Responsibility for ex-racehorses

[prudery]

Originally Posted by Linny

The banning of slaughter means that horses that might have been slaughtered "locally" now suffer for days and weeks before meeting their end. It also means more cases of abandonment, especially in such hard economic times. Honestly (I'm zipping my flame suit) if there was a slaughterhouse in every county and it was quick and didn't drag the horses into weeks of terror in pens and trucks I'd rather be ale to lead ol' Dobbin down there are get a couple of bucks rather than paying for euthanasia and disposal. The difference between getting $200 for meat value vs paying $750 is almost $1000. If I'm struggling enough that I am contemplating disposing of my horses, that is significant.

Being that there were but few equine slaughterhouses in the US prior to 2007--most notably the big three-- Beltex in Ft. Worth, TX, Cavel in DeKalb, IL, and Dallas Crown in Kaufman TX, if you weren't close to any of these you could not lead ol' Dobbin down there ...

For most, there was no such thing as " local " slaughter, and the horses still shipped and suffered before meeting their end right here, unless you were within close proximity to the big three .

There will never be a slaughterhouse in every county --as they incur huge pollution problems and lower the value of property, so perhaps horse owners as yourself should learn how to use a gun.

US slaughter was never properly regulated, and if per chance it does come back, it won't be again .The captive bolt method which has a 10 percent allowable vivisection error , and the ramps designed for cattle will be used again.

Nice end for ol' Dobbin ...

In Europe, the horse is not run into a killbox reeking of feces and blood and the captive bolt is not used . In many abbatoirs there, the methods are clinical, quick, and much less stressful than it ever was here .

There the horses are individually led into a clean area and dispatched with a bellgun--no richocheting bullets and no long nail is driven into the skull haphazardly .

The bellgun was used to euthanise horses at major tracks in the US for years ...

But we did not do that here with our mania for speed and mass production .

Nothing clinical, clean , or humane about US slaughter --travel non withstanding.

The Mexican slaughterhouses use the same captive bolt as we do but for ONE slaughterhouse in Juarez,where the puntilla knife was used --no different than the head honcho at Cavell who was known to cut horses throats that came out of the killbox unstunned .

US methods were based on bovine slaughter--ignoring the equine instincts and cranial structures .

Where do you live that it costs $750 to euthanise and dispose of a horse ??

In the New England area, a vet farm call may be 75 dollars plus the cost of the injection . I have heard of people paying under 200 for this service and 50 to 200 for a backhoe, etc .

And many boarding stables will bury a boarder's horse for nothing .

No need for a flamesuit for an ice cube that would rather slaughter a horse for its flesh and 200 bucks, than pay for euth and disposal after it served you.

And PS--that abandoned horse stuff is largely pro-slaughter rhetoric--ditto the starving in a field stuff as well .
With or without slaughter , there were always irresponsible and cavalier horse owners that did exactly this .

Talk is cheap, and so are a lot of people .