There doesn’t go the neighborhood!
Apr 26 2010
Gotta love it – kudos to the city of Hardin for saying, oh hell no, you’re not putting THAT in our town!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
John Holland
540.268.5693
john@equinewelfarealliance.org
Vicki Tobin
630.961.9292
vicki@equinewelfarealliance.org
Hardin Montana Says No Thanks to Horse Slaughter Plant
CHICAGO, (EWA) – Montana Representative Ed Butcher’s plan of building a horse slaughter plant in Hardin, MT has ended.
The city of Hardin unanimously passed Ordinance No. 2010-01 that amends the current zoning ordinance to prohibit the slaughter of more than 25 animals in a seven day period. The action effectively bars the building of a slaughter plant in Hardin.
Mayor Kimberly A. Hammond provided the following statement to Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA).
“I have no deluded thoughts or feelings about the need for proper disposal or care of unwanted horses.
As Mayor of a small city, it is my responsibility to make information available to our public, especially when it concerns public safety, health, and how their tax dollars are being spent.
The way our City Industrial Park is set up, a business is required to hook up to City Water and Sewer. A horse slaughter facility running at 200-400 kills a week would have brought our waste water treatment plant to a screaming halt.
Our City would have been forced to construct a new waste water treatment plant that would capacitate the slaughter facility, at the cost of our tax payers. The City most likely would not have been able to get aid with funding a 6-8 million dollar treatment plant.
I, as Mayor had our City Attorney draft an ordinance that prohibited slaughter houses within the city limits. Upon 1st reading, our city council did not like the verbiage that there would be NO slaughter facilities. They thought it was unfair to the small mom and pop operations that could be looking for a commercial plot. So we changed the language to only prohibit facilities that would kill more than twenty-five animals in a 7 day period.
Our decision was based purely on the adverse impact that a facility of this size and nature would have had on our City Waste Water Treatment Plant.“
Mayor Hammond’s concerns were well placed. Horse slaughter plants are notorious for their waste problems. Horses have almost twice as much blood per pound of body weight as cattle and it has proven very difficult to treat. In the three years Cavel International operated in DeKalb, Illinois, their discharge was in violation every month. The operation moved to Saskatchewan, Canada where it was caught discharging blood into the local river from a tanker truck. That operation was shut down last year because of health violations.
EWA applauds the city of Hardin, Montana for this proactive legislation to preserve the environment of their beautiful city.
The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues free, umbrella organization with over 100 member organizations. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids.
I personally have been working on a project you’ll all hear more about soon that has to do with how horses are still being killed right here, within our borders. I can’t give you all the details yet but let’s just say that it has been a fresh look for me at the type of person who kills horses for a living. These are not decent people trying to make a living, people who merely don’t share my opinion that horses should not be slaughtered for their meat. These are criminals who are engaged in other criminal activities, who have no basic decency, who are unpredictable loose cannons who don’t live by the usual rules of society and certainly do not obey the law. As just one example, if you read the TB Friends blog, you know how often the kill buyers themselves are illegal aliens, who come to this country to get rich off our overbreeding and have absolutely no feelings for anything that is not a dollar bill. This is an example of how corrupt the horse slaughter industry is, in general.
Those of you who are longtime readers of this blog know that you will NEVER hear me deny that there is an overpopulation of horses, or try to argue that there is a home for every horse currently alive. That’s just not true. We made too many horses, just like we made too many dogs and cats, and ending the lives of some in order to bring the balance back under control is necessary, but there is a right way to do it and sending them to their death at the hands of people who enjoy killing and are amused by cruelty will never be right.
New topic later but I wanted to share this – it’s very good news and hopefully will be an example to other cities about the right way to handle this!
Now, check out the Best.Idea.Ever from Minnesota – a way to educate horse owners while making gelding affordable and keeping surplus horses from happening in the first place! This is just an AWESOME idea. Read this and see if you can implement something like it in your state. I can’t wait to hear how it goes and if a lot of people take advantage of it.
53 comments to “There doesn’t go the neighborhood!”
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The man who wanted to build a slaughter plant is named Mr. Butcher? Can you imagine answering the phone…”Hello. Montana Horse Slaughter House, Mr. Butcher speaking.”
Or just … “Hello. Montana Horse Slaughter House. Butcher speaking.” Ew.
