about the money, I never said cattlemen. However, it seems that the range wars are still on. By the way there would have been no way to handle the cattle without the horse, in fact still isn’t to this day.
What I meant was money in the pockets of the Senators. The baloney statement that horsemeat will feed the poor is just that. It is a multi-million dollars business to provide horsemeat for overseas consumption ie: expensive eating establishments. 
Those rich corporations have money to spare to lobby for the deaths of our horses. I don’t want them making decesions on what happens to our horses. The majority of Nebraskans do not want horse slaughter, our government won’t listen to the people, as usual.

HSUS & PETA is, in my opinion, is at fault here. Irregardless of our choices to eat or not to eat horse meat, the bottom line here is, animal rights. Horse farms who’ve taken care of the horses 100% humanly are in every right to use them for food (FYI, this is coming from me, who would NEVER, EVER eat horse meat). This goes for the cows, pigs, chickens & turkeys. If creating veal was possible w/ out cruelty, would we not be more accepting of it?
EVERY animal deserves to be cared for. Isn’t that what we expect from groups such as HSUS & PETA? Aren’t they the groups who we expect to speak up & do the right thing? The US is a country in which holds millions of meat eaters & dairy lovers (i am one of them). No matter how much money PETA or the HSUS spends on marketing veganism & vegetarianism, most people aren’t going to change. I still swat flies, wear makeup, drink 3 gallons of milk a week & feed MYSELF, MY DOG & MY CAT w/ real meat!

Side note: Domestic Cows & horses will not survive w/out humans caring for them…if the US stops all beef & milk production, who is going to care for billions of cows & horses, both physically & financially? The farmers? Theyll be broke from loosing there jobs. The HSUS? LMAO! Ya right…. hasn’t that already been proven?

@Marge…  SERIOUSLY?!?!? CARCINOGENS?!?!  Why are you feeding your horses carcinogens?????  Because I dont!!!!  And furthermore….. you can NOT make money selling horses for slaughter. Its a go broke avenue. It costs at least $2000 to get a horse to mature weight/height/age. A mature horse would average say 1250lbs. Even when the slaughter market was strong, the most they brought in our area was $0.80/lb. Do the math….  here, Ill do it for you….  We have a horse that we have $2000 in (minimum). It weights 1250. we sell is at $0.80/lb that comes to $1000!! so we are already at a $1000 loss IF we had no other expenses into the horse except feed and we dont get paid for our time and trouble not to mention interest in the money part of the investment that is tied up in limbo for at least 2 years to get them to mature weight/height. How in your ignorant mind can you honestly say that anyone would raise horses for slaughter to “MAKE MONEY”?!?!?!  Even at $1.00/lb, its still a HUGE loss!!!!!!  Now, say the horse had training, etc.. into it and got hurt, heck your loss can quickly add up to THOUSANDS in a heartbeat! It costs at least $75 per month to feed a horse and that isnt feeding it well. The REAL numbers show where it is NOT profitable for a rancher to raise horses FOR slaughter, but it does need to be available for all of the unwanted horses. people can hardly GIVE a horse away for free anymore. There just isnt enough people out there who can or want to take another one on. It IS a HUGE commitment, not like a stray dog that you can throw some table scraps to. How many horses are you willing to take in since you preach your views????  I imagine I can have your backyard FULL in a few phone calls and a few hours if your willing to take them on and BACK your stance on anti slaughter. Thats how many are out there that people are desperate to get rid of. In some areas, the kill buyers are CHARGING the owners to take the horses as they have to justify getting their fuel cost back once they sell for slaughter. 

@whomever:  Until the Animal rights nutbags can come up with a 100% effective SOLUTION that will keep these horses from being abandoned, neglected, etc…  then the slaughterhouse IS a necessary evil that i would prefer to be under the strict US regulations. This is a lot of wasted energy in a “going green” world that we are wasting this valuable resource. Its sad how many uneducated people are arguing this. People should be ashamed at themselves when they look in their mirrors for putting these horses through this epidemic!!! But most will never set foot in the reality of this deal. They only see things for their narrow perspective. Captive bolt IS a humane Euthanasia method. Ive had several bad experiences in the past with chemical euthanasia. Your giving the animal a drug induced heart attack.

does not need to be for human consumption.. my dogs will happily eat horse meat..

Nicki do you not worm or vaccinate your horses?

No meds at all?

What about not breeding every year, how about only breed what you can sell?

