6/25/13

Why Not Horse Meat?

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

There was a thought provoking blog published by The Huffington Post – Marc Vetri: Humanity And Justice For All regarding the topic of horse meat. Disappointingly the current massive Horse Meat Scandal has put horse meat in the spotlight with curious foodies considering it for their next meal. While I find the topic repugnant, as a meat eater, it would be hypocritical of me to dismiss it without careful regard.

The relationship humans have with horses is rooted in history. Those roots grow deep. Horses became our partners. Much like dogs, they provided us with opportunities that we wouldn’t have had without them. We could travel farther and faster while carrying heavy burdens. We could till ground that would have been impossible without them. We could travel in weather that would previously leave us housebound. They provided us with sport and entertainment. They provided us with the ability to round up other animals to raise for food. While working together, deep relationships were born. Yes, they are stunning to watch but the bond we share with them goes far beyond basic aesthetics.

Chances are at some point, just about everyone has enjoyed a horse in one respect or another. Movies, horse races, grand prix event or rodeos – all would share the joy of horses. Many have gone further by owning, riding, competing or working with horses in some way. Ask someone about their horse and brace yourself for a deluge of proud stories.

How could we possibly eat these noble beasts? If you take the emotional attachment out of it, technically we should. They’re herbivores like cattle. Horses aren’t that different.
Two key differences: Horses are not raised for food and our food system is not geared to handle them.

Not Raised For Food

Marc Vetri stated “If I were to find a livestock farmer who was raising them humanely, I would consider it.” However it goes far beyond simply raising them humanely.

Why not raise horses in the same manner as cattle? In general, they’re harder to handle. Unhandled horses bite and kick not only each other, but people as well. They are a fight or flight animal and are very good at both. Round ups of horses are much more difficult due to their speed, far beyond any cow. Add their strength, power and height, handling them isn’t easy and accommodating them isn’t possible on every farm. They’re harder on property and harder on fences. ”Hard keepers” by cattle standards, the vast majority of horses need supplemental feeding to stay in good condition. By their very nature, horses aren’t good candidates for food production animals. There are easier more placid stock to raise.

Horses are currently handled from birth, halter broke, trained to accept grooming, leading, farriers, veterinarians and eventually a rider or to drive. No one with the intent of sending an animal for meat wants to invest this much personal time or emotion. While it would make them easier and safer to handle, the logistics of time and costs are not feasible. With the average herd size of cattle in Canada being 61 head, imagine the time demands on keeping that many horses regularly handled and socialized. It cannot be done.

During the process of horse ownership they are often medicated. Horses tend to be exposed to more illnesses and injury due to their work. Drugs used for fertility, performance, pain killers, illness or other medical issues are common. The vast majority of these drugs would never be used in food producing animals. Due to horses having various roles of work, the introduction of these medications should be assumed. Severe adverse reactions in humans, cancer causing agents and hormonal therapies should never enter our food chain. There is never the intent to send a horse for meat, so the drugs chosen are never considered for human consumption safety before they are administered.

Phenylbutazone is a common anti-inflammatory drug administered to horses that is not safe for humans. It can cause “…severe adverse effects such as suppression of white blood cell production and aplastic anemia.” This drug has also been found in some of the horse meat scandal samples.
There are only so many carcasses tested. Of those, only so many tests can be run. Considering the amount of ecoli and salmonella cases found in recent years, do we really want to trust our health regarding an unknown cocktail of drugs that may or may not be tested for?

“Nobody has established when it is safe to eat meat that has been treated with phenylbutazone….”

Food System Not Geared Towards Horses

Horses enter the food chain via auctions. When a cow enters an auction, they’re being purchased either by meat buyers (in which case they go to slaughter) or to other farms for breeding programs and eventual slaughter. Either way, their intent for food and treatment as such remains intact. Horses however come from every walk of life (racing, pleasure riding, competitive jumping, draft, companions, etc.), at every age, in various levels of health. Hay Shortage Victims, many horses are landing in auction that would typically be home safe in a barn. Other horses have failed to respond to medical treatments and are being given up on. Many times, the money has simply run out. It is safe to say that no horse in North America is born with the intent of going for meat.

