Horse != Food

[altivo]

I just have to scream somewhere about this.

I understand that it is a cultural issue in part, and I am not going to argue with people in Asia or Europe who want to eat horseflesh. But, I am going to tell them to raise their own.

It is not legal in the United States to slaughter dogs or cats in order to sell their flesh as food. Yet we continue to allow the horse, who has born our burdens and abuse nobly for thousands of years, to come to this terrible end. Horses who were fussed over, petted, spoiled. Who were ridden by children and adults, raced, exhibited in competition, who pulled buggies, wagons, and plows.

In a week or two, just one county away from where I live, a horse slaughter house is expected to open for business. Owned by non-citizens, run by people who have no shame and no souls. There is no market for horses as meat in the United States. The product will be shipped to Asia and Europe, to feed the demand there.

A few years ago, such a plant was proposed for my own county. Citizen anger and petition stopped it. Apparently the residents of DeKalb do not have as much conscience. A bill was placed before the state legislature to outlaw all horse slaughtering in the state, but weak-minded legislators have tabled it because they are afraid the law might curtail a source of income. The tiny minority of greedy people who favor anything that raises money appear to have convinced a few politicians that there is something 'humane' about slaughtering horses for their meat.

Oddly enough, those who favor horse slaughter are opposed to abortion. They consider a human fetus that doesn't even have a brain yet to be more precious than a living, breathing, feeling creature who most certainly has a brain and often has suffered human abuse before being sold into the slaughter house. Horses are not raised for food. They are raised as pets, companions, and servants. Only when they are no longer needed or wanted, then are they betrayed and dumped in the slaughter house to get rid of them.

The horse ranks with the dog as a human companion and helper. Why do we tolerate this? I maintain that it is no different than if we had sold slaves to be slaughtered for consumption by other humans in the time when slavery was permitted. Saying that it will not be Americans who eat the flesh of our companions does not make it any more acceptable.

Comments

[the-wabbit.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree with you. That's just wrong. I've heard of being done in other countries, but didn't realize it was legal here in the states yet. That's sad. I live between two farms with horses, and the owners were heartbroken when they had to put one down because of cancer. Horses weren't meant for food. As compaions, yes, but not as food.

I don't know. People are strange.

Peace to the Pony.

[kharnak.livejournal.com]

we are all food unfortunately. we are all meatballs. It lies in the concept of differentiating us from different species. You're precisely right in comparing it to the reasoning behind slavery. How much we can subjugate and dehumanize other things to justify their usage. It just so happens that chickens are far more convenient to harvest these days.
I call for us to give all horses more love. Dontcha agree?

[calydor.livejournal.com]

*clicks his hooves together a few times in applause*

Well put, Altivo.

Sorry to hear about the slaughterhouse opening near you; can only hope it suffers the same fate as one near me - they went bankrupt. I know, not a good thing to hope for, but still.

The comparison of horses to slaves is a good one, as is the one to abortion ... Generally, damn good article. I hope a lot of people will read it and give it some serious thought.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

I find I'm a bit split on this, but just a bit. I don't like the idea of horse slaughter. But I can see the argument in a sort of efficiency of use - but that leads down the problematic path you have brought up and such things as put forth in A Modest Proposal.

I still wouldn't like the idea, but I have heard of a slaughterhouse (bovines) designed with the animal in mind. That is, it was designed to be as pleasant for the cattle as possible. The result is the same, of course, but the end is not filled with a sense of fear and such. One example was as simple as having the path followed be curved rather than straight. It was very weird to hear of this, I admit, as it is a rather strange form of looking out for animal welfare.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Alas, this is the argument often used by the slaughterhouse operators.

"It doesn't really hurt."

"They have no feelings anyway, they're just animals."

"We make sure they aren't frightened and never know what is happening."

"It's just practical not to waste the animal's body."

You should visit a real slaughterhouse. Even a so-called humane one. I have. It is horrible. Animals smell blood. They smell fear. You can't disguise that by going around a twisty path or anything else.

And my point still applies. A horse is not an animal that was raised for food. It is more intelligent than a cow. Much more intelligent than a chicken. (Perhaps not as smart as some pigs, but I assure you that you do NOT want to see pigs being slaughtered. Unless you have a heart and soul as hard as rock, it will give you nightmares for a long time.)

As for the "not wasting" argument, that leads to Soylent Green or Sweeney Todd, and if you think we shouldn't waste humans either, then I suppose there's no convincing you. But I'm not eating in any restaurant you run.

--'Tivo

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Please do not get the wrong impression of me. Despite what it may seem, I am not arguing with you and do agree with you.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that last paragraph sounded like I was accusing you personally and that wasn't my intent. The 'you' in those sentences is the rhetoric 'you' that means 'someone'. Sorry.