Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts

5/25/13

Trojan Horse Slaughter

Trojan Horse Slaughter

As Americans watch Europeans condemn the discovery of horsemeat in their Ikea meatballs, we can take some solace in the fact that, for once, we’ve sidestepped an industrial food-related travesty. Our complacency, however, could be short-lived. Although less dramatic than horse DNA adulterating ground beef, another horse-related scandal is about to implicate U.S. citizens in a scheme that will send tainted horse meat into foreign markets while enriching U.S. horse slaughterers with taxpayer dollars.

The last U.S.-based horse slaughterhouse closed in 2007. The phasing out of horse slaughter in the United States ended the exportation of U.S.-produced horse meat to Canada, Europe, and Japan. This development, among other accomplishments, spelled the decline of a niche business that profited from a product that American taxpayers financially supported (through USDA inspection of horse slaughterhouses) but were loathe to consume (plus, it’s illegal to sell horse meat in the U.S.).
Over the past six years, though, a small cohort of national lobbyists and state representatives has worked to reopen U.S. horse slaughterhouses. Five states—Oklahoma, Montana, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Iowa—have already taken legislative steps in that direction. Their collective justification for doing so is that U.S. slaughterhouses are better for the welfare of horses. Without them, they argue, an endless stream of retired race horses will inevitably head to Mexico for slaughter, a terrifying prospect for animals who, advocates further contend, will meet an especially gruesome south-of-the-border death.

On the surface, this argument seems to make sense. Why slaughter horses abroad when we can do so at home? A closer look, however, reveals three problems, each of which suggests that any claim to reinstate horse slaughter on welfare grounds is simply a cynical ploy to dupe Americans into supporting a business most of us find abhorrent.

First, advocates of U.S. horse slaughter—the very people who insist they care about shortening the distance a horse travels for slaughter—opposed legislation restricting the distance horses could travel in the aftermath of the American closings. Sue Wallis, a Wyoming state representative and the most vocal proponent of reopening slaughterhouses (they call her “Slaughterhouse Sue”), wrote in 2009 that, “A key early initiative is to muster resources to oppose bills now pending in Congress that would ban the transportation of horses to other countries for the purpose of slaughter.” The intent here was as simple as it was sinister: to normalize long horse hauls to foreign soil and then highlight its inherent cruelty, thereby buttressing the case for a more “humane” local option.

Second, the claim that Mexican slaughterhouses are comparatively inhumane is equally problematic. Plants where U.S. horses have been slaughtered in Mexico are owned by the same European Union companies that once owned horse slaughterhouses in the United States. Supporters of local slaughter suggest that U.S. horses are being killed in an especially cruel and unregulated manner in Mexican-owned slaughterhouses, mainly by stabbing them in the spine. In fact, EU companies deploy standard procedures, using (most notably) captive bolt guns to stun horses before bleeding and processing them, just as they do in Europe and once did in the U.S. Ironically, the only documented cases we have of horse slaughterhouse cruelty and abuse come from the U.S. (back when slaughterhouses were legal).

Third, advocates of U.S. horse slaughter insist that, without the re-institution of slaughter at home, an unmanageable number of horses will continue to suffer the indignities described above. But the numbers don’t support this claim. Nearly 90 percent of U.S. horses die of natural causes or are euthanized at home. Bill Bullard, a California state representative and supporter of U.S. horse slaughter, says that the horse industry is desperate for “a way to dispose of our old, diseased, lame horses.” In fact, that problem has already been solved for the overwhelming majority of horses. They die the way our pets die—more often than not with quiet dignity.

Duplicity is one thing. But the upshot of this manufactured crisis is even worse: an impending public health disaster of global proportions. What supporters of U.S. slaughter never tell us is that the 150,000 or so U.S. horses that are annually slaughtered for export are bombarded daily with a hit list of toxic drugs, most notably phenylbutazone (“bute”), a common painkiller. While innocuous for horses, bute can cause, even in trace doses, aplastic anemia, agranulocytosis, thrombocytopenia, leucopenia, pancytopenia, and hemolytic anemia in humans. Eating U.S. horses, according to Tufts Veterinary professor Nicolas Dodman, “is about as healthful as food contaminated with DDT.”  The USDA currently has no program to regulate these substances.