LOLOL
I know it’s bad, but that I have to admit made me lol, in my head.
I just have to point out that Dr. Tracy Turner has a fantastic moustache.
http://www.mnhorseexpo.org/images/tracyturner.jpg
Awww yeah!!!
OMG!!!!!
Lol! I was checking it out too! My husband and I were debating if it was grown out all the way down to his jaw. We think so!
Way to go Hardin, MT!! While I’m sure this plant will find another town to in which to operate, every bit of resistance the slaughter industry faces helps.
I have to admit, I am getting tired of the argument “We need slaughter to dispose of unwanted horses.” Excuse me, I need a glass of OJ to help with my hangover due to alcoholism. (Said in jest!)
Eating meat is fine with me; if the animal is handled responsible from birth to death. But honestly, chickens, pigs and cows aren’t handled well in this country (some responsible farmers excepting). I’m not convinced that bringing horse slaughter back to the US will be any more humane (probably less so due to physiological differences) than treatment of those aforementioned species.
We need to be aware of where our food comes from, and how it lived before it hit the plate. Meanwhile people need to take responsibility for neutering their own non-breeding-quality animals, of any species. And the racing industry needs to produce sounder horses and fewer culls. And everyone else needs to quit allowing the rest an “out” of slaughter, or whatever. Be honest. Tell them they can do better.
“I have to admit, I am getting tired of the argument “We need slaughter to dispose of unwanted horses.†Excuse me, I need a glass of OJ to help with my hangover due to alcoholism.”
HA! Excellent point! Let’s just sweep the REAL problem under the rug, and then treat the symptoms so no one will notice our nasty habits.
Fugs, this is a big time slap-down for horse slaughter advocates. Hardin is not a big town, nor are the citizens wealthy. Some statistics about Hardin, Montana:
Estimated median household income in 2007: $35,641 (it was $28,018 in 2000)
Hardin: $35,641
Montana: $43,531
Estimated per capita income in 2007: $16,739
Hardin: $16,739
Montana: $22,937
The mayor could easily have promoted the slaughter house as “bringing good-paying jobs to the area” but she didn’t. KUDOS to her for showing some common-sense and backbone.
http://hardinmt.homestead.com/Mayor.html
What a fantastic thing going on in Minnesota. Wish I lived closer ;o)
The “horse expositions” I’ve been to are mostly full of demos and workshops from NH zombies demonstrating their total lack of understanding about everything from “join-up and game playing” to people who think they have something important to say but aren’t even savvy (sorry, Pat) about herd behavior. Had someone in charge of signups for vendors and presenters tell me that if “someone had credibility with people in the area,” they were welcome to apply to be a vendor or presenter — but if they were from out of the area, that also meant “outside the little pond,” so they weren’t welcome.
Then the organizers wonder why their horse events are fairly well attended the first time and then attendance gradually peters out. People KNOW what (and who) is up here. They want to know MORE and they also want to know from someone DIFFERENT. Free admission isn’t always enough of a draw.
One year a local group was given the chance to be organized by someone who had been a vendor the year before and saw for herself what the problems were. Her first suggestion was to schedule the event on a weekend that did NOT conflict with three separate rodeos. The committee informed her that they had chosen their date and they didn’t CARE about other events going on within easy driving distance the day they had chosen. So there.
Having a list of hoops through which people must jump in order to provide a gelding clinic or a horse handling clinic TAUGHT BY SOMEONE WHO KNOW WHAT HE/SHE IS DOING is a good thing. One of the local vets here has regular workshops for area shoers, taught by the farrier from out of the area that he, the vet, uses. My shoer goes and has commented many times that he has learned a LOT from the guy. I believe the vet’s workshop is free.
Donate time, give of your own time to learn new things or reinforce what you already know, and you’ll reap the rewards from word-of-mouth recommendations from happy customers.
Makes sense to me.
I went to expo myself this year b/c I knew all I would do was GRIPE the whole time. (NOTE: morgan representation was AOK, natch!) Here is email I sent to my friend when I got home:
—————
I felt like everything I saw annoyed me.
