"Slaughterhouse" Sue Wallis Dead

reblogged from Straight From the Horse's Heart

A Statistical Analysis of Slaughterhouse Sue

By John Holland ~ President of the Equine Welfare Alliance

“Sue is a compulsive fact creator…”

“Slaughterhouse” $ue Wallis

Hi, my name is John Holland, and I am a data-holic. I usually spend my day furtively downloading statistics and information; analyzing it, graphing it, correlating it and trying to glean insights into the true workings of the horse world.
But today is different. Today, I was inspired to opine by a thing of great rarity in our struggle; a well researched article. It appeared in the Saint Louis Post Dispatch titled Horse slaughterhouse plans stalled in Missouri and it convinced me we are winning this struggle, at least for the moment.
No, the article did not contain a new revelation about the outcome of a court case, or the result of a vote. It contained something even more telling: It documented Sue Wallis slipping beyond the gravitational pull of reality and into an alternate universe of anti-logic, where up is down and dark is light.
Sue begins the interview with her now familiar claim that she chose Missouri because, “If you draw a 500-mile circle from western Missouri you encapsulate 30 percent of the horse herd in the U.S.” After musing over the concept of the US horse population constituting a single “herd”, I began wondered where she got this statistic.
You see, Sue and I share different forms of compulsion. I am a compulsive fact checker while Sue is a compulsive fact creator. So I ran the numbers and the result I got was 23.6% of the US horse population being within 500 miles (as the crow flies) of western Missouri.
This means Sue’s exaggeration coefficient for this statement is 27%[i]. This modest exaggeration would prove to be her perigee with reality before she would slingshot past it and off into the abyss of deep space.
After describing the law suit that had resulted in the Cole County judge’s directive to the Department of Natural Resources to hold off on issuing Rains the discharge permit, the story returned to the interview with Sue.

“The horse industry has been decimated,” Wallis said. “We have worthless horses being turned out and abandoned.”

As I read this, I again felt compelled to calibrate Wallis’ definition of decimation. The original term came from quaint custom of the Roman army by which they would execute every tenth soldier of a disgraced unit so as to improve morale. Was every tenth horse in America being abandoned?
 The only state I could find that keeps abandonment data is New Mexico. During my research, they provided me with a very detailed list of all the estray horses they had picked up since 2006. Last year they picked up exactly 124 horses.
 Given the estimated 147,181 horses in New Mexico, this means that the abandonment rate is 0.06% or one horse in every 1,186. Since decimation would be one in ten (10%), Sue’s exaggeration coefficient had suddenly rocketed from 27% to 16,666%.
Parroting the discredited 2011 GAO report, Wallis went on to say “People take care of animals that have value. It’s when they don’t that they neglect them.”
This was the conjecture used to excuse why the GAO studied horse prices instead of actually studying neglect as it had been assigned to do. It is, of course, utter nonsense. Few household pets have any monetary value, yet most people take good care of them.
It gets better. “Every breed registry is down 70 percent since 2007. Fewer colts are being born,” Wallis said.
Apparently Wallis has data I have not seen; data showing among other things that only the birth rate of colts is in decline. Is there some strange gender asymmetry going on here? Or is it possible that the Executive Director of the International Equine Business Association, the expert of CNN interviews and countless articles does not know that colts are males and the proper term would have been foals?
As for “every breed registry being off 70% since 2007”, Sue’s exaggeration coefficient is pretty substantial. According to the Jockey Club, thoroughbred foal registrations are off 34.5%, not 70%. Some breeds appear to have been almost unaffected, but the AQHA’s annual report does show about a 49% reduction in foal registrations from its peak in 2007.

 “Slaughterhouse” $ue Wallis ~ Horse guts and blood
are what drives this political nut-job

The pattern with Quarter Horses is a familiar one for those of us who have been around the horse world for a few decades. Breeds come into favor, resulting in indiscriminate breeding spurred on by the greed of their breed registry. Then the bubble bursts. Just before the decline began, the then executive vice president of the AQHA, Bill Brewer, gave an impassioned speech at their annual convention urging more breeding so there would be “enough good horses in the future”.

A great breed has been degraded in the process. Quarter Horses now commonly suffer from a wide range of maladies such as GBED, HERDA, HYPP, and Navicular. The most common complaint of owners is that they “bred the feet off them.” This could explain why AQHA membership is down 18.6% since 2007. I wondered to myself, would Sue suggest killing off a bunch of their remaining members as a solution to the decline?
Sue continues, “That’s 70 percent less feed being sold, 70 percent fewer jobs, 70 percent fewer veterinarians.”
Apparently Sue believes that a short term drop in foal (excuse me colt) births means that the whole horse population suddenly drops by the same percentage. Despite Sue’s best efforts, horses do often live well into their 20s and beyond, meaning that recent foal crops would represent only a few percent of the population.
With a nearly 50% decrease in foals, the population of registered quarter horses dropped from 3,218,113 in 2007 to 2,978,776 in 2012 according to the AQHA annual reports, a decline of just 7.4%. Here Sue gets an exaggeration coefficient of 945%.
But at this point her thinking turns to what I will call anti-logic, because if it came into contact with rational thought the two would annihilate each other with a thunderous clap, probably decapitating their host. She is proclaiming that all of this devastation is because we have too few horses as a direct result of not killing enough of them! This would be laughable if 2012 had not seen more US horses slaughtered than any year since 1994!
One survival strategy of prey animals is to synchronize their birthing so as to overwhelm their predators. Sue has adopted this strategy with her spontaneously created facts. She spews so many at one time that at least a few have a good chance to get past us unchallenged.
At this point in the interview, Sue seems to sense her interviewer is not buying her nonsense. So she throws her hyperbole engine into warp drive, saying “This has wrecked communities — all because of the elitist snooty arrogance of this bunch of people telling us what’s culturally acceptable to eat.”
The community of Boggy Bottom, the neighborhood behind the Dallas Crown slaughter house, was truly devastated by the pollution, stench and crime caused by the plant. I witnessed it firsthand. But where is Sue’s example of a community devastated by a lack of slaughter? Apparently with anti-logic you automatically get an anti-logic twin to Boggy Bottom, at least in the brain of Sue Wallis.
It is impossible for me to calculate the exaggeration factor for this statement because, since there is no truth at all to be exaggerated, it would require dividing by zero. I think I now fully understand Einstein’s quote about only the universe and human stupidity being infinite.
Yet the second half of the outburst is the most interesting of all.
Sue had apparently learned that the influential Busch brothers (former owners of Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch) had thrown their considerable weight into the battle on the side of the horses. Victoria McCullough had sent them a link to our report How the GAO deceived Congress, and Victoria said she thinks the outrage at this government deceit had caused them to weigh in.
Lately there has been an avalanche of high profile support for ending horse slaughter completely. In the government sector; President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary Vilsack have all come out against horse slaughter. At the state level, New Mexico’s Governor Susana Martinez, former governor Bill Richardson, Attorney General Gary King and others have spoken up for the horses. Celebrities such as the incredibly influential Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg have also taken a stand.
But most aggravating of all for Sue are the “snooty, arrogant billionaires”. This is because Sue knows that the money from big agriculture was the only advantage she had in this battle. Internationally known equestrian Victoria McCullough and her “snooty arrogant” friends, are serving to balance the scales by using their resources to multiply the impact of the tireless grass roots work of thousands of horse lovers and animal welfare organizations. This combination may well bring Slaughterhouse Sue crashing back to reality.

