How naive can people be? Of course there is an 'unwanted horse' problem. I attend a local horse sale 2 times a month. About half of the horses that are sold through the sale (sometime 75% or more) are ONLY BID ON BY THE SLAUGHTER BUYERS. If the slaughter buyers were not there, they would be completely UNWANTED. It is partially because of 'supply and demand', but about half of the of the horses sold are not sound enough to ride (crippled), old, completely untrained. too ugly for a buyer to want. poor conformation, will no longer breed, and the list goes on and on.
Oklahoma farms and sales send over 3000 horses (sometimes twice that many) horses every year to processing plants in Mexico. Ask any rural sheriffs' office. They will all tell you that neglect and abandonment cases are up at least 10 fold since US slaughter ceased. They went up 2 years before the economy crashed. That only exacerbated the problem. When the market for 'usuable horses' was sky high all through the 90s and early 2000s, there were still from 100,000 to 300,000 unwanted horses shipped to slaughter every single year.
Telling owners that they have to feed and care for them is a joke. We cannot even MAKE people take care of their children. We must leave an outlet for people to turn unwanted horses into $$$$ or the horse will just be neglected or starved in some back pasture. They have to maintain some sort of 'value'. Auction -- like it or not -- establish values of everything from $100,000.00 race or show prospects to salvage values on unwanted horses. The higher that 'set-in' price is at an auction (the floor price that every horse is worth) the better people take care of them. When the slaughter price is high (it used to be $900.00 + for a fat one), people did not let them get thin. They took better care of them and turned them into money before they got thin. This is why you seldom see starved cattle.
You cannot legislate morality. But, we can open up well designed and managed processing plants and give horses a humane end much better than starvation and neglect.
elizabeth dana - 11 years ago
If a horse is hurt you put him down where he is ASAP and pay for it PERIOD. You don't prolong the pain, starve him,sell him to abusers to be beaten and transported all over Hell's Half Acre. That is what a Horse Slaughter House is - Hell's Half Acre.
But they don't have the money to euthenize? Several Solutions!
1. Call Animal Control - Surrender animal to Officer to be shot once in head! Dig hole and bury.
2. Call Rescue
OK - Angel Horse Rescue,Inc. - Inola, OK
OK - Greener Pastures Horse Rescue - ADA, OK
OK - Horsefeathers Equine Rescue - Guthrie, OK
OK - Mustang Arabian Rescue and Education
OK - Oklahoma Inmate Wild Horse Adoption Program
OK - Oklahoma Thoroughbred Retirement Program - Blanchard, OK
OK - Southwest Oklahoma Animal Rescue- Frederick, OK - Phone: 580-305-4020
Slaughter is not the answer - It is the problem that creates abuse and killings!
Lauren Paytes - 11 years ago
So, it's ok for a horse to be slaughtered if an owner cannot take care of them?? The horse should pay with its life if they get an incompetent owner/s?? How does that seem fair? Living in a small. rural town, I see animals neglected and abused due to ignorance and stupidity. It's not that animals fault, it's the owners. There are many people who shouldn't have children or animals!
Theresa Gray - 11 years ago
For those sites who are “considering” implementation of a “horse harvesting” facility in your community. A few things that need to be considered in the overall scope of the project.:
Tax records – when “horse harvesting” was still a practice in the US.- The parent companies of these facilities are foreign owned, as horse meat is not a popular commodity in the US. Tax records posted publicly on the Kaufman Zoning site show an annual tax bill in the neighborhood of FIVE DOLLARS? How is that going to benefit your community, given the COST of maintenance and disposal of the waste products – many of them toxic – from the processing facilities? Additionally, history has PROVEN that stewardship of the land that they operate on is not a primary concern for these companies – not their country, not their problem. Take the money until the community wises up, and then move on. Why do you suppose that the states that USED to house processing facilities no longer want them there?
Job creation – oh yeah – minimum wage positions – so gruesome that the majority of those who are willing to take the position are desperate, and have no conscience with regard to the welfare or treatment of the animals they are “harvesting”. After all, they’re just a piece of meat – they just happen to be breathing prior to the process they are about to endure.
