Horse slaughter is a national issue

[client32]

The house recently voted to make horse slaughter for human consumption illegal.  It now goes to the senate.  It is hr503.  I have a friend who was trying to help defeat it.  

They got their butts kicked.  Too many people called and wrote their congress critters about protecting all the pretty horses.  Back in the land of reality, the horses that are marked for slaughter are old, mame, and worthless horses.  They are the horses that sell for under $300.  Most of this information comes from this friend, but I belive it.  It seems to me that it is another emotional issue that people can't seperate the facts from the "pretty horses."  Oh well.

On to the senate the bill goes.  My friend isn't going to be in Washington for the seante battle, but he did say they are going to push a different strategy.  They spent a lot of time trying to dispell the myths and put a light on the truth of the matter (what were they thinking?)  For the senate, he thinks the game plan is to push this as a personal property issue.  I think that might have a better chance.

Anyways, I hadn't heard about this until this weekend.  Didn't know if anyone here knew about it.  Just another example of the things that our national govt decides to waste time on.

[TarpleyG]

I heard about it on Friday I think.  Do people actually eat horse meat?  My understanding is that it's pretty tough and stringy but I guess if you are poor and hungry, horse meat would be a pretty good meal.  I guess most people would have a tough time trying to wrap their head's around killing horses for eating but no trouble at all with doing so with cows...that's just how they have been taught all their lives.  Me...I don't really care as long as nothing is suffering in the process but you are right.  Doesn't our illustrious gubmint have more important crap to worry about?

Greg

[Jamisjockey]

I heard about it on Friday I think.  Do people actually eat horse meat?  My understanding is that it's pretty tough and stringy but I guess if you are poor and hungry, horse meat would be a pretty good meal.  I guess most people would have a tough time trying to wrap their head's around killing horses for eating but no trouble at all with doing so with cows...that's just how they have been taught all their lives.  Me...I don't really care as long as nothing is suffering in the process but you are right.  Doesn't our illustrious gubmint have more important crap to worry about?

Greg

Wiki disagrees with you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_meat

My understanding, from the bits and pieces off the news, the primary destinations for our horsemeat are abroad.  
here is the hsus page on horse slaughter (sounds more like a propoganda page)http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/equine_protection/get_the_facts_on_horse_slaughter.html

[The Rabbi]

The issue, IIRC, is that the horses or their carcasses are shipped, chiefly to Belgium and consumed there.  The French and Belgians seem to like horse.
It is the "Bambi Effect."  That movie probably did more damage to hunting than anything else.  Similarly people's image of the gentle beautiful horse mandates against allowing it to be used for food.
Definitely an example of something gov't has no business getting involved in.

[client32]

Rabbi has it right.  According to the fore mentioned friend, no horse meat is sold for the US market.  Belgium is the biggest consumer.  Other countries include France, Italy and Japan.  However, there are slaughter houses in the US that will process horses and just ship the meat.

Me...I don't really care as long as nothing is suffering in the process

The problem is that suffering is going to start to take place.  If a rancher's horse gets too old to use, then what is he supposed to do.  Now he can sell it for under $300 and get a new one.  If that option is now not left to him, he may just turn it loose.  I don't know what it takes to feed a horse, but my 70lb dog takes a chunk out of my monthly budget.

[Art Eatman]

Tarp, why would there be more suffering in the horse deal than with cattle, goats, sheep or pigs?

I see it as the Bambi Effect.  Look at the money wasted in "saving" the burros of the Grand Canyon, or the wild horses on federal lands of the west.  They ruin the land from overgrazing, for one thing.  The horses show every characteristic that's regarded as bad:  Swaybacked, Roman-nosed, narrow withers, cow-hocked...They're the Jukes and Kallikaks of the horse world.  Instead of shooting the burros, we spent some $30k EACH to capture and helicopter them out from within the Grand Canyon.  Bambi Effect.  Same for wild horses.  Same for shipping horse meat to Europe.

Nah, a rancher wouldn't just turn a horse loose, most likely.  An old horse's teeth are too bad to be able to graze, and ranchers aren't cruel.   He'd just shoot it and then have the chore of burial.

Art

[charby]

I agree congress should have better things to do then debate horse slaughter. I ate horse in Germany and found it quite tasty.

I used to ride horses a lot when I was younger and used to tag along with some folks to a horse sale/auction from time to time. You could tell which horses went to new homes and which ones when to the killers. I couldn't believe how horrible the shape the kill horses were in and why the owners didn't put them down instead of keeping them around for the sale.


-C

[Car Knocker]

Years ago, horses used to be processed into pet food.  Is this still the case?  Is this a case of it's OK for Rover and Mittens to eat horsemeat but not Jean and Annamarie?

[TarpleyG]

Tarp, why would there be more suffering in the horse deal than with cattle, goats, sheep or pigs?

Art,

I think you misunderstood me...I don't care if it's a horse, cow, goat, mouse, or whatever as long as there is no needless suffering that goes along with it.

Greg

[wingnutx]

Once again, congress uses the 10th ammendment to regulated anything they feel like, constitutionality be damned.

[roo_ster]

If it passes, I say owners of old, worn out nags ought to send 'em to the Capitol Building, shoot them on the steps, and leave them for the congresscritters to clean up.