---

[i] How does a 6.4% error become an exaggeration factor of 27%?
Use this formula ((30-23.6)*100)/23.6), or ask your friendly local nerd.

Study of Equine Abuse and Neglect Patterns Produces Surprising Findings - Press Release - Digital Journal

Study of Equine Abuse and Neglect Patterns Produces Surprising Findings

PR Newswire

CHICAGO, June 24, 2013

CHICAGO, June 24, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- (EWA) - The Equine Welfare Alliance today released a statistical study on the rates of equine abuse and neglect across the US since 2000. The research examined equine abuse statistics from Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maine and Oregon.
Historical records of the number of cases of equine abuse and neglect from these states was correlated with three potential causes; the rate of equine slaughter (or lack of it), unemployment and the cost of hay.
Surprisingly, the researchers found that the rate of abuse has been in decline in four of the six states since 2008. Five of the six states had shown a spike in abuse and neglect around 2008 and two have shown a significant increase in the past two years.
The dominant factor the analysis produced in every state was the price of hay. "My assumption was always that unemployment was the dominant factor," admitted EWA president John Holland. "In fact, the analysis showed that the rate of unemployment in the state was the least important predictor of the level of abuse and neglect."
The analysis showed the second most important correlation was the rate of slaughter, but the analysis found more slaughter consistently correlated with more abuse and neglect.
"Correlation is not proof of causation," explained Holland, "but it certainly contradicts the theory that slaughter decreases neglect by culling "unwanted horses."
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) have long urged Congress not to ban horse slaughter on the basis that to do so would increase abandonment, abuse and neglect.
This study follows on the heels of a peer reviewed paper in the Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agricultural, and Natural Resources Law by Holland (EWA) and Laura Allen (Animal Law Coalition). That paper documented enormous increases in the cost of horse ownership between 2000 and 2011. The paper demonstrates, among other pressures, that a shift of land use from hay to corn for ethanol has reduced the hay available to horse owners, cattlemen and dairy farmers.
Severe drought in some states has made an already insufficient supply of hay all but collapse. In 2011, Congress ended the long standing subsidy for ethanol in gasoline and removed tariffs on sugar cane. EWA hopes this will put a downward pressure on hay prices in coming years.

Report: http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/History_and_Causes_of_Equine_Abuse-Neglect.pdf

Contact: John Holland 540.268.5693  john@equinewelfarealliance.org

SOURCE Equine Welfare Alliance

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Horse Slaughter: An Example of How Professional Lobbyists Distort Our Political Process

Horse Slaughter: The Money Trail | Habitat for Horses

Even if the slaughter of American horses for gourmands overseas to savor means nothing to you, even if you never even heard of the issue, please read this! Even though it is a bit of a long read, it should be required reading for every American citizen. If this shocking description of how professional lobbyists distort our political processes for their own gain doesn't terrify you, it should. It should also make you furious. Our democratic process his been hijacked by a bunch of white collar criminals, and the will of the people has become totally irrelevant. Judge for yourself.

 

Horse Slaughter: The Money Trail

From left to right: ex-US Senator and AQHA lobbyist Conrad Burns, Reps. Bob Goodlatte and Jack Kingston, Senators Roy Blunt and Herb Kohl, ex-US Senator Larry Craig, and horse meat lobbyist “Chuck” Stenholm. In all fairness, horse slaughter lobbyist Sue Wallis has gained in her own right a seat in the Hall of Shame despite not being a federal legislator. lobbyists

In the last part of this series, we will look at the money trail. In doing so, we will detail the identity, motivation and the not-so-clear connections that continue to put horse slaughter up as “a necessary evil.”

The horse slaughter lobby is a set of fronts and organizations (in some cases comprised of just one or a few individuals) that make a monetary profit out of defending the existence of horse slaughtering, either directly or indirectly, or that use it as an excuse to further a concrete political agenda, which in almost every case implies an economical profit, be it merely from lobbying or by certain industrial strategies related to cutting down production costs.

The object that drives the horse slaughter lobby is money. It has never been about equine welfare, humanity, professionalism or reliability. Like in most political issues, those defending horse slaughtering are in it for the money or for the prospects of monetary earnings in a variety of forms, from obtaining campaign donations to the renewal of Public Relations contracts or the obtainment of power to shape legislation to their own advantage.