In other words, lost in all the discussions about horse slaughter and horsemeat is a fundamental point: horses are not raised for food. They are, in essence, an industrial product. For Americans to recycle them into an edible but toxic by-product for foreigners to eat, doing so with taxpayer dollars and through an underfunded USDA, would be bad for everyone involved, most notably the 150,00 horses a year who’d be much better off not being used as Trojan horses to hide the profits of those who claim to care about them.
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2/12/13

Call for EU to immediately ban horse meat from America

Call for EU to immediately ban horse meat from America - News - Horsetalk.co.nz


Call for EU to immediately ban horse meat from America

Call for EU to immediately ban horse meat from America
By Horsetalk.co.nz on Feb 12, 2013 in Just Briefly

Humane Society International is calling on European Union officials to protect consumer health and immediately ban the sale of horsemeat coming from North America.

Its call is in response in response to news reports that up to 100 per cent horsemeat has been found in Findus beef products marketed in France, Sweden and Britain.

“It is alarming to learn that European consumers may have fallen victim to large-scale food fraud, unwittingly consuming horse-meat products incorrectly labelled as beef,” the group’s European Union director, Jo Swabe, said.

“Consumer alarm is understandable as many people would ordinarily avoid eating horse flesh.

“Humane Society International calls on officials to acknowledge the potential risk to public health and safety, as this horsemeat could have originated from anywhere in the world, including from North America, and to immediately ban its sale from North America.”

The group argued there was a strong likelihood that some of the horsemeat had been imported into the EU from either Canada or Mexico. France, it said, was one of the biggest importers of North American horsemeat.

Most horse meat exported to the EU from both Canada and Mexico actually originates from United States horses shipped over the border.

France also receives horse-meat imports from other Member States, a proportion of which are actually re-exports from Canada and Mexico, too. In addition, French statistics show that a total 16,970 horses were slaughtered domestically during the same year.

There were significant concerns about horsemeat of US origin containing residues from veterinary drugs that in the EU are banned for use in animals killed for food, the society said.

It noted that recent audits conducted by the European Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office in Canada and Mexico have concluded that the medical treatment records for US horses are insufficient to guarantee that standards equivalent to those provided for by EU legislation are applied.
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10/14/12

CONFUSION REINS AS CANADIAN SLAUGHTER PLANTS STOP SLAUGHTERING US HORSES

    
October 12, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

John Holland, Equine Welfare Alliance
540.268.5693
john@equinewelfarealliance.org

Sinikka Crosland, Canadian Horse Defence Coalition
250.681.1408
info@defendhorsescanada.org


CONFUSION REINS AS CANADIAN SLAUGHTER PLANTS STOP SLAUGHTERING US HORSES

Chicago (EWA) – US horses are no longer being accepted by Canadian horse slaughter plants, according to multiple sources. The Shipshewana auction in Indiana confirmed reports that they have discontinued loose (slaughter) horse sales for an indefinite period of time.

A spokesperson for the Sugar Creek Ohio auction also confirmed that the kill buyers were no longer
taking slaughter horses because “the plants are shut down”. This was further confirmed by a Richelieu slaughter house official. An unconfirmed report from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) indicated it was the result of a European Union (EU) directive.

Canadian customs officials, however, knew nothing of the action. To add to the confusion, at least one driver stated that he did deliver horses to an undisclosed plant Friday afternoon.

The move came so suddenly that many trucks were already on the way when they learned of it.
According to Lambright the issue is that the EU has banned American horse meat from being shipped for consumption in Europe. EWA has yet to receive confirmation from the EU.

Following the closure of US based horse slaughter plants in 2007, the export of horses to slaughter in
Canada and Mexico increased dramatically. In 2011 the US exported over 64,000 horses to Canada and 68,000 to Mexico.

Documents showing horse meat contaminated with phenylbutazone (a carcinogen) and clenbuterol (a
steroid) surfaced recently, indicating that the CFIA and the EU were accelerating their residue testing
programs. These reports were followed by claims from some kill buyers that blood was being drawn
from as many as half their horses (an unprecedented percentage) before they were being accepted.

Since most of the meat from both the Canadian and Mexican plants is being consumed by the EU, it is reported but not confirmed that Mexico too will curtail imports of US horses.