As far as euthanasia verses captive bolt please note the following:

Slaughter is NOT humane euthanasia. “The captive bolt is not a proper instrument for the slaughter of equids, these animals regain consciousness 30 seconds after being struck, they are fully aware they are being vivisected.” -Dr. Lester Friedlander, DVM & Former Chief USDA Inspector

@ BEA…. VERY well said…...        
@ Marge…. We bred a World Champion sweetheart of a mare t a very good natured World Champion stud. Had a phenomenal baby which we knew that we could easily price at $15-$20,000 as a weanling. This little guy was everything that he shouldve been from this cross except one thing…. His attitude. This guy was mean from about 3 hours after his birth til the day I took him to the slaughter plant. We worked our butts off for 2 years trying to gentle this guy. We knew if we ran him through a sal, some idiot would try to make a youth horse out of him and a kids would get hurt. At the time, I was engaged to a leading trainer. We had about $8000 when we took him and received $645 for him for slaughter. At the time we were in a town that wouldn’t allow burial pus we we only on 20 acres.  For eutha and disposal it wouldve cost over $550 and it’s against the law to shoot a gun in our county on less than 75 acres. We opted to use our $550 toward the other horses on the farm as well as the almost $650 that we received from the colt. Yes we had 30 training horses in the barn and 2 of the top 20 youth in the nation in our barn but we also had others that we cared for that the money was better used for. Over the years I have literally rescued over 100 horses. I took on 4 last year… How many on here can say they have done that, with their own money, etc…..  Not all ran horses are the result of lack of training or attention.  And again, I’ve seen chemical euth go wrong plenty of times as well and I’ve euthanized quite a few. Bea stated it very well the REALITY of many of these unwanted horses. Rescues are overfull and I’ve even heard of rescues that had to be rescued….  Probably THE BEST funded rescues in the world is the TB retirement foundation…. They are now having to be rescued as well!!!! We are now making twice as many suffer as a result and there is fewer homes than ever to take a horse in. I don’t think that people in the high rises should be able t vote on this issue. These are people who have no clue about the reality of the horse crisis and will never prob own a horse themselves or sponsor one. These aren’t dogs and ats but large livestock that consume a lot financially and they are suffering now as a result. No one says that you have to take your horse for slaughter, but it’s good the option is there. In over 30 yrs in this business, I’ve taken one. I’d take other if I had to and couldn’t find homes and afford to feed them. There’s many horses out there in that very same situation.
@ Valerie .. In our struggling US economy, it’s not a bad idea to have millions of dollars coming INTO our economy as well. That also helps our country as a whole even if the meat does not feed our homeless,, with a stimulated economy, we can put money back into homeless programs that has been taken away due to lack of funds. But there is a very real desire for horsemeat IN our country as well statistics show. Our country is a melting pot of many cultures that do eat horsemeat. Plus in a going green world, it’s simply ALOT of wasted energy!!!

I had to put my good running mare down as she had lung problems, this was NOT from something I did or didnt do she came to me this way, we used euthanasia and it was HORRIBLE!! The mare could hardly breath and this made her feel even worse and she freaked out BIG TIME went over backwards tumbled down a small hill and was just plain crazy with fear. I would hope NEVER to have to do that again!!
And Marge I DO only breed every so many yrs for myself, if people buy them great if not no big deal
How many horses do YOU own Marge how many have you saved from starving to death?? Or are you one of the MANY who shout and yell how bad things are but dont do a damn thing to help those animals in need??