Over the years, the horse slaughter lobby proved to be a formidable force, successfully blocking any attempt at ending the needless butchering of American horses despite the overwhelming opposition and repulsion the practice draws from regular Americans. Its strength and resources are substantially greater than what could be initially expected, given that the horse meat business represents only a tiny fraction (about 0.3% at best) of the total revenue of the overall horse industry. Readers may be tempted to conclude the Belgian-owned horse meat corporations are responsible of the compounding and strength of the horse slaughter lobby, but this does not seem to be the case. Although the horse meat industry is generally regarded as a multimillion dollar business, these corporations are rather quite small in comparison to other sectors like manufacturing car seats or a pizza franchise.

Although the foreign-owned horse slaughter corporations were initially involved in lobbying efforts to shield their activity from litigation and legislative efforts, they are no longer active in US politics. Since the closure of the three former US plants and their strategic relocation across the borders, the Belgian horse meat companies have shown little to no interest in moving back to the United States despite having opportunities and money to do so. Why? And, if the foreign-owned horse meat industry is no longer behind legislative efforts on horse slaughter then, who funds the horse slaughter lobby? For what purpose? To answer such questions we need to understand the background of the horse slaughter industry in America.

They became involved in the US because the basic infrastructure was already in place, prices were low and exportation was easy. With globalization and improved infrastructure around the world (particularly in Mexico and South America) and the cheapening and optimization of air and sea freight, that initial edge has been made irrelevant. The same quality product, without drug residues, could be sourced from other countries at a much lower cost and without fighting tight regulations and opposition by the public.

For example, when Velda NV abandoned the Natural Valley Farms plant in Saskatchewan after having its license suspended, instead of looking for a new plant to continue killing American stock they simply moved all operations to an already existing plant they had in Australia (Metro Velda Pty. Ltd.).

Similarly, Chevideco operates plants in Argentina, Brazil and Romania (apart from its Mexican one) and recently, while attending the meeting organized last March in Missouri’s Mountain Groove by Wallis’ Unified Equine LLC to solicit money for building a horse slaughter plant in the town (theoretically for Chevideco to kill horses), the President and General Manager of the Belgian company, Michael Beukelaar and Olivier Kemseke, were adamant in stating that they will invest no money or assets whatsoever in building the plant, being interested in a turn-key lease-only operation they can drop at any time at no cost should any inconvenience arise. Such a stance is an intelligent one since the Belgian horse meat companies are well aware the US government will not make any effort to adapt its regulations and legislation to make them compatible with EU drug residue and traceability standards and, should the European Commission ever decide to take action to bar poisonous American horse meat from entering the food chain, they could absorb the impact of such ban by simply walking away.

In other words, the foreign horse meat corporations were in the US because they were benefiting from low prices resulting from a throw-away culture some Americans have acquired toward horses. If these companies are provided an economical advantage elsewhere, they will go there. The fact the meat would not be “genuine American flavor” is not really an issue; they can always put up a cowboy or a wild horse sticker in the polystyrene tray. Once it is understood the Belgian horse meat corporations have little or no interest in coming back to the US, it is evident why they don’t seem to actively participate in local American politics.

Who does fund the horse slaughter lobby then? To answer that we need to follow the money.

Who really benefits from horse slaughter in America? The killer buyers? They do benefit from horse slaughter, indeed they seem to do quite well, although they are not the power behind the horse slaughter lobby, just the workers doing the dirty work. Instead, we are looking for people of social and economical status, capable of getting a hold of politicians and controlling them. Let’s keep following the money trail.

The answer to the above question comes after examining data collected by USDA at one of the US-based plants regarding the breed of slaughter bound horses. According to such data, roughly 70% of horses slaughtered are quarter horses, followed by 21% thoroughbreds and other breeds. Since quarter horses have a strong, muscular conformation, are relatively heavyweight and numerous (meaning lower prices) they are indeed preferred by the horse meat corporations, which therefore maximize the ratio of “raw matter” obtained per dollar spent purchasing the animal. However, the fact that quarter horses are slaughtered in numbers greater than any other breed is not just a mere coincidence. In fact, almost any piece of pro-slaughter propaganda, misinformation and horse-butchering eulogy published in the past ten years can be traced back to the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), despite the efforts of the Amarillo-based breed registry to conceal their origin by developing a network of think-tanks and phony “non-profit” organizations.

Bingo! We’ve just found one of the main forces behind the horse slaughter lobby. But, why would a breed registry advocate the brutal butchering of the very reason of its existence? And how is it possible for a single organization of that apparently irrelevant nature to amass such an incredible amount of political power? The answer is rather easy: money, under a couple layers of politics and ideology.

AQHA is by far the most important breed registry in the world, with over 3 million horses registered. Over the years, AQHA has grown into becoming a pure for-profit corporate complex, with their top officers being people of prestige in rural America politics. Like many political entities, it is more concerned about its self-preservation than to the duties or mission that brought it to life in the first place. It no longer carries out the function of a breed registry, i.e. assuring horses registered are of pure breed, maintaining standards and prevent fraud. Instead, AQHA has become a money-making machine.

The logic behind this money-making scheme is quite straight-forward: Boost foal registrations at all costs in order to increase revenues. AQHA obtains most of its funding (at least on paper) through registration fees. By promoting indiscriminate breeding they increase registration numbers and thus the amount collected in fees, which are revenues later divided between the organization’s managing board and its network of fronts.

During the last 20 years, AQHA has been promoting the indiscriminate, systematic, irresponsible over-breeding of horses in order to achieve its revenue goals. It wasn’t all that long ago when officials of AQHA and its subservient, satellite registries like APHA, NCHA and a few others were blowing their horns about huge facilities where they were conducting industrialized horse cloning in order to preserve a champion’s legacy. The numbers speak out for themselves: According to AQHA, in 2010, despite the economical instability, high unemployment and elevated fuel prices (further hurting the live horse industry), over 83,000 new horses were registered with the organization. Two years before, in 2008, about 140,000 animals were registered. During the years of the housing spree and the cheap credit fest the numbers were even higher.