In 2008, the EU announced that it would require third countries to come into compliance with their
standards which require horses to be micro-chipped and all their medications tracked, but few observers expected any action would come before the expiration of a July, 2013 deadline.

The most likely explanation for the sudden move is that the expanded residue testing program has
yielded worse than anticipated results.

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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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7/11/12

Testimony – Senate Committee - by Jerry Finch, Habitat for Horses


re-blogged from Habitat for Horses

Testimony – Senate Committee

Yesterday, myself and many others had a chance to testify before the Texas Senate Committee regarding the possibility of bringing back horse slaughter to Texas. The testimony stared at 1pm and lasted until around 6:30. If you want to watch the whole video, click here

http://www.senate.state.tx.us/avarchive/

Item 4, the horse slaughter part, starts at about 1:43 – just use the slider to move it to that time. The State uses Real Video to record these sessions.

I’ll have a lot of comments to make about this session, but I wanted to get this out to you as quickly as possible.
————————————————
Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Senator Craig Estes, Chairman
Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Testimony of Jerry Finch, Habitat for Horses:

Good afternoon. My name is Jerry Finch. I am President and Founder of Habitat for Horses, Inc, a Non-profit Equine Protection Organization started in 1998 here in Texas.

I have been Involved in horses since 1958

I am a Level Three Equine Cruelty Investigator – receiving my training through the University of Missouri School of Law Enforcement.

Since 1998, over 5,000 horses passed through the organization, averaging 350 incoming equine per year.

The majority of our horses come from various law enforcement agencies throughout Texas, from cases involving abuse, neglect and abandonment. Rehabilitated horses are returned to service by adoption, averaging around 340 horses per year.

Our primary goal is to provide education to horse owners on the best methods of care for their animals. By doing so, we have touched the lives of thousands of horses.

Habitat for Horses is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, an international organization that has established clear, specific standards for the humane care of equine and other species in captive facilities and for sanctuary governance and operational issues.

All of this is done on 100 acres in the Galveston area. We are in the process of purchasing an additional 600 acres to expand our operations.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today.

First, please note that I am not an ANIMAL RIGHTS RADICAL. I fully support the meat industry and work closely with any number of ranchers on equine welfare issues. While my organization is committed to the humane treatment of equine, the subject before this committee is about money, the dollars made from selling horses for slaughter -  nothing more, nothing less.

Those who want horse slaughter to continue, either as an outlet for the over production of horses or to rid themselves of excess horses, are in a complete panic. The reason? If nothing changes, horse slaughter for human consumption comes to an end on July 31, 2013.

On that date, the regulations of the European Union will prevent the slaughter of American horses in both Mexico and Canada because of the complete lack of traceability of the medication given to American horses.

The report from the Government Accountability Office, GAO 11-228, states “…additional certification may affect Canadian and Mexican exports of horsemeat to Europe and, in turn, may affect the future export of horses intended for slaughter from the United States to these countries.  For example, Canadian requirements went into effect on July, 2010, banning specific medications, such as phenylbutazone—the most common anti-inflammatory medication given to horses—and requiring a 180-day withdrawal period for other medications. Also, since November, 2009, Mexico has required an affidavit by transporters that horses have been free from certain medications for 180 days prior to shipment. Furthermore, effective July 31, 2013, the European Union will require lifetime medication records for all horses slaughtered in non-European Union countries before accepting imports of horsemeat from those countries.”

Translated, that means that without a complete passport system for horses in which ALL medication given to horses from birth to slaughter are entered into a massive database, the animals cannot be imported into the EU for human consumption. All EU horses sold for slaughter for human consumption now must have a passport. Without that passport, the horse will not be slaughtered.
The US has no such system in place, nor will we by July, 2013. Nor will the unsubstantiated 100,000 unwanted horses be accepted, because their history is unknown.

Currently, killer-buyers at the border are signing their own affidavits stating that the horses they present are drug free for a minimum of 180 days. Presently, 48% of those are accepted without any such statements, a violation of current EU regulations.

