Okay—if there are no vets then who will run the veterinary medical association?

There are no vets on the HSUS advisory board, ie, the big board that tells everyone what to do.  The Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association is their attempt to snare veterinarians into the philosophy. 

I find it funny that we (veterinarians) have to attend at least 8 years of school to become a vet, but people with no background in animal care run the HSUS.  I mean, really, what do they know??

Dr. DeHaven is totally avoiding the fact that underneath what he is saying is that “sending a horse to slaughter is humane.” I would like to hear anyone, say horse slaughter is humane and their proof of such a claim!

I do not see how proper horse slaughter is not humane? Yes, there were issues with previous horse slaughter facilities that needed to be changed, but what people do not realize is horses that are not being slaughtered and valued as a resource are wasting away in our nations parks, decimating our grasslands, or are being shipped across the border to Mexico for slaughter, where regulations regarding humane treatment are practically non-existent!

@ Vet Student. There is not any form of killing a horse in a slaughterhouse that would be considered humane. Humane obviously means different things to different people, if there is disagreement on that topic.

The fact is they (the Wild Horses and Burros) are doing just fine on “their protected land,” which are not National Parks, but protected land for Wild Horses and Burros by Congressional action signed into law by President Nixon. What is going on is “smoke and mirrors” but mostly lies directly from the BLM, under the Interior Secretary Salazar. He is a cattle rancher and hunter and deeply involved with Oil and Gas companies. This is not rocket science, it is a total betrayal to the animals and to the American People who demanded 4 decades ago that the horse slaughter end and they be given land to roam free on, which is land strictly for Wild Horses and Burros. They ( the BLM do not send horses directly to slaughter, they have middle men for that that adopt the animals and then sell them to Death Merchants that then sell them to Canada or Mexico for overseas markets. Not all are sent to slaughter to be sure, but many will find their way to this horrible fate, under these illegal “round-ups”!

As a vet student you know that cattle are much more destructive to the environment and ecology where these animals are being “rounded up” to make room for more cattle. That is coming directly from the mouth of high ranking officials at the BLM. Cattle pull the grass and roots out of the ground, because they can’t cut the grass because the have no upper teeth, which you know. While on the other hand Horses and Burros DO clip or cut the grass with their front teeth (upper and lower). The only Wild Horses and Burros that have died from neglect or from unnatural causes have died during the round-ups, being chased to near death by helicopters and afterwards being placed in very stressful situations and removed from their family members and/or loose their foals that get lost in the desert or losing their still fragile hooves by again being run so hard and with such stress from the helicopters in very hot weather, after which they are placed in “holding pens” and many develop stress induced illnesses, broken bones, deep cuts and more, some fatal. All due to the so-called helping save them from the terrible conditions they are supposed to be living in. It is not true and your school knows better than to follow the false claims of the Interior Department, or they should. Investigate for yourself and please don’t take anyone’s “word” for something that they stand to make a lot of money at promoting and carrying out such actions.

@ Paul Hester: you display your own ignorance.

Grasslands evolved to be grazed, and MUST be grazed or they eventually get overwhelmed by invasive weeds, which destroys the grassland ecosystem. What grazed the grasslands before cattle? Bison (in similar numbers to today’s cattle), which as a grazer are effectively identical to cattle. The grass doesn’t know the difference.

Second, you are clearly not a livestock person, or you’d be aware that cattle do NOT graze down to the roots, and will only pull roots as a last resort (when starving, same as horses/burros will do). You are confusing cattle/bison with goats and sheep, which tend to clip grasses much shorter. However, unless starving, they don’t pull grass up by the roots either. Also, sheep and goats tend to eat weeds first, grass second, being more browsers than grazers.

As it happens I live in a major sheep grazing area (formerly grazed by antelope). When the sheep come through regularly, the land stays pretty well covered in the native grass, despite being a fragile near-desert grassland. When we don’t get sheep for a couple years, it all goes to tumbleweeds (an invasive weed originally from Asia) and cheatgrass (another foreign invasive weed, not useful for graze or ground cover), which also crowd out the native wildflowers as well as the native grass.

@ Scarlet   What is your position on “Wild Horses and Burros” as it pertains to this comment section?

I concede that cattle do not entirely pull up all the grass and their roots when grazing. You are also correct that I am not a livestock person or expert. I was correct that cattle will pull up more grassroots than horses in everyday grazing, because of their disadvantage of only having a lower set of teeth. I have watched cattle graze in Florida, where there was abundent grass and it was not unusal to see the cattle wrap their tougue around the grass and pull up it’s roots. Although as you say this is not typical, but is part of the what does happen when cattle graze, albiet, not the norm. I have watched horses graze and from what I saw seemed to be less grass being pulled up by the roots, with both farms having being roughly similiar in the density and coverage of grass. For what that is worth, there it is.

As a livestock person, I would like to know your stance on sending horses to slaughter when the owners for whatever reason, decide their fate is “best” being sent to slaughter. What do you think of people that have owned horses for the animal’s entire life and then when no longer useful or too old are sent of to slaughter? Some claiming they are unable to own, borrow, rent a backhoe to bury their “charges” when the animal dies. Would you sir, send your horses off to the slaughterhouse, instead of giving them care till death and a decent burial? I don’t want to pre-judge your beliefs about animals and their ability to fear, feel pain and suffering, just because you are a “livestock” person. It seems to me these horse owners get all the best years out of their horses and then when they have exhausted all usefulness to the owner, they can’t even let them have a few years to live and then a burial vs. being sent off to slaughter. Keep in mind these horse owners that are in favor of this see their horses as magnificent creatures and proudly show off their horses in what ever entertainment/income these horses supply, then near the end see them as nothing more than livestock to be “brutally killed”. If you have seen hoses killed with a captive bolt gun, you know what I mean. Even sent to be shot and the cut up for their flesh seems to me a very, very cold person, that sees the world for what can be taken and not given, to put it in the nicest terms I know how.

I do appreciate your insight on the buffalo, now bison, as the pre-cattle grazers of the “natural” grasslands vs. the “semi-natural” grasslands we have primarily today where humans control the grazing. It helped me understand and gives a lot of validity to the mass killings of the once 30 million strong “Buffalo” that roamed the the praires of the mid-west. They were not easily manged or herded, while relatively speaking, cattle are much easier to herd and mild mannered. It seems there was a direct connect to the “extinction” of the true “Buffalo” and now that same land is now, as you said grazed by cattle. I find it very Interesting, and
very sad what mankind will do to other species for his own greed and desires.

Perhaps someday we can discuss man as a “herbivore or omnivore”. I imagine that would be a good conversation.

Regards,

Paul Hester