Sadly, no one thought of the critical flaws in the push for mass production.Horses are not commodities; they live many years and eventually the exponentially growing number of foals would hamper new registrations. The solution devised by AQHA officials, ruled therefore to be “final,” is also quite simple: make room for more. This is where slaughter comes in. Horse slaughtering provides AQHA the means to maintain a steady flow of registrations by providing an easy, convenient outlet to get rid of the excess foals bred every year as a result of its over-breeding policy. Under their concept, the slaughtering of older horses provides room for new ones from which more revenue is extracted in the form of registration fees. In addition, horse slaughter enables AQHA pro breeders (especially those in and near the organization’s top echelon) to get winner horses without much of an effort; obtaining a champion is just a question of arithmetical probability and churning babies like crazy. Those that fail to perform as expected, don’t have the desired color, markings, character or that simply are poorly trained or get injured are taken to the slaughter auction and tossed in a killer truck. Problem solved.

Horse slaughter rewards these mass breeders by providing cash for their “byproduct” horses, further encouraging the practice (regarded by AQHA as its “secondary market for horses,” to quote AQHA failed backyard breeder and Sue Wallis’ favorite follower, Dave Duquette) to the point many breeding operations obtain more money from selling for slaughter than from sales of horses for traditional purposes. Many AQHA breeders currently breed primarily to sell horses at kill auction, with the traditional activities of selective breeding and training of horses for riding, racing or ranch work as purely secondary or even anecdotal. They bred hundreds of mares and sell the offspring to the killers, raking an average of $500-600 per head. If some turn out to have good traits and prospects to be “champions”, they can sell them for $5000 or more or keep them for internal use until they got injured beyond recovery or the owners get tired of them. Their breeding strategies involve nothing more than simply turn out a stallion with a hundred mares in a very large pasture and wait till the foals grow up; keep the best two and cull the rest, tossing them like garbage in the next kill auction.

As sad as it is, AQHA horses are nothing than disposable commodities. In this sense, AQHA has effectively turned the noble bond between horse and rider into a standardized meat producing operation in which horse breeding is no different than raising beef cattle for McDonalds.

To a lesser extent this also applies to a group of individuals within the thoroughbred racing industry, with the notable difference being that the industry acknowledged horse slaughter is damaging its image and has taken some steps in the right direction, such as supporting the passage of a federal ban on horse slaughter or devising non-slaughter policies at racetracks. However, despite such good intentions, many thoroughbreds are still slaughtered as a consequence of some trainers adopting AQHA’s throwaway practices and managing to get around the tracks’ no-slaughter policies by means of a series of deals allowing them to ship directly to the killers right off the track stalls, in the face of the passiveness of racing authorities and the Jockey Club.

So understanding that the AQHA’s directors and their friends are padding their pockets with blood money still doesn’t explain how this rather small bunch of folks can mobilize such a strong political force nationwide. For that answer, we dig a little deeper.

Since 1960, agribusiness corporations, notably the meat industry, have been fighting any piece of legislation or activity that either tries to regulate it or require them to adopt higher standards in their production mechanisms. In their sights are any laws aimed at the humane treatment of animals, pollution management or banning the use of certain chemical compounds, since these impact either spending money on infrastructure or abandon practices maximizing their profits and lowering their production costs. Similarly they have been trying to silence the exposure by concerned individuals of practices involving animal cruelty.

In general, agribusiness confronts anything that remotely questions the legal, ethical, medical, scientific or social grounds not only of its practices, agribusiness, particularly the meat industry, reacts aggressively to both stronger regulations and anything that is remotely related to the humane treatment of animals or environmental protection. From livestock feedlot laws and urban waste management to horse slaughter, agribusiness always vocally opposes any piece of legislation, behavior or concept that supposes a step forward in the right direction, effectively deploying a zero tolerance policy that has become its defining signature.

The rationale behind such zero tolerance policy to preserve its economical interests and power position is to deny any ideas generally identified as “animal welfare” or “environmentalism” from gaining a foothold in the minds of both policy makers and society. It does so by employing vast amounts of resources in direct political action and the media.

Our modern, information-saturated society is quite susceptible to fear, so it is not surprising that agribusiness resorts to fear as its main tactic. At the forefront of the “fear” argument is the "slippery slope" justification. This tactic consists on scaring both policy makers and society by making them believe that, if legislation proposed for a very specific issue is passed, those supporting the law will go in for more and, like a slippery slope, the country will fall in an spiral of concessions which will eventually ban all forms of agriculture. This argument may be shaped to any form and adapted to the needs of any specific issue.

This is where AQHA’s unwanted horse myth came from: If horse slaughter is banned, all the “unwanted horses” will not have anywhere to go and thus will be abandoned, creating further problems for the government and the public alike. Not far behind is the argument that if horse slaughter is banned, the “animal rights activists” will then go after cattle, swine, chickens and all forms of meat.

These slippery slope arguments are bizarre and ridiculous, yet agribusiness keeps using it as the base of its lobbying efforts, despite the fact animal welfare is an overstated threat for its own interests. What does this have to do with horse slaughter, which is not a national meat industry like beef, pork or poultry, and why is the issue being represented by the agribusiness lobby since it plays such a tiny role? We’re almost there…

Far more important than the obvious falsehood, cheapness and bizarreness of the agribusiness lobby slippery slope argument is that agribusiness unquestionably fights fiercely anything put before it. Even more relevant is that agribusiness has enough resources to fund the necessary actions to keep AQHA’s slaughter pipeline open but also to feed all the phony fronts, lobbyists and assorted political accomplices living off horse killing lobbying activities. When taking both factors together, it doesn’t take much to figure out agribusiness will pick AQHA’s horse slaughter issue as if it were its own and not only fight it all the way for AQHA and friends but also pay for all associated costs; the deal couldn’t be better for AQHA while the Belgian horse slaughter companies get a free ride through the entire American political system at the expense of the US meat industry.