The establishment of a fully functional passport system in the US means that our government must spend massive amounts of taxpayer money on a National Identification System for equine, duplicating what now exist in the EU countries. I probably don’t need to remind this committee of the uproar over the Federal Government’s attempts at a National Animal Identification System. It failed when they attempted it before and it will fail again.

In that same GAO report is this recommendation:  “Congress may wish to consider instituting an explicit ban on the domestic slaughter of horses and export of U.S. horses intended for slaughter in foreign countries.”

Asking a state full of horse owners to spend hundreds of dollars per animal, to register each animal and each premises into a National Database and to fine us for any failure to comply, in addition to asking taxpayers to fund another massive government system just so three foreign companies, namely Chevidico, Bovery and Richilieu can make a profit by selling horsemeat to consumers in Europe is absolute folly.

But that is the sole purpose of horse slaughter. There is no honorable attempt to help our country rid itself of unwanted horses. The numbers of horses sold for slaughter is determined by a demand for horsemeat in other countries, not the numbers of abandoned, neglected or abused horses. There is absolutely no relation between the two.

In fact, a USDA study conducted by Dr. Temple Grandin found that 92.3% of horses sent to slaughter are healthy. Slaughterhouses do not want and will not take thin, sickly horses. At the six Mexican Border Inspection Offices involved in imports of live horses from the US, 5,336 live horses in 631 consignments were rejected out of 62,560 animals presented for import between January and October 2010.

Over 5,000 horses were rejected in a brief eight month period. What happened to these horses? Are these the “abandoned” horses that are so often thrown out as an example of the need for slaughter?

If this committee’s goal is to Review the impact of state laws relating to the closure of horse slaughter facilities across the United States and Analyze the impact on the equine industry and agricultural sector of the Texas economy, then I ask that you consider these facts:

In a recent survey, 80% of the American people are opposed to the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

In a 2005 study for the American Horse Council, Deloitte Consulting found:

The horse industry in the United States contributes $39 billion in direct economic impact to the US economy and supports 1.4 million jobs on a full-time basis. When indirect and induced spending are included, the industry’s economic impact reaches $102 billion. The study also estimates the horse population in this country has reached 9.2 million. This was 7 years ago.

The total economic value of a dead horse is zero.

The costs to the American taxpayer to establish a fully functional National Horse Identification System  will run into the millions and add another government department filled with inspectors, managers, programmers and database clerks to an already overburden budget. The return on the investment will be a few low paying jobs and a very negative environmental impact – except for the bottom line of those three foreign companies.

Those who are seeking to reverse the Texas law of 1949 forbidding the sale and transport of horsemeat are here because it means money in their pockets at the financial costs and against the wishes of those you represent.

I ask you to submit your report as finding that the re-establishment of horse slaughterhouses in Texas should not happen.

I am open to any questions either now or at any point in the future.

Thank you.

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2/4/12

Animals Angels Horse Meat Investigation & Meetings, Europe 1/3/12-1/8/12

Horse Meat Investigation & Meetings, Europe 1/3/12-1/8/12

 Animals’ Angels went to Europe and met with veterinarians and other animal welfare organizations to discuss the issues involved with the horse meat imports from Canada and Mexico. Animals’ Angels believes that it is of utmost importance to create more awareness among European consumers in regards to where the horses meat is coming from, the cruelty involved in this trade as well as the potential risk of drug residues. The meetings went well and we are excited about the possibility of a campaign on both sides of the Atlantic.
REC 0006_007_0009Additionally, the investigators looked into pricing of horse meat at butcher shops and the protection offered by the “Equine Passport”. While the ways to obtain the passport are slightly different in the member states (http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/identification/equine/ms_information_en.htm), all passports require the owner to fill in information if the horse can later be slaughtered or not. This decision can’t be changed later, even if the animal is sold. If the owner chooses that the horse can be slaughtered, all medicine ever given to the horse has to be recorded in the passport by the administering veterinarian. However, there is no guarantee that the veterinarian really does that.
REC 0006_9Once a slaughter horse arrives at the plant, the passport is checked. According to a veterinarian, who used to work at a horse slaughter plant, he has witnessed horses arriving with a “no-slaughter” passport and all of them were rejected. A violation could carry a fine of several thousand Euros for both the plant and the shipper.
Prices for horse meat found at butcher shops were $17.80/lbs -$19.00/ lbs for the filet, $13.00/lbs-$16.00/lbs for a roast and $10.00/lbs-$13.00/lbs for horse meat sausage. 