In order to garner the highest price, many are drugged in hopes of covering obvious lameness, behavioural issues or due to their alien surroundings simply just to calm them. Well behaved, good looking, sound animals are hopefully picked up by new owners who take them home to their barns. Those owners pay more so they are catered to. For sellers, there is a financial impact of not drugging. Sometimes a horse might show a bit of a spark in some way, in which case they’ll be purchased, a little TLC given so that they can hope to raise a better price in another auction. Horses in poor condition, injured, not eye catching, excessively shy or even aggressive have little hope of going to a home. Those horses are sold to meat buyers for bottom dollar, intended for slaughter. Any other meat animal would be banned from entering the food chain if they had these same drugs administered to them. However, the people sending the horses to the slaughter houses wouldn’t have administered the drugs or necessarily have any knowledge of them.

This is the criteria of your possible dinner meat: ill, poor condition and quite possibly drugged. In a society of demanding the highest of quality, free range, antibiotic free, grass and grain fed meats, this source doesn’t qualify in the least. There is no quality control on selection at all.

Food animals are transported in large groups via stock trailers in order to decrease costs. Again, by their very nature as fight or flight animals, groups of horses in close quarters are dangerous. Stress is a key factor. They kick, panic, slip and will fall without proper support. Injuries are often severe. These trailers don’t have provisions for food or water and many will collapse from exhaustion or dehydration or even arrive dead. Due to their very nature, they require a more refined mode of transportation in order to ensure their welfare. In general, the largest safe horse trailers only carry up to 6 horses.

The slaughter system is tailored to cattle and swine. Again, the nature of the horse causes undue stress and panic. Kill methods approved for horses (generally) are either via gunshot or captive bolt. Horses are ‘head shy’, meaning they don’t handle close handling of their heads or things being held by their heads without a fight. Gunshots miss the mark. Captive bolt often requires to be ‘stunned’ several times due to their panic levels. Horse advocates suggest that due to their nature, horses cannot be slaughtered humanely.

No. I would not advocate horse meat. Horses cannot be accommodated humanely at a commercial level for food either by transport or slaughter. The meat itself is not safe for human consumption due to the routine drugs administered to them. Without a sustainable method taking effort, cost and safety to both horse and human to raise them purely for food, there is not a feasible food production model for them.

There is no shortfall of meats available for human consumption. Simply because we physically can does not mean we should. At some point, the line needs to be drawn. Even with the emotional attachment to horses taken out of the equation, horse meat has no place on our dinner plates.

6/13/13

ASPCA Commends House Appropriations Committee for Voting to Eliminate Funds for Inspection of U.S. Horse Slaughter Facilities

Duchess Horse Sanctuary (Photo credit: Marji Beach)

ASPCA Commends House Appropriations Committee for Voting to Eliminate Funds for Inspection of U.S. Horse Slaughter Facilities

Approved amendment would protect horses from cruel practice in the U.S.

June 13,2013

ASPCA Media Contact

NEW YORK—The ASPCA^® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals^®) commends the members of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee for approving an amendment to its fiscal year 2014 Agriculture Appropriations bill that would prevent the use of taxpayer dollars by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to inspect horse slaughter facilities. The Moran-Young Amendment, introduced by Reps. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and Bill Young (R-Fla.), would effectively shut the door to the grisly horse slaughter industry on U.S. soil.

A similar spending prohibition was put in place in 2005; however, in the 2012 budget, the language preventing horse slaughter inspections was not included, opening the door for a return of horse slaughter in the U.S., despite broad opposition to the practice. Several applications to open horse slaughter facilities have already been filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including one in Roswell, N.M. and another in Sigourney, Iowa.

"Horse slaughter is a cruel practice that only benefits foreign interests," said Nancy Perry, senior vice president of ASPCA Government Relations. "Using taxpayer dollars to fund this abhorrent industry is irresponsible and wasteful. We are grateful to Representatives Moran and Young for their strong leadership in advocating to protect our nation’s revered equines."