So American agribusiness is footing the bill of the horse slaughter lobby because of their zero tolerance policy revolving on the slippery slope but… why would they pay for lobbying issues that have nothing to do with them and which don’t pose a real threat, since horses are not part of the American meat industry, and the interests of the horse industry have little to do with those of the factory farms?

This is where the “good ol’ boy network” comes in (for those unfamiliar with the term it refers to the form of cronyism predominant in rural America, particularly in Southwestern states). It turns out that many AQHA top officials also hold important positions in agribusiness organizations, in lobbying entities defending agribusiness or simply have some important acquaintance in such entities. The also have positions in government and corporations that don’t belong necessarily to the agribusiness sector; sometimes they are also important ranchers or hold public office in state and local government units. Without any doubt, the horse slaughter lobby has used such positions to their own advantage, gaining the favor of agribusiness and using its machinery for their own gain at the expense of the horse industry. This also applies to all other satellite organizations of AQHA that follow the directives of the Amarillo-based corporation, including American Paint Horse Association, National Cutting Horse Association, Professional Cowboys Rodeo Association and American Horse Council. However, even accounting for the effects of the good ol’ boy network, this group seems to be still too small to pitch on its own an entire industry sector nationwide in a confrontation against the majority of the American population (80% according to recent polls), opposing the slaughter of horses for dinners abroad. There must be a co-factor for such AQHA’s cronyism to be all that effective.

Agribusiness ended up believing its own lies, slipped down its own greasy slope, bumped its head on the floor and ended up taking its rhetoric for real – that those concerned about the endangered, over-exploited environment or about the unethical, amoral brutality our throwaway society dispenses to animals have a hidden agenda to sweep them from existence. They perceive the so-called “animal welfare” or “environmentalism” as such a grave threat that defensive action is no longer sufficient, it is necessary to strike first before “animal rights” can react and thus effectively sweep them from the political and social scene. In its delusions, agribusiness thinks it must wage war. Such psychotic behavior partially explains the unprecedented stream of retrograde and totally bogus anti-animal legislation introduced since 2008, of which the numerous pro-slaughter state bills are an example, arising from a major build-up in lobbying spending by agribusiness.

Agribusiness’ detachment from reality regarding the horse slaughter issue is so big that some individuals within the meat industry, notably those within the influence circle of Sue Wallis and her horse meat cult, have fantasized  the possibility of not just competing with the well-established Belgian horse meat cartel for European sales and eventually taking over their market, but also creating a domestic market for horse meat, thus becoming the new kings of agribusiness.

In retrospect, the continuous indoctrination of those surrounding the meat industry, including the closely associated horse industry, have many believing that animal welfare its indeed their enemy, and that they must band with agribusiness to defeat it. They account for most of the 20% of individuals in the US that support horse slaughter, even though most admit they would not eat horse meat and would not knowingly sell horses for slaughter, all while saying that they consider slaughter to be a form of euthanasia.

Perhaps you’re now saying, this can’t be real. Even if a few Western beef bigwigs have gone nuts and believe there is a conspiracy against them, most of these corporations are big companies that have lots of auditors and experts on their payroll, so they can’t fall so easily for this and spend millions just to keep happy some AQHA guy that knows someone who knows the CEO’s sister. Indeed, it isn’t all that easy. The situation described above can only be understood if we add another factor that turns this rather complex mixture of greed, money and ideology into the entity we identify as the horse slaughter lobby. What can this be?

On one hand we have AQHA and those who directly profit from horse slaughter. They have an evident interest in keeping horse slaughter going for their own gain. however, this rather small group of individuals doesn’t have the resources to move all the political machinery to achieve its objectives. On the other hand, we have an agribusiness at war against “animal welfare”. Such agribusiness is, in itself, a gold mine for a class of consummate white-collar racketeers that know how to exploit the vulnerabilities of this type of entity, seeking for help to succeed in the cavernous world of professional politics, and this leads us to the last component of this concoction of interests: lobbyists, professional lobbyists, those who are hired to pimp your cause and procure you the favors of politicians of easy virtue (who at some point of their careers were or will become lobbyists).

We are not talking about the PR or marketing guys employed at a company to represent it or deal with the media, that’s run-of-the-mill staff. We are talking about a true industry with its very own agenda that might very well be detrimental to the customers they represent, acting as an exclusive intermediary between entities seeking to make a point in legislatures for some reason and politicians that hold the key to what such entities want. In other words, lobbyists are middlemen that require you to hire them if you want to have access to politicians and eventually scoring a success in shaping legislation in your favor.

Initially, one could be tempted to think professional lobbyists only grant access, then it is up to the politicians to listen up and take note of your issue, but unfortunately things are usually more complicated. These professional lobby firms are composed of political insiders that worked at, formed part or will eventually form part of both legislatures and executive branches across the nation and hold a monopoly over a product almost nobody else has – personal acquaintances with decision makers. The reverse is also true: lobbyists have acquaintances in industry which can fund a politician’s race or even boost his career if the “right decisions” are taken. Politicians become lobbyists and lobbyists become politicians, in a sort of a legislative mafia. Over the years, this reciprocity between politicians and lobbyists has increased to the point that it is already a necessary condition to hire these professional lobby firms for politicians to act in your favor - that is, hiring a professional lobby grants you an automatic win.

