Kill pen horses

[hmfarms]

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/176696/1353938 Watch this and tell me again about your "educated" opinions!

I have read such garbage on here, sorry, pretty upset right now. To say that "horrible things are happening to horses because the slaughter houses have been closed" implies that horrible things were NOT happening to them in the first place! An ad to owners who are not caring for their horses, are you saying that we should make it easier for them to kill them for their convenience? Maybe we should build child-slaughter houses to make it easier for child abusers to get rid of their children? And I love "rarely are good horses sent to slaughter", REALLY??? I have seen a foal born in a kill pen, and slaughtered. Guess he wasn't your idea of a good horse.

I am not against eating horse meat if the process is humane, and I think PETA is a collosal joke. I just hate it when people spout off about things they know NOTHING about, and innocent animals suffer for it! I don't know about where YOU live, but her we don't have feral horses rampaging through neighborhoods creating a need for control. Horse owners CHOOSE to own their horses, and therefore make a committment to care for them. Caring owners who cannot keep them give them away, sell them or donate them, they do NOT kill them just because they are no longer interested.

[hmfarms]

By the way, those drivers make a side living as you say, by selling GOOD horses who were bound for slaughter! It's illegal in most states, and not all of them do that. So YES, "GOOD" hoses are slaughteres all the time! Including stolen horses who are never returned to thier RESPONSIBLE and HEARTBROKEN owners! You help NO ONE with your uneducated garbage!

[SlitherinSisters]

By the way, those drivers make a side living as you say, by selling GOOD horses who were bound for slaughter! It's illegal in most states, and not all of them do that. So YES, "GOOD" hoses are slaughteres all the time! Including stolen horses who are never returned to thier RESPONSIBLE and HEARTBROKEN owners! You help NO ONE with your uneducated garbage!

Well I guess I live in perfect land then. Yes there are good horses being sent to slaughter, but I would much rather them be sent to slaughter than sit in a mud lot and literally rot to death. I'm very much aware of how slaughter houses work and that some are extremely bad. That is why we need legislation that protects horses. Right now there are none being enforced other than "no more slaughter in the US" wow that sure does a lot... People are still abusing/killing/and sending their horses cross country to slaughter. If the authorities cared about the treatment of horses they would respond to calls like I, and many others have made, rather than sit back and let it happen.

And you must live in perfect horse auction land. Many of the kill pen horses that I have seen should be put out of their misery the second they walk, or are drug on to auction property. I should have taken pictures the last time I was there since you seem to be focused on how bad slaughter houses are rather than the treatment of the horses prior to heading to slaughter.

I'll just give you an idea of what I saw in just the last few months... One horse had half it's face hanging off dripping with puss from a very old wound. Another had a broken leg and you could see bone coming out of it's skin, and the cuts from chains wrapped around it's back legs so they could drag it into the pen with a tractor. Another had a broken skull/jaw bone and blood dripping from it's nose and mouth, it was an old enough wound that it was starting to heal, so at least a few days. Another horse that was drug in the pen with chains had been laying on the ground so long that it's skin was melting off from the infection and weight. There were a few clear bullet wound holes in many horses, lots of extremely ill horses, lots of horses with strangles, several with broken legs, missing hooves-hooves can detach, chunks of their skin missing from huge wounds, emaciated beyond repair, and these are just the major issues I saw! I have seen first hand how they load and unload the horses, it's barbaric, but if authorities don't care (they are standing right there) what do you expect? These people aren't going to stop doing it the 'easy way' if no one forces them to.

Also, why couldn't the kill pen buyers/slaughter buyers bid on horses? That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. It's an auction and they have their own personal auction numbers, they have their own land to put them on, and they have their own trailers to pick the horses up with.

I'm not saying that I think slaughter houses are great, but I am saying that they are absolutely necessary if the law refuses to protect horses. Why are the people bringing in these horses not prosecuted?! If no one cares about the treatment of horses at least with slaughter houses they have a chance to be put out of their misery even if it's a horrible end to their life.

I love horses, they are my life, but the stuff I've seen at the auction houses in our area is absolutely sickening and I'm disgusted by the people that think slaughter houses are worse than the extreme neglect and abuse that is going on. If you want to fight something, don't fight for the slaughter houses to be shut down and expect everything to magically get better. It's the fact that horrible mistreatment of horses is allowed to happen that slaughter houses are running. You get PETA to fix the problem with people abusing and neglecting their horses, then we'll talk about how great it is that slaughter houses are shut down.

So sorry for my uneducated opinion on the matter

[Kymberli]

So upsetting to know such beautiful animals aren't cared for. I have an Egyptian Arabian and a Tennessee Walker, myself. I wish I could rescue others, but money is too tight.

[SlitherinSisters]

Horse owners CHOOSE to own their horses, and therefore make a committment to care for them. Caring owners who cannot keep them give them away, sell them or donate them, they do NOT kill them just because they are no longer interested.

So only good people choose to own horses and they always do the right thing and never send them to auction. There aren't any people that are in it all for the money and when they can't sell the horse and make a buck off them, they NEVER send them to slaughter houses, because they chose to own the horse and they know the responsibility that comes with it.