Horse slaughter is inherently cruel and often erroneously compared to humane euthanasia. The methods used to slaughter horses rarely result in quick, painless deaths, as horses are difficult to stun and often remain conscious during their butchering and dismemberment. Whether slaughter occurs in the U.S. or abroad, these equines suffer incredible abuse even before they arrive at the slaughterhouse, often transported for more than 24 hours at a time without food, water or rest, and in dangerously overcrowded trailers where the animals are often seriously injured or even killed in transit. The majority of horses killed for human consumption are young, healthy animals who could go on to lead productive lives with loving owners. Last year, more than 160,000 American horses were sent to a cruel death by a grisly foreign industry that produces unsafe food for consumers.
"Horses hold a special place in our nation's history and they deserve better than to be slaughtered for the benefit of foreign consumers," said Rep. Moran. "The Committee's vote today will not only save taxpayers' money, but it will help protect these iconic creatures from suffering a cruel fate."

While the Moran-Young Amendment in the appropriations bill protects American communities from the devastating environmental and economic impact of horse slaughter facilities, it does not prohibit the transport of U.S. horses for slaughter across the border to Canada and Mexico. To address this issue, U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Reps. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), introduced the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (S. 541/H.R. 1094)—bipartisan legislation that would end the current export of American horses for slaughter abroad, and protect the public from consuming toxic horse meat.

In a recent national poll commissioned by the ASPCA, it was revealed that 80 percent of American voters, including the vast majority of horse owners (71 percent), are opposed to the slaughter of U.S. horses for human consumption. To learn more about the ASPCA’s efforts to ban horse slaughter, please visit www.aspca.org.

Citizen Cosponsor Project

Please follow the above link to the Citizen Cosponsor Project and cosponsor H.R, 1094, the SAFE ACT which will ban horse slaughter in the US and prohibit the transfer of horses across borders for the purpose of slaughter.

5/25/13

Trojan Horse Slaughter

James McWilliams

04/17/2013 | 9:28 am

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.

4/20/13

From the Horse Lover’s Mouth

WeMakeItNews.com Speaks with Congressman Jim Moran about Ending the Slaughter of American Horses & Recent Move by White House to Defund Inspections of Horse Meat

By Debra Zimmerman Murphey

For the first time on the policy front, and through the Obama White House, the United States Department of Agriculture’s proposed upcoming budget supports an initiative to defund horse meat inspections in the United States.

Previously, this kind of action had not been initiated by the executive branch, according to U.S. Congressman Jim Moran’s office. But as news of horse slaughter starting again in America intensifies, a public backlash has triggered grassroots and national attention. The announcement regarding the USDA’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget request, which does not include future funding for horse meat inspections, came last week.

“The USDA’s inclusion of language to defund horse slaughter inspections in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget request is an important step in the right direction. This decision reflects the food-safety concerns inherent to horse meat and is consistent with the 80 percent of the American people who oppose this inhumane industry. It is now up to Congress to do the right thing and vote to approve this language in the Fiscal Year 2014 Agriculture Appropriations bill,” Moran said.

But Moran also points out that Congress has the “power of the purse” and there will be a battle regarding approving the defunding policy. He acknowledges that the pro-slaughter lobby is strong, but is hopeful that members of the public will let their elected officials know that horse slaughter is inhumane and that they do not want to financially support this kind of business sector.

Moran (D-Va.), a vocal opponent of horse slaughter, had requested just weeks ago in a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack that the USDA include defunding language in its upcoming budget as a way of stopping horse slaughter in our country. In that letter, Moran raised several concerns about horse slaughter resuming in America and the meat from butchered horses being shipped abroad and sold for human consumption. His reservations include public-health issues, such as people eating potentially toxic horse meat, and pressing budget matters.

2-minutes with the Congressman — LISTEN to an excerpt from the Moran interview

Word from the White House — LISTEN to Part 1 of the Moran interview

The Meat of the Issue — LISTEN to Part 2 of the Moran interview

Indeed, Moran’s push now is even more urgent as the horse slaughter landscape has drastically shifted in recent months:

Oklahoma passed legislation that ends a 50-year ban on horse slaughter.
There are pending applications with the USDA for horse meat inspections at proposed horse slaughter plants in Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and one for a facility in New Mexico which filed a lawsuit and whose owner is awaiting the go-ahead to open the first horse slaughter operation in the United States since 2007 (sources: Bloomberg, The New York Times and Front Range Equine Rescue).
The horse slaughter debate takes on a new intensity in light of a mounting controversy in Europe over mislabeled meat products, including those containing trace amounts of horse meat, and what creeps into the global food-chain.