Part 1…Yes I do worm and vaccinate my horses and our cattle. I do not sell when they are within the withdrawl period.  Post withdrawl, the meat is safe.
I also have used steroids on horses, especially the rescues…. but again, I would never sell if they are not considered safe. Im all for testing pre and post mortum to determine if i horse needs to be held in a feedlot for a week or two or if the meat needs to be sold as by products only. If people get a lower premium for horses that test positive, they wont bring them til they are cleared which makes the meat also safer for human consumption. And dont be fooled that the meat that you buy in your grocery store may not be recently wormed or vaccinated. we have the ability to affordably buy tests for most drug testing over the counter at any walgreens. Im ALL FOR developing the same sort of test that can effectively test the horse for many substances before it goes thru the auction ring, etc…  That would eliminate the whole argument that the meat is tainted, etc… 
I feed 26 broodmares right now, 40 horses total including mares, colts, studs, and rescues. For the last 7 years, Ive had anywhere from 1 to 7 foals depending on the year, but most have been 4 foals.I have been known to freeze semen on a colt that i think may make something and then geld them later when they would be better suited as a gelding, never once actually breeding the colt. I have an 8 yo stud here thats out of a tremendous cross and hes a nice colt himself, but Ive never bred a mare to him. Most of our colts dont breed a mare until they are around 5 and have a show record, but we have bred some earlier. I HAVE done my part as many breeders that i know have. We also quit standing our studs to the public for 4 years and even now, Im really picky who I will breed to the point I have offended some mare owners by refusing their mares. One this year got in a huge huff. So again, I have done my part. I have had anywhere from 6 to 9 studs on the farm between my own and customers studs and the most mares that ive bred in a single year (TOTAL) including my own and customers mares have been 52 mares, mainly because I didnt worry about breeding anything to my own studs. the majority of these mares were to customers studs.. Again, I have not worried if any outside mares come to our stallions and I have had a few studs not breed a single mare for multiple years. How many breeders can say the same. I have World Champion sires, world show top 10 winners, Congress winners, etc… for studs and they are all sired and/or out of world champions as well. Most of my mares are proven producers with a few also being world champion producers and all are out of world champions as well. due to the advancing age on some of these mares (12+) I am breeding 16 mares this year BUT I am hoping to retain at least 5 fillies out of them. These fillies are being kept so that I keep my bloodlines around. Doesnt mean that Im going to rush and breed them, because my track record says that I wont but I will have the bloodlines still. I have a multiple world champion producer who hasnt had a foal in 4 years. I will be breeding her this year as she is 19 and I pray for a filly. I also participate in greener pastures program and write directly ON their papers to notify me if they ever need to sell as I will try to help them resell or may repurchase and HAVE repurchased several. So before you make a statement like this…...
What about not breeding every year, how about only breed what you can sell?...... 
you should not assume because one is a breeder that they are breeding rampantly!!  The problem isnt the top breeders, its the backyard barnie breeders that advertise on Craigslist and such, range run 100 mares with a stallion and the horses are just horses, many grade. I dont agree with breeding grade horses and will NOT and NEVER have bred grade mares to my studs. I also dont agree with the rescues destroying their registration papers as I feel that the papers helps to give them another shot at getting a show home, etc…  whats the point of throwing the papers out, in the case of mares, this doesnt prevent them from ever being bred and you see so many of these horses going into the type of home that we are running out of ... the trail rider, back yard one or two horse homes. many of which are no longer keeping horses.

part 2….There is NOT a 100% effective form of euthanasia!!
The AVMA is a whole organization that has been involved in much research etc… and they stand behind that captive bolt is a humane form of euthanasia.  I personally have seen over for chemical euthanasia go VERY bad. I have heard at least 15 vets in 5 states say the same thing. I have a good friend who is a USDA vet that also worked slaughterhouse for horses and for cattle. She IS a horse lover but also feels that it is a necessary evil. She said that in all of the horses that she has seen put down with captive bolt, she can think of only a handful that went wrong so the speak and could think of many more than shes seen go wrong with a shot. Again, there is NOT a 100% effective form of euthanasia that will work perfectly every time. Many horses are also aware and feel their induced heart attack as well which is why they are tranquilized first and still will thrash some many times. And once these euthanized horses are buried, you are putting VERY dangerous chemicals into the ground water and therefore into our ecosystem! AGAIN I need to stress that NOTHING is 100% perfect!!!  Most of ours are put down and buried on the farm, but there has been times when I needed to look into other alternatives. Once a horse went to slaughter, and a few occasions Ive had them shot, and Ive chemically euthanized. The one thing Ive seen no issues with is gun shot, but Ive heard of some so it isnt 100% effective either. This isnt a perfect world with perfect solutions, we just have to do the best with the overall picture. Letting these horses starve, etc.. like we are doing now ISNT the best solution by far!!!  We took in a rescue a few years ago that they lady tried desperately to give the horses away, she couldnt, she was losing everything and having a hard time even caring for herself due to a medical issue that popped up. She tried to be responsible and no one would take them. the rescues refused her as well. so she ended up letting them starve. By the time someone cared enough to step in, it was too late for many, and they found 2 horses being eaten alive by pigs who ARE opportunistic omnivores and will usually be the last to not survive. Tell me that it was better to not only let them have hunger pains for months, but how bout to lay there, unable to fight and live thru being eaten alive?!?!  There has been abandoned horses facing the same fate with other wildlife all too often anymore!!!  THAT is the reality right now!!!  there is NO WAY that ANYONE can convince me that this is a better option than having slaughter available!!!! I recently looked into euthanizing an old mare, I called 15 vets in our area, the CHEAPEST was $200!!!!! if people cant afford to feed them, they cant afford that either!! then for properties less than 20 acres, its illegal to bury and even in some areas, you cant even on more than 20 acres… so to dispose of them, your looking at another $250.
Im all for developing a better slaughter plant and providing better salaries to hire skilled and caring workers, to limit numbers processed in a day (not hours, but numbers!!) I think that there should be many smaller plants around so that there is one available within a 5 hour drive and by making more plants that handle smaller numbers, you can allow for safer handling. Im all for having a checks and balances type of program but people need to be realistic that nothing is ever 100% perfect!!!  And people need to understand that of the hundreds and thousands that were slaughtered, the ratio to bad issues is relatively low. And as one vet said, maybe even lower than with chemical euthanasia. 

