Several horse magizines have come out with some very good articles on the Unwanted Horse issue. Some that are very well written are in the “Horse and Rider” and the “Modern Arabian Horse” –But one of the better articles that is short and to the point was in the Driving Digest: A letter from the editor–By Thom Mezick.
Dear Folks,
There are risks associated with publishing the leading magazine in the carriage driving field and this is one of them. It’s not a popular subject but the truth is that it could radically change the business of horse ownership in America. For that reason, we believe the proper course is to address the subject as forthrightly as possible in light of the emotionalism surrounding the topic of horse slaughter in the United States.
A United States District Court judge, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, has ruled that the slaughter of horses in America violates Federal Law. Further, Judge Kollar-Kotelly ruled the United States Department of Agriculture violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to conduct an environmental impact review of its decision to allow the continuation of horse slaughter.
Everyone seems to have an opinion on this issue and most of them are based on a paucity of information.
For instance, most people believe horse meat is the predominant ingredient in canned canine food. For decades now the dog food guys, as an industry, have issued statement after statement telling Americans that dog food does not contain horse meat. Simply, it’s too expensive to use horse meat when lesser cuts of other animals provide the meaty protein at lower costs.
And, they point out, the industry doesn’t need the problems of aggravating pet owners who object to consumption of horse meat by animals or humans.
Currently, there are three horse slaughter houses in the United States processing horse meat for human consumption in other countries. All the processed meat is exported to other countries because it is illegal to sell horse meat for human consumption in the United States.
All three facilities have recently been closed by court action. Two plants in Texas have closed when an appellate court upheld a Texas law, making it illegal to sell, possess and transport horse meat for sale for human consumption. The third, a plant in Illinois was forced to close by Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s decision.
At the point of closing, the Illinois plant was processing 1,000 horses a week. We can only presume the Texas facilities were handling a similar number. It is this number which causes us the problem.
Assuming that about 2,500 horses a week went to slaughter in the three plants means that about 130,000 horses a year—for whatever reason (illness, age, injury, etc.)—moved through the nation’s equine pipeline.
We can reasonably assume that nearly all of these animals will fall into the category of “unwanted horses” whose owners sell them because they no longer can use them as they have in the past. Some, although not a large number, are the product of an equine feedlot system (mostly in Canada where horse meat is sold legally to the public) which fattens horses specifically designed for the horse meat market. A few others arrive from specialty farms like those who keep mares in foal for urine lines.
Largely, however, the horses headed for the processors are purchased at horse sales throughout the country where owners are simply shedding themselves of horses they no longer want. Hence, the “unwanted horse”.
Now, with this avenue of disposal closed, we can expect about 130,000 “unwanted” horses annually to be left in the equine population. And they will have to be dealt with by equine owners many of whom are unwilling to come up with the money required to either feed and care for or humanely dispose of their “unwanted horses”.
We think it will be a problem of overwhelming proportion especially when the non-horse owning public sees horses being abused rather than humanely put down. We’re all going to be tarred by that same brush. It is a problem we’re going to have to pay to deal with and it will no doubt require government intervention in some fashion.
In our heart, we don’t approve of horse slaughter, but rationally we believe we need some method of handling the issue of “unwanted horses” in a humane manner especially when the equine pipeline begins to plug up at the disposal end as the horse population ages beyond useable or maintainable years.
We may find that the system in place may have been the practical solution, whether we liked it or not.
As we said earlier, this is not a popular view and we are well aware of that fact. But in order to maintain the horse population in both a humane and sustainable manner, we will have to deal with the forthcoming overpopulation issue sooner than we think.
y’r obt. ser.
Thom Mezick
Editor