Traffic – many large semi trucks – rolling into your neighborhood – waiting their turn to offload their “product” – some of whom will be dead on arrival – Those animals cannot be “harvested” – and usually are piled up in an “undisclosed location” on the property to “compost”. You can look forward to enjoying the fragrance of their decomposing bodies on a warm summer’s evening while you’re grilling your food on the patio. And occasionally, if your dog manages to get out and go for a run, he’ll bring you a “souvenir” from his ramblings… Hopefully, it will just be an unidentifiable bone, and you won’t have to see the horror on your children or guests face when he brings home an identifiable horse part!
Just a few things to consider before you invite them into your neighborhood ….
Connie NElson - 11 years ago
I don't want poisoned horse meat in our food like they are finding in Europe. I noticed that the bill says the meat won't be sold in OK, but what about the rest of us? Horse slaughter is a horrible, bloody business that can ruin a town. It is totally inhumane to horses...and the horses sent to slaughter are perfectly good horses, not old, sick ones. Please vote NO, a million times NO.
Jad - 11 years ago
If your horse needs to be put down it is not extremely expensive as stated in another comment. It is less than the cost of feeding or boarding that horse for a month. You owe it to your horse to put it down and not try to make money on it sending it to the killers. Next it will be dogs and cats as people eat them in other countries. Horses need to be treated humanely and horse slaughter is not humane. Wasn't humane when it was legal in the states in the past. They are not raised for food and given many banned for animals intended for human consumption. Cattle can't be slaughtered if given Bute and we all know our horses receive Bute to keep them performing. We have no real idea of all the illegal stuff that's pumped into the race horses. I don't want my property values to decrease because horse slaughter is happening near by. I also don't want my horses in jeopardy of being stolen out of their pastures.
Karen - 11 years ago
If this bill passes I will never spend a penny in Oklahoma and encourage everyone I know to bypass your state. Many of these wild horses were on BLM land and removed only to satisfy cattle and oil people. Put the hoses back. If people can't or won't take care of their horses I understand there is a problem. Then and only then after trying to adopt out, should they be humanely euthanized. Humans should really be ashamed of themselves!!!
S Bailey - 11 years ago
Yes this should be an option. We have had horses our whole life and it is a tragic event when one has to be put down due to illness and injury, but even more tragic for one to be left suffering because of lack of fund s to have them put down and buried. We too lost our daughters best friend earlier this year, due to injury. We had the financial means to make the choice to have him put down but it is VERY expensive, not all horse owners are that lucky or have the money or compassion to do so.
Sadly, there are hundreds of horses in this state that are starving or otherwise suffering because the owners no longer wish to care for them or are financially unable to do so. You can drive down any rural highway and see emanicpated horses anytime of year. With today's economy and the lack of hay in most regions there are not enough people able to take on the massive expense of rescuing all of these animals.
As a true horse lover it is more painful for me to see these animals that are starving or crippled forgotten in some field somewhere or even more tragic being dumped in rural areas or at local sale barns than it is to know that there is an avenue for their owners to have a means of ending the animals suffering.
M Smith - 11 years ago
Yes they should. Just because we don't traditionally eat horsemeat in this country, other cultures do. It's better they go to slaughter than to starve because the owner can no longer feed them. Have owned horses all my life and have no problem with it - they are LIVESTOCK.
Jan Ross - 11 years ago
No way should horses be slaughtered for meat. They are a lot like a dog or cat. They can be one of your best friends. I had to put down one of my horses because he broke his leg, I felt like I had lost one of my children. Yes they are an animal, but they also can sense when you are upset or happy or just don't feel good. I would go riding and I didn't have to worry because he would take care of me. I rescued a Paint last December 2011. The poor thing was scared but after about 1 month he has become a great companion. He loves to have hugs every morning. Last summer he cut his jaw pretty bad, but he had become such a lover that he didn't even fiight us when we had to clean it out, and I know it had to hurt. I know all of this isn't what people want to hear but if you have ever spent real time with a horse you know how theraputic they can be.