[charby]

If it passes, I say owners of old, worn out nags ought to send 'em to the Capitol Building, shoot them on the steps, and leave them for the congresscritters to clean up.

Can't have firearms in DC city limits. A very large syringe sodium pentobarbital would have to be used instead.

-C

[The Rabbi]

If it passes, I say owners of old, worn out nags ought to send 'em to the Capitol Building, shoot them on the steps, and leave them for the congresscritters to clean up.

Old worn-out nags have a tendency to win election to the Senate from N.Y. and CA.

[cordex]

They spent a lot of time trying to dispell the myths and put a light on the truth of the matter (what were they thinking?)  For the senate, he thinks the game plan is to push this as a personal property issue.  I think that might have a better chance.

You seriously think pushing the personal property angle will give them a better chance with the Senate?

[client32]

You seriously think pushing the personal property angle will give them a better chance with the Senate?

If pushing that angle gets other groups involved, then yes, I think it gives them a better chance.

[thebaldguy]

We have a thing in the US about not eating work/companion animals. I don't know why. In other parts of the world it's ok. Why? I don't know. Hindus won't eat beef. Muslims/Jews won't eat pork. I don't know why other than it's part of their beliefs. Some Kentucky Derby winners have ended up on dinner plates in Japan. Would I feel better if they were turned into dog food or people food?

Just for the record, I'm a big horse racing fan and a vegetarian. I wager on horses, but I won't eat one.

[Stand_watie]

...Just for the record, I'm a big horse racing fan and a vegetarian. I wager on horses, but I won't eat one.

I thought you said veterinarian for a minute there. One of those processing plants is right up the road from my house about 20 miles. One of our local vets (from Canton) is leading the opposition to the law from the veterinary angle.

[stevelyn]

I heard about it on Friday I think.  Do people actually eat horse meat?  My understanding is that it's pretty tough and stringy but I guess if you are poor and hungry, horse meat would be a pretty good meal.  I guess most people would have a tough time trying to wrap their head's around killing horses for eating but no trouble at all with doing so with cows...that's just how they have been taught all their lives.  Me...I don't really care as long as nothing is suffering in the process but you are right.  Doesn't our illustrious gubmint have more important crap to worry about?

Greg

Wiki disagrees with you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_meat

My understanding, from the bits and pieces off the news, the primary destinations for our horsemeat are abroad.  
here is the hsus page on horse slaughter (sounds more like a propoganda page)http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/equine_protection/get_the_facts_on_horse_slaughter.html

HSUS.........Now there's a domestic terror cell that puts out objective and fact based information.

[Standing Wolf]

Nero fiddled.

[gunsmith]

"the horses that are marked for slaughter are old, mame, and worthless"

...that does not sound very appetizing...if I was going to eat a horse I would want a young healty one...I bet a colt taste better then a tired old lame nag.....

[gunsmith]

WHHA

Wild Horse Hunting  Association....just kidding!

[brimic]

The house recently voted to make horse slaughter for human consumption illegal.

Doesn't say anything about consumption by dogs and minks

...that does not sound very appetizing...if I was going to eat a horse I would want a young healty one...I bet a colt taste better then a tired old lame nag.....

Gotta agree with you there. I would think the horse version of veal meat might be pretty good.

[Art Eatman]

Hey, horseburger.  After all, what you get from McDonald's isn't from the young and choice steers.  Do some search for "canners and cutters" of livestock-auction vernacular.

Art

[client32]

...that does not sound very appetizing...if I was going to eat a horse I would want a young healty one...I bet a colt taste better then a tired old lame nag.....

If you are hooked on horse meat and the US is the only place providing, and they are only providing tired old lame nag, I image that is what you would eat.  Then again, I'm not french.

[mustanger98]

I've been paying some attention to this topic ever since it came to my attention about 15 years ago. As with everything else, there's at least two sides to the situation.

Emotion- I see emotion on both sides of the issue. Anti-slaughter folks see "all the pretty horses" as was mentioned earlier. Pro-slaughter folks... well, in my part of the country, a good many farmers see horses as being just like cows (when considering the horse's anatomy/physiology/psychology, they're really not so much alike), yet so many people across the country see it as an individual property right issue. Myself, being a horse owner, I manage my horse as I'm taking care of a good friend... my horse's health and safety are my responsibility. I thought everybody knew a cowboy's best friend is his horse.

Price of horses- At the horse auction I used to go to, starve-outs were being offered for sale for the same money as sound horses. Crazies were drugged and sold for the same money as good solid dependable horses who'd make their owner proud. $300? I hardly ever saw a horse sold nearly that cheap.

Mustangs- I've heard from more anti-mustang people... either they're wearing out the land or they're crazy. I know they're not crazy... no crazier than a domestic horse, and many times less so depending on how they're treated by humans. Any horse can be made dangerous by mutual distrust. (By now, ya'll have realized what my online handle is.) As for ecology, it's more that they're competing for forage the ranchers "must have", and it's not that the ranchers don't need it, but rather that I've heard of ranchers trying to pack too many cows on the same range too.

The French- Who cares? Really. If they want horse meat, let 'em eat their own horses, but they can leave me alone. It ain't my responsibility to sell them horse meat or any other kind of meat.