Tacky clothing, gaudy tack (and ppl buying both), “magic” horseman touting their videos, racks of bits NO one should be using, etc. I really didn’t like many of the horses in the barn, I was annoyed by the Pintabianmoresian spotted
wild horse registries, two year old futurity entries, etc etc. Lots of horses that should not be bred, yet they are the out trying to rattle up business supposedly representing horses for the breed. I think the real breeders won’t waste their time/effort bringing the good horses out. One farm was RAFFLING OFF A HORSE (no, not a breeding, a horse)
I saw ONE stallion that was actually SPECTACULAR & with an impressive show record. Too bad they bred him to every goddamn freak mare that could cough up the stud fee. The examples they had of his get were HORRID. Why would you want those things running around with your name on them? (apparently has no effect b/c 100s of ppl still breeding to him) How about charging a tiny bit more, breeding to only approved mares & maybe upping value? No luck.
Why does everyone have money to spend on rhinestone headstalls & never take a goddamn riding lesson or invest in a real friggin trainer?? [note: this is in reference to group of yahoos that we know] …there were three book vendors and their stalls were EMPTY, but you couldn’t get through the aisles near the ridiculous bits and sparkly spurs.
—–
I probably would have liked the driving clinic or some of the massage/chiro, but very little appealed to me. I visited with a rescue group & there was a booth about disaster preparedness for pets & horses which had very useful info.
I have been stoked about the gelding project since I heard about it, but I wonder if it will really reach the idiots that need it most. BTW, Tracy Turner -is- Wilford Brimley.
Also, I am not sure about my position on pink pitchforks.
The purpose of pink manure forks is so that the boys in the barn don’t steal them! I have a lilac one myself.
If it was purple my opinion would be clear: BUY IT!! (it would match everything else I own!)
I admit I catch myself with a lot of this stuff thinking “we didn’t have hoof glitter when I was a kid. We had black curries AND WE LIKED IT (cuz I didn’t know then that I NEEDED sparkly purple gel mane combs to match my brush box!)
Heh. When I was a barn brat, I owned three crops: A gorgeous brass topped black crop, an English show cane (NOT for use on the horse) and…a neon green cheapo monstrosity.
The two nice ones only left my bedroom on show days and barely ever left my sight. The neon one lived outside my pony’s stall…nobody would EVER steal that thing
.
I am a wastewater treatment manager for a large poultry slaughtering facility as my day job. I can’t tell you how true it is that blood is very difficult to deal with in a wastewater stream.
Typical processing of cows, pigs, and chickens, captures most of the blood to sell it to rendering facilities, that use it to manufacture blood meal, a widely used organic fertilizer. So the wastewater my plant treats, really has very little blood in it- the blood is valuable! In the rare cases that we get overflow of blood in our wastewater, it creates all kinds of headaches for us.
My guess would be that horse blood is not easy to sell to the rendering companies- who wants their fertilizer label to say that it contains horse blood? Can anyone say BOYCOTT??? Wow that would be bad PR!
So, I assume that most if not all the blood from horse slaughter would get wasted, down the drain, and into a wastewater plant somewhere, or out into the local river, etc… It would be impossible to adequately treat a wastewater stream with that much blood in it. I can’t imagine what a nightmare that would be, from a purely professional waste treatment standpoint.
I am tickled to see that this community was able to use their wastewater treatment plant as a way to block commercial horse slaughter. Hooray for wastewater
For once, my profession seen in a positive light!
Besides the blog itself, one of the best things about reading Fugly is the varied background of my fellow readers. This is a valuable insight into one of the significant consequences of horse slaughter.
I believe the whole slaughter issue could be attacked much more effectively if we concentrated on issues like wastewater, drugs in the meat, and the total lack of commercial viability of horsemeat. Not so emotionally satisfying, but ultimately more useful.
I agree. Approaching it from a practical standpoint with these issues will give people opposed to horse slaughter good, solid facts to argue with. Things that can be definitively proven, and shown in the history and issues closed plants had. More people may take notice, too, since you can show them how a slaughter plant can negatively impact their lives, not just protesting that it’s inhumane (not that I feel being inhumane is an invalid argument, but the general population has heard it before, and it’s easy to tune out the same song. Especially when they may look at a slaughter plant as a way to bring in new jobs and thus money. Show them how it will impact their lives in ways they may not have thought of, and it will start the gears turning.)