And dont ever be fooled by those who once were involved in things one way and later jump onto the animal rights bandwagon.  There are many people in history who have turned full circle and jumped onto leftwing causes.

Just my opinion…..  there is no such thing as “humane slaughter”.  Those two words should not appear linked. Not even by Temple Grandin. There’s humane raising of animals/humane treatment/humane rescue. Slaughter is slaughter—chicken/goat/cattle/pig. “Humane” makes us feel better—not the animal. If a slaughterhouse treats the animals as sentient beings and “processes” them in ways that are quick and it’s over—well good—it’s still slaughter. The animal never gave consent to end its life.  I am not trying to change what you eat—just trying to say the real word that goes with the picture—and the word is: slaughter. No adjective.

A brief history of horse slaughter:

In 1990, there were about 12 horse slaughter plants operating in the U.S. One of these was Central Nebraska Packing in North Platte. Along with plants in Canada and Mexico USDA statistics show they slaughtered a total of 419,133 American horses that year. Both the number of slaughterhouses and horses slaughtered declined steadily through the decade despite no legal restrictions until California banned slaughter in 1998. Nobody claimed that this 77.5 percent reduction caused any problems.

By 2000 there were only three, foreign owned, horse slaughter plants left in the U.S.; two in Texas and one in Illinois. Horse slaughter declined until 2002, and then rebounded slightly to a level just over 100,000 horses a year.

In January 2007 the two Texas plants were closed when the courts ruled that a 1949 law against selling horsemeat for human consumption was still in effect. The Dallas Crown plant in Kaufman Texas had earlier been ordered closed by the town Board of Adjustments because of pollution, but had successfully remained open through legal delaying.

The remaining Cavel plant in DeKalb, Ill., was shut down in September 2007 after unsuccessfully challenging a new state law against slaughtering horses for human consumption. The removal of funding for required inspections had also closed the plant temporarily and the work-around program allowing the plants to pay for their own inspections was eventually ruled to be illegal. Like Dallas Crown, the plant was also facing massive fines for its sewage discharge.

The key to the issue is what happened after the plants closed; virtually nothing. The plants relocated their plants to Canada and Mexico in weeks.

In the 10 years before the closings an average of 117,121 American equines were slaughtered per year, and in the three years afterward the annual average was virtually the same at 116,867.

Just as many horses are being purchased at approximately the same prices from the same auctions as before the closings. Therefore, any claim that the closures harmed the horse market or caused horses to be neglected is inescapably false.

We have had slaughter available and it failed to protect the horse market from the recession.

Marge
“You can’t be liberated in your thinking if you’re conservative in your approach.”

Here’s another tid bit about horse processing, Marge.
It is a major meat in only a few countries, notably in Central Asia, but it forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many others, from Europe to South America to Asia, the top eight countries consuming about 4.7 million horses a year. For the majority of mankind’s early existence wild horses were hunted as a source of protein.

This avoidance and the loss of taste for it is relatively modern, although it comes out of complex historical and cultural origins.

In the late Paleolithic (Magdalenian Era), wild horses formed an important source of food. In many parts of Europe, the consumption of horse meat continued throughout the Middle Ages until modern times, despite a Papal ban of horse meat in 732. Horse meat was also eaten as part of Germanic pagan religious ceremonies in northern Europe, particularly ceremonies associated with the worship of Odin.

Domesticated horses and cattle did not exist in the Americas until the Age of Discovery( Early 15th century), and the Conquistadors owed much of their success to their war horses. The Europeans’ horses became feral, and were hunted by the indigenous Pehuenche people of what is now Chile and Argentina. At first they hunted horses as they did other game, but later they began to raise them for meat and transport. The meat was, and still is, preserved by being sun-dried in the high Andes into a product known as charqui.