Horse Slaughter in Headlines

While the gritty dialogue about domestic horse slaughter for human consumption in foreign countries gains momentum and increasing exposure, the mainstream and business media often frame the anti-slaughter faction’s responses as emotional and the perspectives they provide in their news coverage and editorials are sometimes narrow. However, in an exclusive audio interview with WeMakeItNews.com, Moran explains why banning the slaughter of American horses for human consumption is a logical and needed step.

In taking a position against ending the slaughter and transport of American horses for human consumption, Moran notes:

American horses are routinely given products and medications, such as the anti-inflammatory phenylbutazone, that are banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in animals destined for human consumption;
In our culture, horses (though categorized as livestock) are not commercially raised to be eaten by humans and both regional and national polling shows that a wide majority of Americans are against horse slaughter for human consumption; and
Because Americans do not eat horse meat, reopening horse slaughter facilities in our country will result in taxpayers supporting an industry that does not benefit them during an era of fiscal constraints and dwindling federal funding.

Moran, who is serving his 12^th term as a representative from Virginia’s 8^th District, has been a longtime advocate for animal protection and a policy pioneer in helping pen and endorse legislation that will end the “heinous practice” of slaughtering American horses for human consumption. He is co-chair of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus.

For several years, Moran drafted an Agriculture Appropriations bill amendment, that was consistently approved, which defunded USDA inspections for horse meat. However, in 2011 that language was pulled in a closed conference, thus setting in motion the possibility for horse slaughter facilities to reopen in our country.

Speak Up Against Horse Slaughter

It is paramount for those who want to stop horse slaughter to take a few moments to reach out to their local representatives and senators in the U.S. Congress and request that they support a ban on the transport and slaughter of American horses for human consumption, including the USDA/White House’s recent policy move and the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act. The latter is bipartisan legislation introduced this year that focuses on food safety as a route to permanently stop the slaughter of American horses for human consumption.

“Every dollar spent at horse slaughter plants would divert necessary resources away from beef, chicken, and pork inspections – meat actually consumed by Americans. … [Additionally], contrary to the claims of slaughter proponents, these [slaughter] horses are not old and unwanted, with USDA statistics showing that 92 percent of all horses sent to slaughter are in good condition,” Moran wrote to Vilsack.

“It is regrettable that Congress allowed the prohibition on federal funding for horse slaughter inspections to lapse. While I work to restore this ban, I strongly urge you to exercise all available options to prevent the resumption of this industry. I also stand ready and willing to work with you in developing a responsible plan for handling unwanted horses,” Moran concluded.

You can call the White House [202-456-1111 or TTY/TTD 202-456-6213] to help permanently stop horse slaughter, as well as ask for an end to transporting American horses to slaughterhouses in other countries.

Below is contact information for senators and congressmen/congresswomen in Maryland and Virginia or you can visit The Humane Society of the United States’ website to locate and contact elected officials in other states to share your opinion about horse slaughter and to ensure that the American people are heard regarding their stances against horse slaughter. Click here to access information from the Humane Society.

Please remember that horse slaughter is not humane chemical euthanasia, will only exacerbate the suffering of horses, and goes against American values. Slaughter ensures a horrific fate for horses – including racehorses, ponies, former dressage and show competitors, and pleasure, companion, working and wild horses – that are sold into the slaughter pipeline at auctions where kill buyers lurk.

Golden Days

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6/25/13

Why Not Horse Meat?

6/13/13

ASPCA Commends House Appropriations Committee for Voting to Eliminate Funds for Inspection of U.S. Horse Slaughter Facilities

ASPCA Commends House Appropriations Committee for Voting to Eliminate Funds for Inspection of U.S. Horse Slaughter Facilities