Given the environmental requirements, its hard to see how horse slaughter could be a win for any community, no matter how much money Cavel throws around. The book Fast Food Nation has a pretty good expose on the meat packing industry in general. They try to hire immigrant labor when they can get them, and their wages and safety standards are very low. The plant is probably going to request exemptions on property taxes and try to make the community pay for infrastructure “because they are bringing in so many jobs!”. The sewer requirements that the Mayor is referring to are necessary to meet Federal water pollution requirements, they cannot be ingnored or negotiated away. A horse slaughter plant would also be on the radar screen of every humane organization in this country- what community wants that kind of attention?
Do keep in mind that the majority of specific environmental requirements are set by the STATE, not the federal government! The federal governoment lays out broad, basic standards and then the state sets specific guidelines, rules, and limits, typically stricter than federal requirements.
Industries of all kinds often choose where to build a factory based on which states have the loosest envoronmental laws. Not necessarily because they intend to pollute- but looser laws means that there are fewer expenses and headaches involved in setting up and then running a business.
I don’t want to be rude, but, I can’t believe you’d be surprised at finding out the kind of people who would (illegally) slaughter horses in the US. Did you really think that they would be decent people?
For the people who keep saying horse slaughter should be brought back to the US where it can be done humanely and monitored. The slaughter we already have isn’t monitored (at least not until someone gets some undercover footage showing a cow being rammed with a forklift or a live chicken having it’s wings torn off by a slaughterhouse worker for their amusement – and I think that takes care of the delusion that there’s anything humane about it). Not to mention that here, in Southern California, you’d have the same type of people working in the slaughterhouse as there is in Mexico.
Well, the defense is always, hey, they’re just trying to make a living, there’s nothing wrong with it, blah blah. And I do think there are people who kill and eat animals who aren’t evil – there are people who home raise what they eat and make sure it suffers a very quick death. But as soon as you have that whole slaughterhouse, assembly-line thing going on, there is GOING to be cruelty. And you are right – it’s as true for chickens or any other animal as for horses.
I can’t speak for other animal slaughtering facilities, but I can tell you, the chickens my employer kills, are handled and killed as humanely as possible. There are people on staff who literally do nothing all day but observe to make sure that the animals are being handled and killed humanely. It is my understanding that some of this is due to our company’s strict policies on humane handling of our poultry, but some is federal law as well. I have been repeatedly suprised as I learn more about my company and the whole industry, at how much care is taken to not stress or mistreat the birds. I’m glad, but it did suprise me.
Some people assume that animal husbandry and slaughter means abuse, and that is decidedly not the case. Just as with most other things, it’s the rare few, highly publicised villains, that make the rest of the industry look bad in the eyes of the public.
That said, I still do not believe horse slaughter has any place in our country, regardless of if it is humane or not.
i shall be interested to see how you address this issue, as I too am not deluded enough to believe that slaughter of horses has come to an end here. I KNOW it hasn’t. IMO, we’ve basically made it yet another “drug-war” or Prohibition type scenario, where only the criminals profit and everyone else loses. That’s my opinion and I’ve already stated it here, but I do want to see what else is being said and done and will be looking for the follow-up.
Well, I don’t think the answer is legalizing it (which obviously WAS the answer with Prohibition!) but as long as you have a surplus of animals that you can make fast cash off of, that is going to be extremely appealing to the fast-cash sector of our society!
Heh, I was browsing through Failblog in my boredom, and I just found this one very…Out of place, as it’s far from being a “Fail”
http://failblog.org/2010/04/25/epic-fail-photos-dont-miss-fail/
http://failblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/129163459688841800.jpg
Ha! This is definitely a WIN! Perhaps the person who submitted that didn’t see that there was a banner for a vet clinic at the bottom?
Good for them! Let’s hope other cities follow their lead when faced with the same situation.
Look everyone! It’s a $500 Yak-ney stud with a barback kid on him! http://louisville.craigslist.org/grd/1711168162.html
And ohhh boy! Anyone care to guess what is going on here with all these “breed jennys” for sale? http://lexington.craigslist.org/grd/1710691805.html
Poor little girls.
All emotion aside, I have never understood from a business standpoint why any community would welcome a horse slaughter plant. These foreign owned plants pay virtually no taxes, employ a very small number of people and are generally an environmental nightmare. Exactly where is the benefit to any community??
That’s why we should all copy that letter, and keep it handy. We can argue from an unemotional, dollars-and-sense position, without labeling ourselves sentimental kooks.