How naive can people be? Of course there is an 'unwanted horse' problem. I attend a local horse sale 2 times a month. About half of the horses that are sold through the sale (sometime 75% or more) are ONLY BID ON BY THE SLAUGHTER BUYERS. If the slaughter buyers were not there, they would be completely UNWANTED. It is partially because of 'supply and demand', but about half of the of the horses sold are not sound enough to ride (crippled), old, completely untrained. too ugly for a buyer to want. poor conformation, will no longer breed, and the list goes on and on.
Oklahoma farms and sales send over 3000 horses (sometimes twice that many) horses every year to processing plants in Mexico. Ask any rural sheriffs' office. They will all tell you that neglect and abandonment cases are up at least 10 fold since US slaughter ceased. They went up 2 years before the economy crashed. That only exacerbated the problem. When the market for 'usuable horses' was sky high all through the 90s and early 2000s, there were still from 100,000 to 300,000 unwanted horses shipped to slaughter every single year.
Telling owners that they have to feed and care for them is a joke. We cannot even MAKE people take care of their children. We must leave an outlet for people to turn unwanted horses into $$$$ or the horse will just be neglected or starved in some back pasture. They have to maintain some sort of 'value'. Auction -- like it or not -- establish values of everything from $100,000.00 race or show prospects to salvage values on unwanted horses. The higher that 'set-in' price is at an auction (the floor price that every horse is worth) the better people take care of them. When the slaughter price is high (it used to be $900.00 + for a fat one), people did not let them get thin. They took better care of them and turned them into money before they got thin. This is why you seldom see starved cattle.
You cannot legislate morality. But, we can open up well designed and managed processing plants and give horses a humane end much better than starvation and neglect.
If a horse is hurt you put him down where he is ASAP and pay for it PERIOD. You don't prolong the pain, starve him,sell him to abusers to be beaten and transported all over Hell's Half Acre. That is what a Horse Slaughter House is - Hell's Half Acre.
But they don't have the money to euthenize? Several Solutions!
1. Call Animal Control - Surrender animal to Officer to be shot once in head! Dig hole and bury.
2. Call Rescue
OK - Angel Horse Rescue,Inc. - Inola, OK
OK - Greener Pastures Horse Rescue - ADA, OK
OK - Horsefeathers Equine Rescue - Guthrie, OK
OK - Mustang Arabian Rescue and Education
OK - Oklahoma Inmate Wild Horse Adoption Program
OK - Oklahoma Thoroughbred Retirement Program - Blanchard, OK
OK - Southwest Oklahoma Animal Rescue- Frederick, OK - Phone: 580-305-4020
Slaughter is not the answer - It is the problem that creates abuse and killings!
So, it's ok for a horse to be slaughtered if an owner cannot take care of them?? The horse should pay with its life if they get an incompetent owner/s?? How does that seem fair? Living in a small. rural town, I see animals neglected and abused due to ignorance and stupidity. It's not that animals fault, it's the owners. There are many people who shouldn't have children or animals!
For those sites who are “considering” implementation of a “horse harvesting” facility in your community. A few things that need to be considered in the overall scope of the project.:
Tax records – when “horse harvesting” was still a practice in the US.- The parent companies of these facilities are foreign owned, as horse meat is not a popular commodity in the US. Tax records posted publicly on the Kaufman Zoning site show an annual tax bill in the neighborhood of FIVE DOLLARS? How is that going to benefit your community, given the COST of maintenance and disposal of the waste products – many of them toxic – from the processing facilities? Additionally, history has PROVEN that stewardship of the land that they operate on is not a primary concern for these companies – not their country, not their problem. Take the money until the community wises up, and then move on. Why do you suppose that the states that USED to house processing facilities no longer want them there?
