Showing posts with label Alex Atamanenko. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alex Atamanenko. Show all posts

8/11/12

Horse Slaughter: The Truth Revealed Part 1 of a series by Jerry Finch | Habitat For Horses

Horse Slaughter: The Truth Revealed | Habitat for Horses
Horse Slaughter: The Truth Revealed – History

The following is a series of copyrighted articles on the history, process, legislation and people playing a role in horse slaughter in the United States. This is a collaborative effort among a lot of people who have volunteered their time and effort to push back the curtain of propaganda and to bring the truth forward.

Jerry Finch, Habitat for Horses

Revealing the Truth

Most Americans are unaware that their horses are being slaughtered by the thousands so the meat can feed the palates of overseas diners in countries like Belgium, France, Italy and Japan.

Show horses, racehorses, foals born as a byproduct of the Premarin© industry (a female hormone replacement drug), wild horses, camp horses, carriage horses, rodeo horses, and family horses all fall prey to this detestable international industry.

Despite claims to the contrary, most of the slaughtered horses are in good-to-excellent health, yet they are inhumanely killed and their meat shipped overseas to satisfy the demands of foreigners for “American Horse Steaks.”

A scientific poll conducted in California showed that 70% of those polled support a ban on horse slaughter. Non-scientific polls show up to 90% in favor of banning horse slaughter. Amazingly, 60% of those polled were not aware of the horse slaughter industry. More recent nationwide polls indicate that at least 80% of the American public is opposed to horse slaughter.

Nearly 20 years ago, there were up to 14 horse slaughter plants operating in the United States. The number was gradually reduced due to diminishing foreign demand for horse meat starting in the early 1990s.

Today, due to a mixture of federal USDA inspection appropriation cuts (now rescinded) and state legislation and court rulings, there are no horse slaughter plants currently operating in the US.

However, last year alone (2011), 133,241 American horses were shipped across country borders to be slaughtered.

The same foreign companies that operated in the US also own plants in Mexico and Canada, where they can continue brutally killing horses with nearly total impunity; and with each passing month, the death toll keeps climbing.

Although working classes around the globe have been badly hit by an economic crisis, this recession has not been enough to quench the lust for horsemeat among the well-to-do in countries where it is considered a haute cuisine staple. Sadly, horsemeat consumption is on the rise because once again it is trendy. The flesh is surrounded by a halo of mythical properties and hype, promoted by horsemeat purveyors who are not mentioning the health risks to ignorant, unsuspecting individuals who eat it.

Habitat for Horses has played a part in several attempts to stop this needless destruction of our horses and will continue to do so until horse slaughter ends, both in and from the US. We invite you, as a member, to work within the legal system to put an end to slaughter. We also invite you to learn, in the following paragraphs, the background and true facts surrounding this unnecessary evil.

read much more in part 1 of the sordid and sickening history of horse slaughter in the US: The Origins of Horse Slaughter in the US
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6/20/10

ATAMANENKO MOVES TO BAN HORSE MEAT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION

ATAMANENKO MOVES TO BAN HORSE MEAT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION | Alex Atamanenko
Thu 17 Jun 2010

OTTAWA – New Democrat Agriculture Critic, Alex Atamanenko (BC southern Interior) tabled a Private Members Bill (C-544) yesterday that would effectively shut down the slaughtering of horses for human consumption in Canada.

“The fact is that drugs which are prohibited for use during the life of any animals destined for the human food supply are routinely being administered to horses,” said Atamanenko. “It is irresponsible for Canada to allow the sale of meat from horses as a food item when they have never been raised in accordance with the food safety practices required for all other animals.”

Atamanenko points to the inexpensive, easily available and widely used anti-inflammatory drug, phenylbutazone (bute), as one example of what is quite likely to be prevalent in horsemeat. Bute is a known carcinogen and its use is illegal in any animal that enters the food supply.

“It is more likely than not that the vast majority of horses will have been administered bute, or ‘horse’s aspirin’ as it is commonly called,” said Atamanenko.

According to Atamanenko, at least fifty per cent of the horses being slaughtered in Canada are imported from the US where horse slaughter has been banned. The meat is then sold to markets in Europe. There are no regulations in the US to prevent horse owners from administering banned substances because horses are not regarded or treated as food-producing animals.

Under pressure from the European Union (EU), Canada is set to introduce a new ‘equine passport’ system to track the health history and medical treatments of horses arriving at slaughterhouses, including those from the States.

Atamanenko believes that it will be impossible for CFIA to verify data in these passports and expects to see a high incidence of inaccurate records.

“Many in the US believe it should be our job to verify information from US horses since Canada is the only one slaughtering them for human consumption,” concluded the Atamanenko. “It’s a stretch to think that information on hundreds of thousands of unwanted horses that were never raised to be food, will be complete or accurate.”

Now, if we could only get our own government to step up and do the same! Write your Senators and Representatives and ask them what comes first - special interest groups or human safety? Even if they don't care about how much horses suffer, poisoning people in other countries should at least get their attention! 




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"From my earliest memories, I have loved horses with a longing beyond words." ~ Robert Vavra