Want someone to listen? Keep them comfortable with you – which means no yelling, screaming, stereotyping, or crying. (It also means dressing inoffensively.)
Politically savvy, Ruthie
This is great news…thanks for sharing! The environmental issues were also a problem for Dallas Crown Texas. Residents had blood backing up into their plumbing and a plague of rats that flourished on the rotting hides and skeletons workers tossed outside. Dallas Crown’s response was that people who choose to live next to a slaughterhouse should expect this kind of thing…what a wonderful corporate citizen!
Pro-slaughter advocates are always finding new ways to justify continuing this atrocity. First it was a horse welfare issue, slaughtering horses to prevent possible future neglect. With this logic we should slaughter all potential crime victims including ourselves. When the economy tanked it became all about creating jobs. Once again they duped people into thinking that a few minimum wage slaughterhouse jobs would replace the millions of high paying manufacturing and tech jobs that have been diverted to other countries. Thank God the mayor of Hardin has a brain!
It is foolish to rely on slaughter to end the unwanted horse problem because it is based on demand from foreign consumers. The people who profit from this industry are looking for a cheap supply of meat. They don’t care that Bobby Backyard Breeder has to liquidate the fuglies. It’s all about a quick profit. As more mediat outlets publicize that US horse meat is not fit for human consumption due to the drugs and supplements used to keep horses healthy and productive, it’s only a matter of time before foreign consumers turn to other sources of untainted meat. Once that happens, we’re on our own.
The only way to resolve the problem of too many horses is to control breeding, provide low cost options for gelding and euthanasia, and lobby government and law enforcement to pass and enforce stronger animal cruelty laws. It’s a huge challenge, but if we take away slaughter as an option, the industry will be forced to create and fund viable options.
A good point. Legalizing slaughter won’t solve the overpopulation problem and lead to fewer, higher quality horses being bred – quite the opposite, it will encourage people to breed more and worse. Is this really about bettering the equine species, or is it about making a profit on your culls?
The gelding clinic makes me proud to be from Minnesota – I love horse expo. I usually spend waaay too much money there, but whatever. I’m always impressed with the variety of speakers, show events and even vendors (some 600) they cram into the state fairgrounds every april.
The slaughter story also makes me happy we raise our own steers and buy our hogs from a local, family-owned butcher shop. Taste is phenomonally better and we can get our meat cut to order, and it’s usually cheaper too if you have the freezer space to store large quantities.
It seems like breed associations need to step up and try to take some responsibility. If they can put on a show, they can afford to hold a gelding or euth. clinic. Or trying to take part in rehoming unwanted horses.
With most dog breed associations, there is a network of rescue people who foster and rehome dogs from neglect/abuse/hoarding/abandonment situations. I know this wouldn’t even put a dent in the homeless horse population, but it would help.
The AQHA, and I’m sure a few other organizations have openly supported horse slaughter. I don’t even know what to think about this. It just makes it look like they don’t give a shit about the horses. What could they possibly gain from this?
“With most dog breed associations, there is a network of rescue people who foster and rehome dogs from neglect/abuse/hoarding/abandonment situations. I know this wouldn’t even put a dent in the homeless horse population, but it would help.”
Part of the problem is that in horses, there’s often this nasty adversarial relationship between the rescues and the breeders. I’ve talked before about how counterproductive that is!
Yeah, and dogs are generally thought of as pets. I think of horses as pets. When I buy one, he will treated as such and I will keep him until the end just like my cats and dogs. I tend to see horses treated more as a commodity. I know people who want to ditch a horse once he isn’t competitive anymore. Like its a car or something, just trade up to a newer/better model. I know there are lots of people to whom a horse is like their kid. But after riding in a few show barns, the “trade in” mentality seems predominant.
I see the horse rescues trying to do this all on their own. It’s so sad that breed organizations can just look the other way.
Why the animosity between the breeders and rescues? Shouldn’t they ultimately have the same goal?- Safety, welfare and betterment of horses.
Those adversarial relationships exist with dogs as well. There was great animosity for years between racing Greyhound trainers and breeders and the people who wanted to place the dogs in adoptive homes instead of being killed by the tens of thousands. Until organizations that took a racing-neutral position were formed, it was impossible to make any serious dent in the numbers.