Job creation – oh yeah – minimum wage positions – so gruesome that the majority of those who are willing to take the position are desperate, and have no conscience with regard to the welfare or treatment of the animals they are “harvesting”. After all, they’re just a piece of meat – they just happen to be breathing prior to the process they are about to endure.
Traffic – many large semi trucks – rolling into your neighborhood – waiting their turn to offload their “product” – some of whom will be dead on arrival – Those animals cannot be “harvested” – and usually are piled up in an “undisclosed location” on the property to “compost”. You can look forward to enjoying the fragrance of their decomposing bodies on a warm summer’s evening while you’re grilling your food on the patio. And occasionally, if your dog manages to get out and go for a run, he’ll bring you a “souvenir” from his ramblings… Hopefully, it will just be an unidentifiable bone, and you won’t have to see the horror on your children or guests face when he brings home an identifiable horse part!
Just a few things to consider before you invite them into your neighborhood ….
I don't want poisoned horse meat in our food like they are finding in Europe. I noticed that the bill says the meat won't be sold in OK, but what about the rest of us? Horse slaughter is a horrible, bloody business that can ruin a town. It is totally inhumane to horses...and the horses sent to slaughter are perfectly good horses, not old, sick ones. Please vote NO, a million times NO.
If your horse needs to be put down it is not extremely expensive as stated in another comment. It is less than the cost of feeding or boarding that horse for a month. You owe it to your horse to put it down and not try to make money on it sending it to the killers. Next it will be dogs and cats as people eat them in other countries. Horses need to be treated humanely and horse slaughter is not humane. Wasn't humane when it was legal in the states in the past. They are not raised for food and given many banned for animals intended for human consumption. Cattle can't be slaughtered if given Bute and we all know our horses receive Bute to keep them performing. We have no real idea of all the illegal stuff that's pumped into the race horses. I don't want my property values to decrease because horse slaughter is happening near by. I also don't want my horses in jeopardy of being stolen out of their pastures.
If this bill passes I will never spend a penny in Oklahoma and encourage everyone I know to bypass your state. Many of these wild horses were on BLM land and removed only to satisfy cattle and oil people. Put the hoses back. If people can't or won't take care of their horses I understand there is a problem. Then and only then after trying to adopt out, should they be humanely euthanized. Humans should really be ashamed of themselves!!!
Yes this should be an option. We have had horses our whole life and it is a tragic event when one has to be put down due to illness and injury, but even more tragic for one to be left suffering because of lack of fund s to have them put down and buried. We too lost our daughters best friend earlier this year, due to injury. We had the financial means to make the choice to have him put down but it is VERY expensive, not all horse owners are that lucky or have the money or compassion to do so.
Sadly, there are hundreds of horses in this state that are starving or otherwise suffering because the owners no longer wish to care for them or are financially unable to do so. You can drive down any rural highway and see emanicpated horses anytime of year. With today's economy and the lack of hay in most regions there are not enough people able to take on the massive expense of rescuing all of these animals.
As a true horse lover it is more painful for me to see these animals that are starving or crippled forgotten in some field somewhere or even more tragic being dumped in rural areas or at local sale barns than it is to know that there is an avenue for their owners to have a means of ending the animals suffering.
Yes they should. Just because we don't traditionally eat horsemeat in this country, other cultures do. It's better they go to slaughter than to starve because the owner can no longer feed them. Have owned horses all my life and have no problem with it - they are LIVESTOCK.
No way should horses be slaughtered for meat. They are a lot like a dog or cat. They can be one of your best friends. I had to put down one of my horses because he broke his leg, I felt like I had lost one of my children. Yes they are an animal, but they also can sense when you are upset or happy or just don't feel good. I would go riding and I didn't have to worry because he would take care of me. I rescued a Paint last December 2011. The poor thing was scared but after about 1 month he has become a great companion. He loves to have hugs every morning. Last summer he cut his jaw pretty bad, but he had become such a lover that he didn't even fiight us when we had to clean it out, and I know it had to hurt. I know all of this isn't what people want to hear but if you have ever spent real time with a horse you know how theraputic they can be.