Kill pen horses

[luckycharm318]

OMG I LOVE the paint!!! Those kill pen horses look a lot better than almost every kill pen horse we get at our auctions. It's upsetting to see the horrible condition the horses are in-broken legs, bullet wounds to the face, shattered skulls, etc. Either slaughter needs to open back up, or our laws need to be changed to protect these animals!!!! I've called the police several times on neglected horses and all they say is, the horses have food and water. The food was STRAW in the mud and four horses were standing in mud lot no bigger than a single car garage, no shelter!!! You could see every bone in their bodies and old festering wounds!

The "security" people at our auctions are psycho, they really watch for people taking pictures and will kick you out if you are caught-I know this first hand.

We do have horse traders that go through the kill pens and pick out the horses that have a chance. Rarely is a good horse sent to slaughter. Even the slaughter trailer drivers have a heart. I've spoke to several and they make a side living buying kill pen horses and selling them. They also told me that since the slaughter houses have got shut down horrible things are happening to horses now. People who don't take care of their horses have a harder time getting rid of them (because we are in Iowa and each border is a long drive from us) and will kill their horses with anything on hand if they don't want to wait for them to die of starvation. It's so terrible I don't even want to write out what he told me.

IAWTC. People who are not in the horse industry and those who have done "research" really should not have had a place in voting for the legislation to have U.S. slaughterhouses shut down in the first place. This "good deed" has done no good for the horse market in the U.S. and more horses are suffering because of it. The shut down of U.S. slaughterhouses means a longer ride to a slaughterhouse outside U.S. borders with who knows what kind of regulations if any. Slaughterhouses may not be pleasant, but they are necessary.