Unfortunately, many animal control agencies and humane societies still regard purebred rescue groups as competition and refuse to cooperate with them.
“Those adversarial relationships exist with dogs as well. There was great animosity for years between racing Greyhound trainers and breeders and the people who wanted to place the dogs in adoptive homes instead of being killed by the tens of thousands. Until organizations that took a racing-neutral position were formed, it was impossible to make any serious dent in the numbers.
Unfortunately, many animal control agencies and humane societies still regard purebred rescue groups as competition and refuse to cooperate with them.”
That is so sad. They seem to forget that they should all have the same goal.
When I worked at the Humane Society, we *loved* breed rescues. Having a dog taken in by a breed rescue meant that there would be one more space for another dog to come in. I know this attitude isn’t the norm, in fact during volunteer orientation they specified that they work with breed rescues. Some dogs just don’t do well in that kind of environment- 2 walks per day and not much 1 on 1 interaction. Each breed has their own little quirks, it was nice to have people who understood this.
And heck, if you want a quiet, decorative dog that likes to lie on your couch and take quiet walks with you…and that will NEVER bark…you can’t go far wrong with an OTT greyhound.
Once they’re let down from track condition, they tend to become wonderful, wonderful dogs.
abvnx said: The AQHA, and I’m sure a few other organizations have openly supported horse slaughter. I don’t even know what to think about this. It just makes it look like they don’t give a shit about the horses. What could they possibly gain from this?
They gain all those registration fees that come about by encouraging every Tom, Dick, Suzy with a registered horse to breed, breed, breed. Then when the breeders *gasp* can’t sell the foals they act as their moral compass by telling them slaughter is a good way to deal with unwanted horses (by unwanted, I mean inconvenient for them to keep). That clears room for next year’s foal crop (a.k.a. cash crop for the registry). Some breed registries just suck, and AQHA is right on top of that list.
“They gain all those registration fees that come about by encouraging every Tom, Dick, Suzy with a registered horse to breed, breed, breed. Then when the breeders *gasp* can’t sell the foals they act as their moral compass by telling them slaughter is a good way to deal with unwanted horses (by unwanted, I mean inconvenient for them to keep). That clears room for next year’s foal crop (a.k.a. cash crop for the registry). Some breed registries just suck, and AQHA is right on top of that list.”
That is just bassakwards. What happens to the horses reflects directly on the owners, breeders and breed registries. But I guess they can quickly change the subject to futurities…
Regarding the Minnesota scheme, where horse owners can get free gelding by attending training / education classes? While it appeals to me, I’m not your problem, and want to educate myself even if you don’t give me something for doing so, and would never keep a stud that I didn’t absolutely think would poop well-trained rainbows.
What we need is an arrangement where gelding is subsidized for ANY horse owner, out of fees they pay for privilege of owning critters, or their coggins, or their impact on the wastewater stream. Call it whatever you want. But it costs MORE MONEY to keep a stallion intact than it does to geld. Until that is non-negotiably the case, we will never be able to herd basically uneducated and irresponsible owner / breeders into NOT breeding.
Woot woot!!
The horse slaughter industry is really just giving itself a kick in the ass with the way they run things. I really don’t think that anyone would have a huge issue with slaughter as long as the whole process, from the animal’s treatment at auction, to transport, to the actual slaughter itself, was wholly humane and under careful regulation. But no! Instead they insist upon conducting extremely sketchy activities, hiring outright criminals, and abusing the animals sold into the slaughter facility’s possession. Maybe then they would gain more support among the general horse community (although I have to say that just because some idiot bred a fugly horse, it does not have to go to slaughter. It could be a very sweet little gelding or mare with a little girl who spoils them rotten). And that is not to say that I am pro-slaughter. The human aspect of killing a pet for food is still as volatile as eating a child.