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9/20/11

TCEQ Cites Company For Dumping Dead Horses On Rriver Bed






Yet another reason for ending this cruel and dishonest business for good.

by KVUE News

kvue.com

Posted on September 19, 2011 at 8:33 PM

Updated today at 5:35 PM 


PRESIDIO -- KVUE News has a follow-up to a story on the horse export pens on the border.
Horses in this country headed to slaughter in Mexico are held in livestock pens in this tiny West Texas town before they cross the border. A recent report revealed allegations of abuse and neglect at one facility. Now, the Texas Environmental Agency has cited that same company for illegally dumping dead horses along a river bed.

KVUE News has obtained video shot by investigators with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. They flew over the export pens in a DPS helicopter after complaints this summer about dead horses dumped in a dry river bed.

"The smell is horrendous," said Amber Taylor, who works with a horse rescue group in Virginia.  She shot her own video of the illegal dumping site.  Taylor came to Presidio to document allegations of abuse and neglect of horses kept in the Texas export pens before they’re sent to slaughter in Mexico.

"You can just look up where these horses are and see the buzzards flying around," she said.
Taylor said she saw dying and dead horses at the export pens leased by the C-4 Cattle Company.
"I have to believe there are so many more," she said.

Environmental investigators also videotaped a path they discovered at the illegal dump site. It lead straight to the C-4 export pens.

The investigation details four serious violations. Most focus on the C-4’s failure to document the number of horses that died at the facility, the cause of death, and proof that the animals were disposed of at an authorized dump site.

In an e-mail, the owner of  C-4 said his lawyer would appeal the decision to cite his business.  The environmental agency has not imposed a penalty yet.

The company faces up to $10,000  a day per violation.
 
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4/20/10

Horse Slaughter Bombshell Hits Belguium And Holland


Horse Slaughter Bombshell in Belgium and Holland
 
Belgian and Dutch consumers were shocked to learn of widespread horse slaughter-related cruelty in North and South America. Undercover video footage aired on three major news programs showed horses designated for slaughter are routinely starved, dehydrated, injured and abused.

Horse meat is commonly available in Belgium and the Netherlands where consumers are almost completely unaware of the cruelties of horse slaughter. Most believe what suppliers claim on their websites, that the meat on their dinner plate comes from contented, grass-eating, healthy horses. The story begins by asking, "Do they [consumers] really know where it comes from?

Horse at Mexican 
plantThe 8½ minute news segment was produced by GAIA, a respected animal welfare organization from Belgium, with much of the footage provided by Animals' Angels USA. The dire conditions of horses at slaughter plants, feedlots and markets in Mexico, Brazil and the U.S., have generated talk of boycotts and moratoriums on the import of horse meat from these countries.
Viewers are told "Cruelty goes hand in hand with incompetence", as undercover video shows a worker knowingly crushing the lower leg of a live horse as he forces the iron gate of an overcrowded trailer shut.
An English version of the story is available on youtube:
WARNING! VERY GRAPHIC!
Consumers responding on television websites demanded action. "They [importers] told us the meat is of superior quality because the animals live a life of luxury and freedom on green pastures...well cared for with plenty of food. But it's a horrible lie."

On importer Chevideco's website, horses are said to be treated with respect horse at slaughter plantand to live without stress. An accompanying photograph depicts well-proportioned horses standing knee deep in grass. Importer such as Visser & van Walsum make similar claims.
 
Within hours of the story's broadcast, supermarkets responded with promises to investigate. Delhaize, the second largest retailer in Belgium asked their supplier to remove affected meat from their shelves. Two other major grocers have told consumers they do not import horse meat from outside Europe.

Fenavian, the Federation of Meat Producers in Belgium, issued a response denying any wrongdoing and offering reassurances that adherence to safety and European Union animal welfare rules were standard practice.

"However, the evidence is quite overwhelming," said Sonja Meadows, president of Animals Angels U.S.  "Up until recently, officials may have been able to claim that to their knowledge, the animals were treated properly. But now such claims are quite obviously false. Unfortunately we have plenty of documentation to prove that animals caught up in the horse slaughter pipeline are horribly abused."

