About the Blog Owner...

I am just an ordinary citizen in Tennessee who found out about horse slaughter after the wild horse issue was so widely publicized.

I was appalled to find out about the very quietly run slaughterhouses in our country. There were three of them (now two) and all were foreign-owned. All shipped their product out of the country, except for meat sold to zoos. Horsemeat is popular in Europe and Japan, with France consuming the most.

Those who advocate horse slaughter abdicate that it is the only viable solution to excess "unwanted horses." I have to raise an eyebrow at this logic. I don't think we should kill victims of irresponsible horse owners and breeders. That seems fairly nonsensical to me. We can't promote a disposal bin for horses that can't win the purse; horses that are too expensive to keep; horses that we've grown tired of. The horses that bring money at slaughter are mostly healthy and most are fleshy Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds.

In California, where horse slaughter has been banned, there was no rise in abuse and all "unwanted" horses were successfully absorbed into rescues, new owners, etc. So, I have to ask where are the statistics to support the position that we need horse slaughter? I haven't seen them yet.

Horses are legally "livestock," which compounds the problem of stopping their slaughter. On paper they are livestock, but in our culture they are, without a doubt, a companion animal - and one that has seen us through wars, police duty, farm work, and more.

And THAT IS WHY THE SLAUGHTERHOUSES WORK ALMOST IN SECRECY. They KNOW just how repulsed Americans are with the thought of horse slaughter. Many polls show this to be true. Most people do not know it exists; just as I didn't. I was rather incredulous when I found out about it.

I am not a vet. I am not even a horse owner, but I subscribe to the idea of living humanely, which includes the prevention of cruelty to our animal friends. Horse slaughter plants are not truly "horse slaughter" plants. They are cattle slaughter plants that have been retro-fitted a little. And for those who have observed this slaughter process, it is far from humane. The transport process is even worse.

And so I started this blog to educate myself, stay on top of what's going on and hopefully educate some other people. I mostly excerpt articles I think are important and reserve my personal banter for this short piece.

I want other people know about the existence of horse slaughter. Every country has their social mores to follow and ours has been to not eat horse. So, why are we allowing our culture to be bastardized by foreign slaughter plants? It isn't much different than letting a country that eats dogs and cats come into the United States and set up shop to slaughter our excess animals and export their meat. Hardly acceptable - instead we continue to work on the real problem that creates our excess dogs and cats - spay and neuter and owner education. Why, I ask, is this not the case for our beloved horses?

We don't eat our dogs, cats, or horses. So let's not slaughter them for others' convenience.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find some information that helps you understand the issue.