And, of course, horse slaughter is no exception. For instance, Charles Stenholm was a former U.S. Representative for Texas’ 17th Congressional District (Abilene). Allegedly a rich cotton farmer, he was nurtured to power by Texas agribusiness, where he got in contact with AQHA’s elite. When his pal Tom Delay back stabbed him and redistricted his area, he went to work for lobby firm Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC to represent agriculture industry customers. Later, he was also hired by the scared Belgian horse meat corporations and masterminded a plan (that is the backbone of the horse slaughter lobby today) to use his other clients of the American agribusiness sector to lobby for horse slaughter for his own gain. Once favors to agribusiness and his AQHA pals were returned, he made a gambit expecting the Obama administration would pick him for Secretary of Agriculture and thus cross the revolving door again. His plan failed when Obama chose instead former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack. Another notable example is far-right Senator Conrad Burns who, after losing his seat on the aftermath of his implication in the Tom Delay – Jack Abramoff scandal, went to work as a lobbyist for the AQHA.

Granted that lobbyists and politicians are virtually the same thing and that they hold a monopoly, it doesn’t take much to figure how this can be exploited by them in a variety of ways. As an industry, professional lobbying seeks to ever increase its own profits plus its self-replication and, like any company, it looks for to expand its horizons and create new market venues for its products. This is of special importance in the particular case of horse slaughter.

We mentioned before the Burns-Delay-Abramoff scandal. Such political corruption scandal revolved on a series of actions taken by politicians acting in concert with Abramoff to harm a target entity (notably gambling interests) or group of individuals in order to force them to take political action, which required the hiring of Abramoff and his associates in order to be effective, with Abramoff presenting himself as their “savior”. This effectively creates, through a racket-resembling scheme, a false demand for lobbying services which resulted in a stream of revenues for the parties involved. The result of such false lobbying effort was, in practice, irrelevant once the money was cashed in, but usually victims were lured into keep the lobbying effort, using the same tactics of a typical advance-fee scam. The same happens with the horse slaughter lobby, using American agribusiness as the target victim of the scheme.

Professional horse slaughter lobbyists, which have as customers agribusiness interests for other issues not related to horse slaughter, easily convinced their customers that anti-slaughter legislation is a threat and, by playing on their fears and offering them false information, engineered an artificial demand for their lobbying services which otherwise would not be necessary. That results in monetary profits for such lobby firms in a similar way Abramoff, Burns and their associates orchestrated a series of hits on gambling interests to force them into hiring Abramoff's lobby firm.

The situation becomes even direr if we take into account many presumed agricultural producer associations, such as the Farm Bureaus, are actually de facto PACs (Political Action Committees) with their own hidden agenda, revolving around the employment of lobby firms associated with their managing boards. Perhaps the best example of such a phenomenon is the AQHA itself. Apart from the fact that many of its top breeders and officials profit directly from slaughtering horses, some of its upper echelon also figured out there was a lot of money to be made out of agribusiness by covertly turning the AQHA into another PAC and tethering their operations to those of one or more professional lobby firms (such OFW). Their success in this regard is more than evident, as demonstrated by the stream of shady pro-slaughter fronts spawned out of the AQHA and OFW PC since 2005, all consistently feeding on agribusiness funding. This scheme applies to some degree to most players of the horse slaughter lobby, like the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), which is a de facto PAC for OFW's own interests at the National Cattleman’s Beef Association. Something similar occurs with its equine branch, the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) which is an AQHA PAC inside the AVMA PAC.

Without any doubt, professional lobbyists are masterfully exploiting the vulnerabilities of the American agribusiness which, trapped in a web of fake interests and ideological lies, ended up funding a network of lobbying entities by using horse slaughter as an excuse for their own existence. Even if horse slaughter is eventually banned, the lobbyists would continue pushing for the repeal of the ban as long as there is money to milk from their agribusiness cash cow. This is the only way to explain how an entire industry that is unrelated and does not obtain any profit from horse slaughtering is so determined to defend the interests of the tiny fraction of individuals that really do, and continue to assist foreign competitors which are not even interested in coming back to the US. This is also the only way to explain in its entirety the ever-increasing amount of absolutely bogus anti-animal and pro-slaughter legislation introduced every year.

We commented before how AQHA's business logic had two critical flaws, the first one being that they need to kill their stock of horses to keep the flow of foal registrations going. The second is that killing horses looks bad. The AQHA had to come up with a way to sugar coat the issue and make it acceptable to the public. To do so, AQHA and its lobbyists at OFW had to convince the general public of the following premises:

No matter how you look at it, horse slaughter is good, for you, for us and even for horses. Following such a premise, the AQHA and its pro-slaughter fronts claim that horse slaughter is actually a “secondary market” for horses and that horse slaughter is good for horse owners because it helps maintain a bottom price for horses. Ironically, economics supposedly dictate that increasing the offer of something causes a drop on its value so the AQHA, by artificially increasing the number of horses bred each year, is precisely contributing to reduce their market value, hurting horse farms that bred for real purposes instead for bulk meat supply. Another example is their claim about slaughter being good for horses since otherwise they would be abandoned and would slowly die of starvation.

Another line in their lobby remarks is that horse slaughter is not slaughter but rather euthanasia and is thus acceptable to our society in a similar fashion euthanasia is acceptable to kill abandoned dogs and cats. Although euthanasia (from Greek eu, good, and thanatos, death) actually means ending a life to relieve pain and suffering when the subject is injured or sick beyond recovery, the AQHA, OFW and all their associated fronts have spun the term to refer to all kinds of death, regardless how painful, slow, brutal or unnecessary it might be. To back up such bogus claim, they resort to made-up “science” and thus asked their AVMA buddies to develop a report on “acceptable methods of humane euthanasia” which was coincidentally released when the first versions of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act were in consideration. The report is actually a collection of killing methods, from poisoning to brain microwaving which lauds captive bolt stunning as an “acceptable euthanasia method” as long as the head is restrained prior to impact and immediately followed by exsanguination, conditions that in any case are rarely (if ever) met in a slaughterhouse due to the chain production nature of the operation. Since slaughter is actually “euthanasia”, according to their logic, it is “good” and it can therefore be used to dispose of “excess” horses that are “unwanted” in the same way dogs are killed at the city pound without anybody raising an eyebrow. The fact that horse slaughter is as close to real euthanasia as being stabbed with a bayonet is to a peaceful death is omitted by covering the issue with a white coat to make it look “scientific” because the AVMA, the “veterinarians”, say so, so it must be true. According to the AQHA, slaughter is correctly called “processing.”

