The Injustice of Horse Slaughter

Horse Slaughter in the US?
Yes. Since 1986, millions of American horses have been slaughtered in the United States for human consumption. Americans do not eat our horses; our horses are companion animals, they are part of our heritage, having played a major role in America's historical growth and development. Horses contribute significantly to the enjoyment of generations of recreation enthusiasts. This horsemeat is used to supply gourmets in France, Japan, Italy and Belgium, where it is considered a delicacy, selling at $15 a pound. Our dogs and cats are protected against slaughter and export to countries where their meat is eaten. Our companion horses deserve this protection also.

Is the method by which horses are slaughtered humane?
No. The entire process including the slaughter auction, the method of transportation, the feedlots, the slaughter plants...everything up to their death is inhumane. Horses have been bred to be intelligent, responsive animals; sensitive enough to respond to the subtle lift of a rein, or the slight pressure of a leg. Also, Nature gave them a "flight" mechanism, as they are, by nature's standards, a prey animal. Often sick or injured, the horses are crammed into double-decked cattle trucks. Without sufficient room to hold their heads upright, they travel for up to 36 hours through summer heat or brutal winter cold without stopping for rest, food or water. At the slaughter houses in Texas and as far away as Canada, the horses are placed into over-crowded holding pens many times standing in disease infested muck. The horses stand in the killing line smelling the blood, sensing the terror. They are electrocuted or speared into the "kill box" where they shake violently, falling, unable to stand from fear. They are repeatedly bludgeoned with the "captive dead-bolt" gun which drives a four-inch spike into their skull, rendering the horse not dead but unconscious. Alive and many times still conscious, the horse is then shackled, and hoisted, thier throats slit they are then bled and dismembered. These are pets. There is not one farm in the United States which raises horses solely for the purpose of selling its flesh for meat. These horses include not only the old, sick, blind and crippled, but the young and healthy, children's ponies, mares with helpless foals standing at their side, race horses that were too slow or with shattered legs, mares heavy with foal, navicular quarterhorses, foundered ponies, ringboned jumpers, and our wild mustangs. These animals all had names, have bonded with and served man, they are not used to the treatment they receive on the transport to and at the slaughter houses. They are frightened and confused. Horses can not be humanely euthanized to be used for meat, as animals that have been euthanized by lethal injection cannot be used for human consumption.

This cannot be allowed to continue. Join with me in a fight for the end of this horror. Sign today and add your voice to put a stop to the killings.