Thursday, July 13, 2017

Would Slaughter be "better" in the US?

The current version of the FY2018 Agricultural Appropriations Bill has removed the wording that forbade the use of taxpayer funds for the USDA inspection of horse carcasses for consumption- thereby making horse slaughter in the US pointless.  With this protective wording now removed, the possibility for a US horse slaughterhouse to open is headed to being back on the table. 

This, of course, opens the tiresome debate of horse slaughter in the US.   I want to explore that notion today.  Would it be more humane?  Would horse slaughter really be better if it happened in the US?

I know my opinion and I stand firm on it. 

HELL NO

And I'm happy to explain why.  Here's the most common excuses I hear trying to rationalize bringing back horse slaughter to the US, and my feelings about why these statements just don't fly with me. 

1.  It will be more humane, better regulated, and have more oversight.  
Is the public really dumb enough to buy this line?  I sure hope not.  It's only been since 2007 that the US had horse slaughter, and already people have sadly long since forgotten the collective OUTRAGE over the atrocities suffered by horses because of US slaughter. What most people do not understand- or don't want to understand-  is that the methods used to slaughter horses in Canada are the same methods utilized in the US to slaughter horses.  When US slaughterhouses were open, humane laws were not enforced, and humane practices did not occur.  Horses were treated inhumanely prior to transport, during transport, at the facility, and especially during their death.  The outrage over these barbaric offenses and the utter lack of enforcement is what moved Americans to push for a ban on US horse slaughter in the first place!!!   

For the love of God... I just can not wrap my mind around how people can pretend that the very same offenses that currently occur in Canada, and that used to occur in the US, will not occur again.  Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different outcome?  If so, then the option of US horse slaughter is insane. 

*The slaughterhouses proved to the US that they would cut corners and skirt regulations for the sake of the almighty dollar. 

*They already proved to the US they would disregard EPA standards and pollute their surrounding areas. 

*They already proved- again and again- that having veterinarians present and "random inspections" (read: tipped off inspections) does not prevent the shortcuts that lead to horrendous suffering! 

*They already proved that slaughter benefits ABSOLUTELY NO ONE but the foreign fat cats who sit by and get rich off your old lesson horse! 

*Hell- Dallas Crown was in Kaufman TX, and it sure sounds nice and American- but it's a Belgian owned company.  It nearly left Kaufman city bankrupt after years of fighting it over 29 different fines for wastewater violations.  And according to Paula Bacon, the mayor between 2002-2004, Dallas Crown had an income of 12 MILLION DOLLARS...  and it paid $5 in federal taxes, and created 42 jobs. 

But lets just let them keep telling us horse slaughter will be better here...

2.  It saves the horses from having to be transported hundreds if not thousands of miles in horrible conditions.
Does anyone own a map?  Salt Lake City to Beltex= 1300 miles.  There were only 3 slaughterhouses in the US:  1 in Illinois and 2 in Texas.  This is a pretty big country.  Horses were already traveling long distances in cramped trailers under horrible conditions.  Horses were arriving trampled to death, with missing eyes and broken legs.  Regulations for how long horses could be transported without food, water, or rest went ignored or unenforced as a common practice.  THIS ALL HAPPENED HERE. 

A Freedom of Information Request of the U.S.D.A. regarding violations of the “Commercial Transportation of Equines to Slaughter Act" resulted in a 906-page document including almost 500 separate photographs of severe and alarming cruelty of horses due to the horse slaughter industry that happened on U.S. soil.- (animal angels)

Doesn't anyone recall that the movement to ban double deckers started in the US because they were USED HERE to transport horses to slaughter? 

Saying that horse slaughter would be "better for horses in the US" is like saying that the guy who beat you up last night won't do it again because he changed .

Some leopards never change their spots.