The entire process of painting the AQHA’s stance on horse slaughter into an acceptable process, with the aid of lobbyist and PR folks can be seen in an interview of the former AQHA President, Peter Cofrancesco III.

The trail of blood money, from the political machinery within the beltway to the lobby promoters to the national and state organization to the fake non-profits to the breed associations lead straight to the doorstep of the AQHA. The workers are the roughly 60 killer-buyers that do the dirty work while the others rake in the benefits. The money from the actual slaughter process is about as much as would be made by a large used car lot, but the ever increasing circle of involvement up the trail of money involves millions upon millions of dollars.

If you ever wondered why the slaughter industry, involving little more than 1% of the total number of American horses, has created such a political monster – now you know.
4 25 August 2012 — Jerry Finch

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Poll Finds Big Ag Horse Slaughter Promotion Has Backfired

February 3, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

John Holland

540-268-5693

john@equinewelfarealliance.org

Vicki Tobin                         

630.961.9292

vicki@equinewelfarealliance.org

Poll finds big Ag horse slaughter promotion has backfired

Chicago (EWA) - A poll conducted in January by Lake Research Partners for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) found that 80% of Americans are strongly opposed to horse slaughter. The highly respected research group based its survey on 1,008 voters giving the results a 3% margin of error. The poll found opposition was consistent across all sectors, including horse owners.

The findings are all the more remarkable given the huge media effort that was mounted by the horse slaughter lobby following the closing of U.S. based horse slaughter plants in 2007.

While the effort appeared to have worked on Congress, causing them to restore funding for horse slaughter inspections, it had the opposite effect on voter opinion. A similar poll performed a decade earlier indicates that opposition to horse slaughter has increased by almost 10%.

The slaughter lobby, supported by some of the most powerful agriculture groups in the country including the Farm Bureau, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), the Pork Producers Council (PPC), the American Veterinary Medicine Association and the American Quarter Horse Association has engaged some of the top lobbying and PR firms in Washington in a concerted effort to push back against what they saw as a victory for "animal rights" supporters.

EWA's John Holland explains "The horse slaughter issue has unfortunately become part of a much larger battle between big agriculture and animal welfare advocates. Big agriculture has decided to protect itself with an aggressive in-your-face strategy designed to preemptively crush its opponents, real and imagined."

The promotion of horse slaughter is just one of the proxy battles being waged by the Ag giants. In July of 2011, the NCBA and the PPC opposed a plan already agreed to by the United Egg Producers (UEP) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to replace existing battery cages with equally efficient environments that create better living conditions for laying hens. The move showed a willingness to attack even other animal agriculture associations who appeared to be bending toward better humane standards.

Perhaps the most bizarre example of this aggressive strategy is SB 610 introduced into the Virginia Legislature this year by State Senator Dick Black. The bill called for working dogs to be reclassified as livestock, effectively removing their humane protection as companion animals. Following an avalanche of criticism, Black announced he was pulling the bill and admitting that he had introduced it "to aid the agriculture and farming community at their request." He went on to mention the Farm Bureau and the Agribusiness Council by name.

"This newest poll should serve as a warning to politicians who have yielded to big Ag bullying" says EWA's Vick Tobin, "Voters are not with you on the horse slaughter issue."

 #

The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues-free 501c4, umbrella organization with over 220 member organizations and hundreds of individual members worldwide in 18 countries. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids.

www.equinewelfarealliance.org 

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The Last of the Real Cowboys

 

 

Indy Grazin'

This post originally appeared in Jerry Finch's "Habitat for Horses" blog. Habitat for Horses is one of the most highly regarded rescues in the country, giving homes to not only horses but other animals as well. In his blog, Jerry regularly writes articles of this caliber. Go see for yourself ~

The Last of the Real Cowboys

21 Jan

I’ve known a lot of ranchers in my life; good, honest men with a work ethic born of pride in the job they do, men who think nothing of rolling out round bales of hay in minus 20 degree weather, who would go out in a rainstorm and bring an abandoned calf into the barn and bottle feed it for days on end because, “he deserves a chance.” On the flat plains of north Texas, life on the range could destroy the weak, but for those who persevered it could turn them into the very best of the human race. 
 


Cowboy's way of life

Back in the early days of my youth, I thought that all real men held those values. I was proud to ride horses beside them, to be considered one of them, even if it meant an occasional joke about me being just a kid. I’m sure there were bad guys, I just didn’t know them. I knew there was horse slaughter back then, too, but the cowboys I knew would have nothing to do with it.

One hard, thin old man called me over one day and, holding a horse, said, “Look at this horse and tell me what you see, boy.”

I’m sure I said something half hearted, but his response is still with me. “If you have a clean heart, when you look into his eyes you will see the face of God. You respect what’s inside that horse, boy, and the horse will always respect you.”

A few weeks later, when school was out for the summer, he offered me a job. Being a new teenager, I thought I knew a lot, but the bottom line on horses is that talking doesn’t account for anything. It’s the doing that gets the job done.

The first day I walked up and met the ranch foreman. He was a weathered old cowboy that could cuss more in 30 seconds than most sailors could do in a lifetime. The day I started he pointed to the corral holding about 10 horses and said, “Whatever horse you catch is the one you ride.” Nine other cowboys walked out with me to the corral, each caught a horse within a few minutes, saddled up and headed out to work the cattle. I was left alone with a mare that had absolutely no love for humans.