Dead horse BeltexAnimals' Angels' began focusing efforts on the issue of European consumers' awareness about horse slaughter in November 2009 after meeting with the European Commission. AA shared with committee members evidence of extreme cruelty uncovered at Mexican horse slaughter plants, U.S. feedlots and government export facilities. AA filed an official complaint with the commission soon after the meeting.

Last month Gaia asked Animals' Angels for footage from Mexico and the U.S. to help with a European campaign to publicize the conditions endured by horses in the slaughter pipeline. Gaia had recently finished undercover investigations in South America and had gathered their own ample evidence of brutality.

Other organizations in the Netherlands and France are also launching consumer awareness campaigns. Most national and regional newspapers have published the story and photographs. Fueled by concerns from both consumers and animal welfare advocates, many more European news outlets are expected to pick up the story.

"I really doubt I'll ever eat horse meat again," said one man. "They may say they fixed the problem, but I'll never trust them again."

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2/21/10

The Economic Reality fo Scarce And Toxic Horses

from horsetalk.co.nz

The economic reality of scarce and toxic horses


February 17, 2010


I was not surprised that Dr Tom Lenz, past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, readily credited the organisation for coining the phrase "Unwanted Horse" in his article "The Unwanted Horse in the United States - International Implications". It is a coup d'etat of language choice for those American equine practitioners lobbying hardest to maintain a US export market for horsemeat.
Dr Lenz manages to equate "unwanted" with "slaughtered for human consumption" and with "should be slaughtered for human consumption, but aren't, because we need additional slaughter plants on American soil".
Slaughter advocates might consider it nothing short of a stroke of genius.
The phrase "unwanted horse" may well play a role in much of the mass confusion in the debate on horse slaughter among the American general public, horse-owners and horse welfare advocates alike.
Horses slaughtered are neither privately nor socially "unwanted", for they command a positive price both at auction and at the slaughter plant gate - and I suspect that if they did not, we would not be having this debate at all.
As any Economics 101 student can tell you, positive prices signal not "unwanted-ness", but scarcity.
There is no question - and what drives fear into the most vehement supporters and even some opponents of horse slaughter - that a universal ban on the slaughter of American horses will eliminate a source of demand for horses in the lower end of the market, as slaughter plant buyers and associated dealers exit.
This shift down in demand - in the efficient second price auction markets that are by far the largest source of horses to slaughter - will unambiguously reduce equilibrium prices, thereby increasing private ownership of auction-intermediated horses, and reducing private supply to those markets.
However, even better news is that this credible, permanent contraction in financial rewards to disposal of low-value horses through auctions will, assuming that breeders are rational decision-makers, reduce the incentive to produce such horses at all.
Over a period of time, such a reduction in supply at all prices will, by increasing scarcity in the American equine industry, raise equilibrium prices and - one would hope - the average quality of horses produced.
Natural results will be a substantial contraction in auction intermediated sales of horses and, ultimately, a higher value and higher quality horse market.
All of which leads me to wonder why the elimination of horse slaughter is so hotly debated at all, for reducing the excessive production of poor quality horses will presumably render the American equine much more "wantable".
In a very important sense, Dr Lenz is correct, however. The issues of his "unwanted horse" and the horse processed for meat cannot be separated.
In announcing its response to new EU restrictions to assure horsemeat safety, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has acknowledged what has (presumably) long been known. Phenylbutazone - or "bute" - an extremely common equine non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, is a banned substance in horsemeat for human consumption.
Specifically, the CFIA classifies bute as a "veterinary drug not permitted for use in equines slaughtered for food", its residue causing permanent toxicity in horse meat, with no period of quarantine being able to eliminate that toxicity.
This public and socially responsible CFIA acknowledgement brings a new clarity to the "unwanted horse" debate.
After all, of Dr Lenz's "unwanted horses" - the old, the injured, the sick, the unmanageable, the incurably lame - how many have not had bute administered at some point in his or her life?
As one public example, a brief glance at the Daily Racing Form is sufficient to confirm that the vast majority of American racehorses, who are known to ship frequently to European Union-licensed plants in Canada and Mexico for slaughter and export to European diners, certainly have had bute administered.
So let me suggest that Dr Lenz's "unwanted horse" be renamed "the toxic horse" - unwanted but not slaughtered, unwanted and slaughtered, unwanted and should be slaughtered, it matters not.
The flesh of "unwanted horses" is acknowledged to be toxic when consumed by humans. And who among the politicians, equine practitioners, and veterinarians lobbying to prevent a ban on the slaughter of American horses - in the name of equine welfare - would wish to be responsible for the deleterious impact for human welfare associated with promoting the slaughter of toxic horses?

