Help Restore the Ban on USDA Meat Inspectors in Horse Slaughter Plants

Bleeding heart idiots? Ahhh, such an intelligent way with words...Although I am a lifelong horse owner, I can put my emotional attachment to horses aside and offer facts that cannot be refuted. First of all, slaughter will do next to nothing to resolve abuse and abandonment issues. These issues are mutually exclusive but that argument presupposes that slaughter is actually a choice people would make, and this is not supported. Sadly, abuse and abandonment will continue to occur, regardless. In fact, horses can STILL be sent to auction and bought by kill buyers right now, sadly enough, yet we do not have that happening exponentially more than in the past. Slaughter numbers are relatively the same as before the ban. (And by the way,if you can't afford the gas to hall them to an auction NOW, having a slaughterhouse won't solve for that - at most we have had 8 in the country - and it's not like they are going to be popping up like a Walgreens on every corner.)Furthermore, less than 1% of our nation's horses even go to slaughter - now and before the ban, so I fail to recognize from a from any statistical analysis or economic standpoint how the argument can be made that slaughter solves for the overwhelming number of horses or that it will "solve" for the downturn in the horse market (which happened at the same time as the overall economic downturn - even the GAO report recognizes that- and if you look closely it doesn't take a PhD in economics to figure out what happened). Breeding overall is actually down, which is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done in that area ( a topic for another night). But now let's talk about what actually goes to slaughter. The 2 top breeds are Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds, and most of these horses are healthy. Kind of makes sense, doesn't it? Who in the hell wants to buy a skinny horse with no meat on it? Even the evidence is clear most are healthy, but then we can talk about what happens in southern Texas when horses too thin, too ill, or both are denied at the border of Mexico when even they won't take them. They are abandoned there and left to starve (and I can talk for days why we shouldn't let them go to Mexico but that's another night's topic). So let's get back to those horses that the meat man wants and how healthy that meat is. Surely you've heard the arguments made for not consuming horsemeat due to all of the meds given NOT INTENDED FOR ANIMALS MEANT FOR CONSUMPTION. The warning is on every wormer, the antibiotics, bute - anything any of us have given our horses. The consumption of horsemeat is a public health issue, and even the EU is putting a halt to imported horsemeat from US horses. Go to the Veterinarians for Equine Welfare site and look at the med fact sheet. Look up the UK article that discusses the EU issues, regulations, and coming regulations regarding horsemeat coming in from Canada from American horses. Can you say aplastic anemia? IT'S FATAL. Slaugher is NOT a panacea, and there are viable solutions to addressing the horse population issues that need to be explored, beginning with responsible ownership. And if you want to talk about the GAO report, no problem. I've read it - all 60+ pages with notations in the margins. BRING IT ON.

I pay for the welfare of wild and/or abused horses. If you won't pay up then shut up, if you aren't willing to put your money where your mouth is, then what you say has no meaning.