We should shut our boarders to slaughter, period. This would force most illegals back to where they came from. I’m all up for immigrants, that have gone through the proper channels, and proved they can be a help society, instead of a drain, and pay taxes. KB’s don’t pay federal taxes, and they make 2K+ a stock trailer load, and if horses are going for cheap than a lot of money can be made. No one monitors weither any of these horses has a contagious disease (than people are oh so shocked when EIA postive horses start popping up * head desk*), force people to stop breeding crap if they can’t get rid of it, force our governments (local and federal) to make smart decicions on how money is spent (after the recession of course), more than 1/2 of the horses should have never been run through the auction in the first place let alone slaughtered, force owners to take responsibility instead of making their scale 3 disappear, make the auctions accountable for selling stolen horses. My big one is the stolen horse, KB’s don’t care if the horse is stolen, and the person who did the stealing doesn’t care if the horse/pony ends up with the KB. I say if a country wants to have horse, let them kill their best friend and leave ours alone. Do auction houses even have to pay federal taxes? If they don’t, they should, especially if they sell to KBs.
It’s too bad you didn’t put the MN gelding incentive up sometime in the last week, since the Expo is over now. There’s always next year
.
My mini got to go to the Expo, and… he was an idiot for most of the weekend! Screaming at every mare who walked by, and most of the stallions and geldings. Plus he loves them big, hairy, and with murder in her eyes, and we were directly across from a Gypsy Vanner farm and right next to a Friesian stallion. So that was fun. (My trainer says he was good for his first time around strange horses in a show situation, but he’s usually superhorse, so I have a high bar for him.) They get over this phase, right?
I wish they had more speakers at Expo about what you can do with your horse *after* you start it. The Versatility Horse group was a lot of fun, and Julie Goodnight was a great speaker. Lynn Palm was kind of boring, since she was doing reeeeally low level dressage stuff in the only lecture I caught (“This is a dressage arena! It has a centerline!”), and her horse had a huge fake tail that was bugging me during her WEG ride. There were gaited and driving demos going on too. Actually, looking through the program, I don’t think there was a NH round penner there at all! It’s a good direction to go in.
I hope you got my email about a certain product I saw there, Fugly. It will BREAK YOUR BRAIN. I think my subject line was something like “train your saddle horse like a baby.”
Ooops, fail on my part. But someone just sent it to me.
Here is a story about a trucker being charged with cruelty to animals – 14 horses dead or dying found by border officials:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/04/15/Horse-deaths-anger-Canadian-judge/UPI-78481271356021/
OK not from the US, so some of this is not probably relevant but I thought it may be of interest.
New Zealand exports millions of meat worldwide each year. To have access to the overseas markets our slaughter houses (known as freezing works) have to be of extremely high standards. They get inspected at least once a year by Government vets and welfare from the importing companies (scheduled) but are also subject to spot audits, unannounced by same, as well as MAF (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) and the Food Safety Authority for the food aspect plus waste water etc by the regional Environment Authority AND Animal Welfare Advisory Ctte.
What is more every animal which goes through the works here is traceable to the farm of origin – the one on which it was BORN, regardless of how many owners in between. This traceability has also been imposed upon the industry by trading partners (including the US). Farmers have to keep animal health records which even record the batch number of any treatments administered and log the with holding times. If an animal goes to the sales this paperwork has to accompany it. If the paperwork is not in order the truckie will not even load the animals.
Where I am going with this is that these standards were imposed on the industry by our trading partners way back in the 70′s. There is one plant in NZ for processing horse meat for human consumption; it all goes to Japan.
So the question I am asking is HOW can horse meat which is virtually all killed for human consumption overseas be not subjected to the same level of regulation as it is in NZ????
Instead of ‘prohibiting’ which does lead to the illegal and nefarious taking over kill the market. Swamp the importers in the EU (or wherever) with the information with information relevant to human health. Such as the doped and other undeclared drug use horses which are going into their food chain.
Start with the supermarkets chains in the countries where the meat ends up.
Make polite queries about what quality controls they have in place for testing for prohibited substances in the meat that they sell.
Just a thought.
Great news! Even if the justafication relates to waste treatment. Don’t have time to read posts, crazy days indeed.
That expo looks like it would be a lot of fun. I’d be a total fail at it, but make your own cinch? Awesome.
It honestly sounds like that industrial park is not a good location for ANY kind of processing plant. Of course, I’m of the opinion that all slaughter, regardless of animal, should take place as close to the farm gate as feasible.
Earlier in the thread, I said the ‘Big Lick’ “Performance” gaits of the Tennessee Walker must represent an aquired taste. I sure don’t see much to like about that ‘discipline’.
This mare must also represent an ‘aquired taste’…
http://ocala.craigslist.org/grd/1713404298.html