Forced to Choose

As a horse lover, I’ve long been uncertain on the horse slaughter issue.  Obviously, I hate it.  For all I know, the horse in question could be a friend of mine.  But I’m no vegetarian and there are starving people in the world.

But then I discovered the ugly fact, one I would’ve preferred to remain blissfully ignorant about.  Horses are not cows.  They are not killed like cows.  The difference is: they are horses and the methods used don’t work the same.  However, those doing the killing do it the same way anyway.

They are awake and aware of being butchered!

The first time I saw this was admittedly a youtube video about the stolen horses in Florida, butchered for meat.  I regret watching it, now it’s stuck in my head.  But as I discovered  more on the subject the moment of real horror was when I realized that even ‘legally butchered’ are not unconscious at the time. The stun bolts just don’t work for long enough.  I still shudder at the thought.  

The nightmarish image is not pleasant.  Screaming, kicking....I rather wish the horse would succeed in bashing heads.  I’ve no doubt that one day a horse owner will catch the illegal killers in the act and the monsters had better hope police are closer than the pitchfork.

Why?

Those starving masses aren’t getting the horse meat.  Rich foreigners are.  And they aren’t even getting safe meat.  I’ve read the side of the bute bottle.  "Not for use in food animals".  Horses are given the stuff like some people take Tylenol or Aspirin! 

I know they aren't unwanted horses - there is no such thing, many of us just can't have them.  And I know some have them and can't feed them and then they are confiscated.  I'm sure those aren't the ones being used for meat though.  You want meat you don't look for a bony animal that's sick.  But even if they were it's hard to imagine a more torturous way to go.

The Choice

   It happened much the same as it did for me on the wild horse issue.  I went from blissfully ignorant, to suspicious, to a horrified awakening.  And now I’m blogging and pounding away at petitions and congress.   I don’t want my tax dollars paying for BLM roundups and holding of wild horses for the sake of special interest groups.  Suspicions starting with the Burns Rider which sought to give them right to slaughter the horses in holding led to this.  And I don’t want my tax dollars funding this bloody mess either. Fund inspections? No way.

I love horses.  I don’t like the idea of them neglected and suffering.  I don’t claim to do with the ‘homeless’ - for they aren’t wild, and I refuse to call them ‘unwanted’ for many want and can’t have.   But a torturous death? No way.   Not on my dime. Not without a fight.

What's Your Choice?

So I hope horse lovers everywhere saddle up for the fight:  for it is a fight, that battle to disallow funding for the USDA to inspect slaughter houses barely passed.  If you lack the motivation to call or write or email the congressman and sign the petitions, if, like I once did, you think having no better idea means we have to accept it, try this:   Picture your horse, or the first horse you ever rode in that slaughter house. If you can’t, I even dare you to risk checking for video on Youtube.  But don’t do it right before bedtime or eating.  It’s definitely rated R.   I guarantee you that horrible image will get you moving.

Warning:  There Are Some Disturbing Images in this.  But there are many, many more graphic ones on YouTube.  We Owe Them Better than this!