Caroline Betts holds a PhD in economics. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Southern California. The views expressed in this article are her own, given in a personal capacity, and do not represent those of the university.

Horse slaughter in the news

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9/25/08

Debate over horse meat gains new life - U.S. news- msnbc.com


Horses being transported to slaughter at a now-defunct Texas plant.



The Animal Welfare Institute says these horses, including one with cut and swollen eyes, were among animals being transported to slaughter at a now-defunct Texas plant. Such cases illustrate the inhumane treatment of many horses destined for the meat market, the group says.
Dixie Wilson / ARTEX

Mike Stuckey
Senior news editor

The emotional debate over slaughtering horses for human consumption gained new life in Washington this week as a House committee approved a measure that would ban the practice nationwide and halt the export of U.S. horses destined for dinner tables in other countries.

While it’s unclear whether the Judiciary Committee’s Tuesday approval of the slaughter ban will lead to passage by the full House and Senate before the clock runs out on the current session of Congress, the panel’s hearings refocused attention on an issue that has motivated animal-welfare groups for years.

Horse meat in package, bought in a Dutch supermarketImage via WikipediaOutraged by what they say is cruel treatment of horses sold for meat, the groups already have succeeded at forcing closure of the three remaining U.S. horse slaughterhouses — two in Texas and one in Illinois — in recent years. But since thousands of horses are still exported for slaughter in Canada and Mexico, and many states have no laws that would prohibit the opening of new plants, the groups have been seeking federal regulation since 2001.

“There’s absolutely no way to make it humane,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and legal affairs for the Animal Welfare Institute, one of the ban’s principal backers. “It’s an industry that cannot be regulated to make it humane.”

So the “Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act,” sponsored by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of Judiciary, and Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., would make it a crime punishable by up to three years in prison to possess or transport horse meat for human consumption or horses intended to be slaughtered for human meals.

A necessary option

But opponents of the law, including some cattle ranchers, horse breeders and veterinarians, say that the now-defunct U.S. slaughterhouses, regulated and inspected by the Department of Agriculture, were run in a humane fashion and provided a necessary option to deal with unwanted horses.

“From a welfare perspective, they’ve made things a lot worse,” said Mark Lutschaunig, director of governmental relations for the American Veterinary Medicine Association, which represents 76,000 U.S. vets. Lutschaunig said his group is hearing reports of a sharp increase in cases of horses being neglected and abandoned by owners who can no longer sell them at auction for slaughter.

Despite the fact that horse meat is widely eaten by Europeans and Asians, the vast majority of Americans have no interest in taking a bite out of Old Paint. Since no U.S. horses are raised for that purpose, they only come to the meat market as castoffs: old, sick, too unruly to ride or genetically deficient. Because horses are not regulated as meat animals, Heyde said, the process by which they are slaughtered is fraught with cruelty.

About 100,000 American horses are exported for slaughter in Mexico and Canada each year, roughly the same number as when the U.S. slaughterhouses were operating. There are about 9 million horses in the United States, according to federal estimates.

Harrowing stories, images

Web sites maintained by Heyde’s group and others contain harrowing accounts, photos and videos of horses being transported to the slaughterhouses. “Deprived of food, water or rest, the horses are forced onto double-decked cattle trailers” and hauled for 24 hours or more, according to the Animal Welfare Institute’s site. “Callous workers use fiberglass rods to poke and beat their faces, necks, backs and legs.” At one plant in Mexico, horses are “stabbed repeatedly” with knives in “a barbaric practice (that) simply paralyzes the animal. The horse is still fully conscious at the start of the slaughter process, during which he or she is hung by a hind leg, his or her throat slit and body butchered,” it says.

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