France dates its taste for horse meat to the Revolution. With the fall of the aristocracy, its auxiliaries had to find new means of subsistence. Just as hairdressers and tailors set themselves up to serve commoners, the horses maintained by aristocracy as a sign of prestige ended up alleviating the hunger of lower classes. It was during the Napoleonic campaigns when the surgeon-in-chief of Napoleon’s Grand Army, Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, advised the starving troops to eat the meat of horses. At the siege of Alexandria, the meat of young Arab horses relieved an epidemic of scurvy. At the battle of Eylau in 1807, Larrey served horse as soup and bœuf à la mode. In Aspern-Essling (1809), cut from the supply lines, the cavalry used the horses’ breastplates as cooking pots and gunpowder as seasoning, and thus founded a tradition.
Hunger during World War II led to horses being eaten

Horse meat gained widespread acceptance in French cuisine during the later years of the Second French Empire. The high cost of living in Paris prevented many working-class citizens from buying meat such as pork or beef, so in 1866 the French government legalized the eating of horse meat and the first butcher’s shop specializing in horse meat opened in eastern Paris, providing quality meat at lower prices. During the Siege of 1870-71, horse meat was eaten by anyone who could afford it, partly because of a shortage of fresh meat in the blockaded city, and also because horses were eating grain which was needed by the human populace. Many Parisians gained a taste for horse meat during the siege, and after the war ended, horse meat remained popular. Likewise, in other places and times of siege or starvation, horses are viewed as a food source of last resort.

Despite the general Anglophone taboo, horse and donkey meat was eaten in Britain, especially in Yorkshire, until the 1930s, and in times of post-war food shortage surged in popularity in the United States and was considered for use in hospitals. A 2007 Time magazine article about horse meat brought in from Canada to the United States characterized the meat as sweet, rich, super lean, oddly soft meat, and closer to beef than venison.

TL;DR: Horses have been eaten for thousands of years and it’s only recently that people don’t think its okay.

Marge I dont know where the heck you are getting your facts from but here in Mo prices for horses are WAY down to almost nothing!!!  AND they are not paying as much for slaughter horses either, they are real picky about what they take and all too, before crippled horses that had poor quality of life were taken to the slaughter pens as a way to end their suffering, now they are left to suffer or starve how is that better?
  Ann animals have been slaughtered since Adam and Eves time do you REALLY think PETA and HSUS are going to get that stopped and YES there are Humane ways of doing it. Just because you dont agree with it does NOT make it inhumane, Course Abortions are Killing and yet they are allowed to take place everyday and those babies did NOT choose to end their lives either did they? Or the animal that lays beside the road, do you think it just said hey I guess I will wait here for a car to come by then jump out in front of it, as I want to end my life. Its just about the same as what you said above!!

Debbie, “save the whales (or horses or cattle or pigs or rats or really any animal but dogs/cats) and kill the babies” is the hippie, treehugging, animal rightist. “social justice”, mantra.  Every species has a “right” to live except for humans in their warped minds.

Arguing with Marge is like arguing with a blind person who was told the sky is green and doesn’t know any better. I’m sure Marge has never witnessed a foal being born or has never even had a horse of her own. So she has no clue how much it costs to feed a horse much less what else goes into it. Whomever said $75/month for a horse is being on the conservative side. I was spending over $100/month on my horse in the winter and that didn’t include vet bills. She was a companion horse, she was a great kid’s horse and my kids were raised on her back. I would never have dreamed of slaughtering her or selling her to someone who would slaughter her, but she wasn’t every horse. Growing we had horses that were just born plain mean and there was no amount of training to train the meanness out. We used to call them man killers because that is what they would do if giving the chance. For the safety of humans which these animal rights idiots can’t seem to get through their heads the horses needed to be disposed of and humans are more important than a horse. Not to mention now people want them euthanized humanely, when I was growing up we did this by a gun shot and 99 times out of 100 one shot and it was over quickly. I’ve witnessed euthanasia on a dog and a horse that went horribly wrong and a bullet would have been a more humane choice but the animal rights folks think that’s so cruel.

So my opinion is if you’ve never owned a horse then you should get no say unless you’re willing and able to take the horses that are starving to death and take care of them for life.
Which as Marge has refused to answer whether she’s ever had a horse or takes them in, I’m going to assume she hasn’t but wants to butt her nose into other people’s business although she has no clue what she’s talking about.