Billboard Creates Debate Over Ethics of Horse Slaughtering - OzarksFirst.com

This is just one of many news stories that have popped up over the past few years about the horse slaughter issue. This covers some of the issues at stake for the horse industry and shows how a rational solution to a problem can be ignored because of emotional reactions.

Billboard Creates Debate Over Ethics of Horse Slaughtering - OzarksFirst.com:

For some background on the issues, the horse slaughter plants in the US were closed in 2006 and 2007. The 3 existing plants were slaughtering between 70,000 and 100,000 horses each year.

Since the closure of the slaughter plants, incidence of abuse, neglect, and abandonment have risen sharply at the same time the value of horses has decreased significantly. This study by the Government Accountability Office shows that this is true for lower end horses. My thesis (which i will link to when its complete) shows that the closure has had a significant impact on higher end horses that are purchased as investments.

In the article, the billboard creator is trying to stop horse slaughter, but she points out the real issue without realizing it (although she exaggerates a bit).

"Big breeders will breed 100 and only want two," she says. "And so they'll put them at auction. Kill buyers go the auction, they buy the horses, and send them to Canada or Mexico."

The issue is not that the horses are getting sent to slaughter. The issue is that people are breeding too many horses and not breeding horses that are useful or wanted by others. If people truly do not want to have slaughter plants in this country, we need to solve the unwanted horse problem first. If we as an industry only breed the number and kind of horses that we need or want, we can eliminate the need for slaughter.

Until we no longer have unwanted horses, we will need slaughter plants in this country. I believe that putting an end to a horses live in a humane way and allowing that horse to be useful even after its dead is a far better end than being alive but abused and starving.

Some other links of good information about this issue are:

http://www.animallawcoalition.com/horse-slaughter/article/541

http://www.avma.org/issues/animal_welfare/unwanted_horses_faq.asp

http://www.unwantedhorsecoalition.org/resources/UHC_Survey_07Jul09b.pdf

I recommend that everyone read and think rationally about this issue before spouting emotional rants or creating billboards that only encourage making the lives of horses worse.