Canada stops accepting U.S. horses for slaughter

Reposted from drf.com

By Glenye Cain Oakford

The United States market for slaughter horses was thrown into confusion Friday after slaughterhouses in Canada appeared to have closed their doors abruptly to U.S. horses, according to slaughter buyers, lower-market horse dealers, and the auctions they frequent.

U.S. horse auction officials said that the situation remained unclear, but it appeared the sudden closure might also apply to Mexico and could be related to European Union concerns over U.S. slaughter horses’ medication histories and veterinary documentation. As of late Friday night, slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico had not issued statements regarding their policies on U.S. equine imports, leaving auctioneers and slaughter buyers across the U.S. in limbo as auction houses canceled or postponed sales.

“We canceled upon hearing from some of our buyers that they would not be on the market because they would not be accepting horses into Canada,” said one Western auctioneer who did not want to be identified because he was concerned there could be public backlash against the auction house with which he is affiliated. “Nobody really knows right now if it’s coming from the Canadian government, the EU, or the packing plants.”

“They don’t want our horses, because they can’t ship the mea overseas,” another auction operator said.

Read the whole article here

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Do You Know Who Supports Horse Slaughter?

Cross-posted from whohateshorses.wordpress.com

Wow, wow, wow. Some of the names on this list I expected. Others, not so much.

You can read the list here

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Stop The Insanity Of Horse Slaughter

Cross-posted from taosnews.com, written by Debbie Coburn, a Founding Director of Four Corners Equine Rescue in Aztec, New Mexico, and chair of the statewide New Mexico Equine Rescue Alliance.

I just read this fantastic, intelligent article on the subject of horse slaughter, and had to share. Very well said!

Click here to read this article

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Family gives up on horse-slaughter plant in New Mexico

A biased article, no doubt, but good news for US horses!

By Milan Simonich / Texas-New Mexico Newspaper Posted:   08/14/2012 01:45:07 PM MDT

Cross-posted from lcsun-news.com

SANTA FE — Entrepreneurs who wanted to slaughter horses and sell the meat in Europe suspended their plan Tuesday, complaining that the federal government stalled them into submission.

Valley Meat Co., a family business near Roswell, gave up after four months of seeking approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a horse-slaughter plant, said A. Blair Dunn, attorney for the business.

A spokesman for the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service in Washington said Tuesday night that the agency has not done horse inspections in six years and simply needs more time to make sure it handles the job correctly.

Read the entire article.

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Horse slaughter plant headed to Middle TN?

Aug. 9 2012 By Nancy Amons Cross-posted from wmctv.com

"A bill is expected to come up for a vote in the House Monday that its sponsor says is designed to make horse meat processing plant operators feel welcome in Tennessee.

Rep. Andy Holt, a Republican from Dresden, says the bill would create jobs and a place for unwanted horses to die a humane death.

"We're trying to encourage job creation and economic development in the state of Tennessee," Holt says.

Holt says rural middle Tennessee is a likely location although he won't say where or who's behind the effort.

"I don't think it's anyone's authority to make me divulge who these people are. This has been a controversial issue," Holt says.

Americans don't eat horses, but horse meat is served in a number of other countries, like Belgium. Right now, there are no horse slaughter plants in the United States, but that could change because Congress has lifted a five-year ban which effectively prevented slaughter for human consumption.

Rep. Janis Sontany, a Democrat from Nashville, opposes opening a slaughter plant in Tennessee.

"This is an industry that is historically fraught with noncompliance with environmental, worker safety and health-related policies," Sontany says.

A plant that operated in Texas caused problems there including issues of the disposal of discarded horse body parts. Sontany says a high number of injured workers with no insurance were a burden on the local hospital.

"This is an industry that's going to come into a rural area and they're going to devalue property," Sontany says.

Animal rights advocates  like "Animals' Angels" have documented  problems around the  slaughter plants now operating  in Mexico and in the holding pens in American border towns. Their website shows pictures of animals rejected for slaughter that were left to starve.

Holt says bad actors need to be weeded out by regulators. Horse slaughter, he says, is more humane than owners allowing their unwanted horses to die from neglect."

Copyright 2012 WSMV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved

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Delaying breeding would benefit (thoroughbreds) in several ways

Cross-posted from the daily racing forum

Letters to the Editor Aug. 12 By DRF Readers -

Delaying breeding would benefit in several ways

Among the myriad of problems facing this sport, it appears there are three major issues: The fragility of the Thoroughbred, the need to build a larger fan base, and a severe overpopulation of racehorses.

These issues can be addressed in one simple, albeit temporarily painful move: Eliminate the breeding of racehorses until their 5-year-old year.

I know breeding farms and some horse owners may shudder at the idea of losing a year’s stud fees, but look at the potential long-term results of doing this.

Firstly, through years of inbreeding the Thoroughbred has been left in a weakened state. Breakdowns are occurring at an alarming rate, the issue of bleeding and Lasix is more prominent than ever before. If an owner or a breeding farm is unable to breed to that “hot” new 4-year-old, perhaps they might be inclined to breed to someone from Europe or Japan These countries primarily breed for stamina, and an influx of fresh blood could do nothing but help the sport.

With regard to building a larger fan base, how many borderline fans who follow the sport in the Triple Crown trail end up disappointed to learn that their horse has been retired in June with an injury? These fans may be lost forever. emphasize “injury” because there’s no doubt in my mind tha while a fair amount of these 3-year-olds are, in fact, injured we all know that if some were geldings or allowance horses the owners might be a bit more inclined to rehabilitate them rather than send them to the breeding shed. To keep some horses around at least through the end of their 4-year-old years would permit fans to follow them a bit longer, which is always a good thing.

There is a definite need to cull the population of racehorses. There are some owners and breeders who don’t consider Thoroughbred overpopulation an issue, yet are aghast to find out years later that one of their own was discovered at a slaughterhouse auction. By eliminating 4-year-old breeding, you will effectively reduce the population of horses, thereby lessening the burden on these wonderful organizations endeavoring to save their lives. Besides, if a horse was too fragile to race at 4, aren’t we doing a disservice to the breed and the sport by passing down these weakened, fragile genes to further generations? Perhaps these horses who were retired at 3 could spend their 4- year-old season building up their strength and stamina for their future careers as stallions.

Kevin Cox - Oceanside, N.Y

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TX Horse slaughter ban evaluated at hearing

Cross-posted from mysanintonio.com

The Texas Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Tuesday held a hearing on the state impact of what amounts to a ban on slaughtering horses for human consumption.

Two Texas horse slaughter facilities closed in 2007 when a decades- old state law banning the sale of horsemeat for human consumption was upheld. Nationally, horse slaughter plants also were shut down because the U.S. Department of Agriculture lost funding to inspect them, keeping the plants from selling the meat.

But that funding has been restored, and officials have speculated that companies would reopen the plants again.

Most of the testimony came from opponents of the horse slaughter industry while proponents said reviving the practice would result in fewer horses being abandoned and fewer exposed to abuses in slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada.

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