Trying to catch a horse

The old man did nothing more than stand on the porch, watching. Not a word escaped him as I followed that horse around the corral for what seemed like two hours. Once I sat down, fed up with the horse, mad at myself and disgusted at the world.

“I guess you think that horse is gonna’ put the saddle on by herself?” he said, leaning against the porch post. I stood up, dusted myself off and started again. Another two hours passed and, to my complete surprise, the horse walked over to me and stood still as I put the lead rope over her neck, put on the halter and led her to where I had the saddle. Another five minutes and I was sitting on her, fully expecting to hear the old man laugh at me and tell me that he didn’t need me anymore.

He didn’t. Instead he opened the gate to let me through and said words that I carry with me to this day, “You didn’t give up. That’s the kind of person we need.” That was the first day of my first real job at age 14, a cowboy, working with men who had been doing it their whole lives. I value those memories as if they were gold. And those men? They are rare today. I’m sure a few still exist. I might see one or two a year, but it’s a dying breed, replaced by the white hats, white starched shirts and bolo ties of citified “cowboys” who work at the American Quarter Horse Association, headquartered in Amarillo, the town where I grew up. What few still exist gather on occasion at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raiser’s Association, an organization designed to “Honor and Protect the Ranching Way of Life.”

Both of those organizations promote the commercial slaughter of horses. Neither organization ever polled its members to see if they agree.

Neither has the American Veterinarian Medical Association or the American Association of Equine Practitioners. No votes, no poll, just those in power taking the position that they know what this country needs more than the membership and thus will dictate what is to be believed.

The Cattleman’s Association spread the word that giving in to those “damn animal activist” and stopping horse slaughter is the start of a “slippery slope” that will lead to the end of all animal processing in the US and the total and complete destruction of the “American Way of Life.” Ignoring the fact that 80% of the population is against horse slaughter and could thus be considered as “animal activist,” and that the vast majority of that 80% of the American population drives the market for beef, pork and chicken. The ranchers somehow bought the story because the Association told them so.

Same with the “personal property” argument. “Those horses are your personal property. Are you going to let those left wing sickos tell you what you can and can’t do with your own property?”

And the reason they spend so much time and energy trying to convince the ranchers and the rest of the public that horse slaughter is necessary is because ….

… neglect and starvation are increasing because the slaughterhouses closed down and we need horse slaughter again.

… massive numbers of horses are being abandoned all across the nation.

… old horses are left in pastures to starve to death.

… the trip to Mexico and Canada is too long and they are concerned for the welfare of the horses.

… too many horses are untrained and dangerous and we need a way to get rid of them.

… no one wants old, sick, injured horses so the best way to dispose of them is to send them to slaughter.

… the American public needs our help to rid ourselves of all the unwanted horses.

One after another, the stories continue. Without any factual basis, stories made up in the boardrooms and promoted throughout the network to end up as facts in newspapers and magazines and discussed in the annual meetings.

Don’t dare dig too deep, don’t disturb the cover story, because under all that glitter of authority is something very ugly, something that doesn’t do well in daylight, something never even whispered. It crawls through the slaughter industry like fat maggots, feeding on the putrid lies and deceit of pure evil.

The face of horse slaughter is uncontrolled abuse, naked hatred of living animals, lust for money no matter how much it is soaked in blood and guts.

Here’s something you should listen to, the words of a trucker who got stuck hauling horses to the border to be slaughtered.

A quote from a killer-buyer, ““We shoot them full of steroids to beef them up so we can get more for them at the slaughterhouse.”

From another killer-buyer, “If they start kicking, we poke their eyes out. That calms them down real fast.”

“We don’t need paperwork. We have a ton of it.”

“We travel at night so we don’t get stopped. We’re suppose to have health certificates going into Texas but hell, they never stop us.”

“The reason you see skinny horses wandering around? We dump them on the way. They only want fat, young horses. Taking something old or skinny is a waste of time.”

So this is the best that the horse slaughter industry has to offer. These are the only logical, valued, bold statements the industry can produce, and that I’m sure they make one proud enough to stand up and say, “I believe in horse slaughter!” in front of the kids, in public.

In the darkness of the night the horses are crammed into trucks – shocked, beaten, terrified. We trained them to respect us, to trust us, to believe that we will protect them, yet in their final hour we betray them, we turn our backs to their screams. In the horror of their death, we count the bloody dollars we’ve crammed in our pockets. This is what the American cowboy has become. All for the love of money.

Now I ask you this – who is destroying the “American Way of Life”? Is it the 80% of us who are against horse slaughter because we value an animal that is so unique in God’s world? Or is it those who value the crumpled dollars in their pockets more than they value any connection to another living creature?

Is it the politicians who support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, who have ignored the pledges of the lobbyist and the pats on the back of the big organizations who want a way to dispose of their horses, or those politicians who accept the “donations” and agree that horses need mercy killing and do everything they can to kill the bills in the Senate?

A few months ago I was at the vet clinic with one of our horses. There was a stereotypical old cowboy before me, weathered face, worn-out body, bowlegged, holding on to an aged horse that was obviously in pain. Doc did the usual, but the belly was swelling fast, a sure sign that the intestines just ruptured. Doc looked at the cowboy and shook his head.

That old cowboy heaved over in tears. He loved that horse. It was his friend, his best buddy, his partner, and letting go was just as hard as it would have been letting go of a child. That was one of the last real cowboys I’ve seen.



The Old Cowboy

As the old saying goes, “Real cowboys don’t eat their horses.”

If you want to rant and rave about how horse slaughter is necessary because of X, Y and Z, face up to the fact that we both know the truth. It’s only about money. It’s about the 1% of the horses in this country that the wealthy in Europe want to eat and for which they are willing to pay, and it’s the very small number of people in the US who are hell-bent to provide the horses and feed the slaughter machine, all for the love of money.

There is nothing else involved.

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