None of those people would ever choose to slit their horse's throat, shoot them in the face with shot guns, light them on fire, stab them till they die, shoot them with nail guns, wrap metal wire around their throat till they can't breathe, or any other horrid death they can think of when they don't want the horse anymore. They don't bother to drive the horses to auction because it costs them more gas money than they would make in "meat" money. And you are probably so naive to think I'm making all those things up.

[Egapal]

Caring owners who cannot keep them give them away, sell them or donate them, they do NOT kill them just because they are no longer interested.

You clearly haven't spent a lot of time in the horse business. My father and my grandfather on my mothers side were both horse trainers. I grew up around horses. Its not as easy as giving them away, selling or donating them. First of all it costs a hell of a lot of money to feed and care for a horse. If you are in the horrible position of not being able to care for your horse you can certainly give it away, sell it cheap or donate it. Guess what happens to most horses that are sold cheap, donated or given away. The kind person who took your horse in puts it on a truck and sells it for dog food. You can make a decent amount of money at this and so it draws in all kinds of folks, especially when the economy is tough. I would much rather have a horse killed then starve to death.

[hmfarms]

You clearly haven't spent a lot of time in the horse business. My father and my grandfather on my mothers side were both horse trainers. I grew up around horses. Its not as easy as giving them away, selling or donating them. First of all it costs a hell of a lot of money to feed and care for a horse. If you are in the horrible position of not being able to care for your horse you can certainly give it away, sell it cheap or donate it. Guess what happens to most horses that are sold cheap, donated or given away. The kind person who took your horse in puts it on a truck and sells it for dog food. You can make a decent amount of money at this and so it draws in all kinds of folks, especially when the economy is tough. I would much rather have a horse killed then starve to death.

Um, YOU said "The kind person who took your horse in puts it on a truck and sells it for dog food" THOSE are the people selling them to slaughter houses, who exactly would they sell them to ( or buy them FOR) if there were no slaughter houses? I have admitted my own ignorace on this site, and I am trying to make things better, HOWEVER You just serve to reinforce my point. WHY are you not working to promote legislation to STOP the cruelty instead of PROMOTING the way to incinerate the evidence? If you care about the horses and I think you do, slaughtering them is not the answer. Real money is made on horse slaughter, even if they have had a lifetime of abuse. My feeling, we should require that convicted abusers pay fines to rescues, just a
thought

[coldblooded]

There's a lot of emotion in this thread, and rightfully so.

hmfarms, you have only participated in this thread and I am wondering if you joined to only debate within it. You will find that this site is full of people who truly care about animals of all kinds, since most of us here deal with some of society's most scorned creatures (reptiles, invertebrates, etc).

My family has been in the horse business for decades. We have bred as well as rescued horses and we all have a very strong passion for them. Something does need to be done to help stop cruelty to ANY animals, whether they are dogs, cats, snakes, horses, cows...whatever. Animal cruelty of any sort is not right.

Does that mean that all slaughterhouses of any sort should be shut down? No. You will have a hard time convincing people to stop eating meat. Slaughterhouses, along with any industry associated with food animals, should be put under closer scrutiny to ensure that the animals have minimal suffering prior to their deaths.

I have been to slaughterhouses, I have also been to feed lots, chicken houses, and other sorts of processing facilities. The conditions that some of these animals are raised and kept in are equally, if not more disgusting than their relatively swift departure at the slaughterhouse.

Yes, we need stronger laws towards animal cruelty of all sorts. Yes, we need more scrutiny towards slaughterhouses and the facilities associated with them.

[Egapal]

Um, YOU said "The kind person who took your horse in puts it on a truck and sells it for dog food" THOSE are the people selling them to slaughter houses, who exactly would they sell them to ( or buy them FOR) if there were no slaughter houses? I have admitted my own ignorace on this site, and I am trying to make things better, HOWEVER You just serve to reinforce my point. WHY are you not working to promote legislation to STOP the cruelty instead of PROMOTING the way to incinerate the evidence? If you care about the horses and I think you do, slaughtering them is not the answer. Real money is made on horse slaughter, even if they have had a lifetime of abuse. My feeling, we should require that convicted abusers pay fines to rescues, just a
thought

I apologize for misjudging your level of understanding of the issues. I have and do support legislation to stop cruelty. I don't see all slaughter houses as being guilty of cruelty. I don't live in a perfect world and I believe in being realistic. Death is part of life. Animals die so that other animals may live. I understand that many people love horses and can't bear to see them slaughtered but I would argue that this is cultural. To paraphrase Denis Leary. Cute animals get to live but cows lets grill them up! As long as a best effort is made to minimize suffering I see no innate difference between slaughtering a cow and a horse. Laws passed in some states have done more harm than good do to people ignorant of the big picture making these decisions. My point was that if a horse is going to end up at a slaughter house I would much rather drive it there myself then have it crammed into a cattle truck where it will get injured on the way. If there is profit to be had why not have it go to the person who put so much time, effort and love into the horse, let the profit go to keep another animal from such a fate. At the end of the day we have to look at the big picture and try to minimize as much suffering as we can. Focusing all our efforts on a hand full of animals is not the best way. We need to pass sane laws that take the big picture into consideration. There will be animal abuse and suffering long after we are all dead. The best we can do is minimize it where we can. I applaud your efforts but don't condemn others for not fighting abuse the same way you choose to.