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Horse-Slaughter Law is a Bad Law
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UPDATE: Ban has barely dented horse-slaughter count. That is a headline in the July 5, 2011 Fort Worth, TX Star-Telegram. The last three USA horse slaughter plants were forced to close in 2007. The Star-Telegram article noted that closing the USA horse slaughter plants only resulted in horses being shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter meaning lost export revenue and lost jobs in the USA.
Original Article:
A while back horse lovers managed to get a law passed that was intended to end the slaughter of horses in the United States for the purpose of providing meat to countries that eat horse meat. The selling of horse meat for human consumption has been illegal in the United States for a long time but it has not been illegal for slaughter houses to export horse meat to other countries.
I remember that during WWII there was a shortage of beef and butchers would sometimes mix horse meat in with hamburger. It was not so much that people were against eating horse meat but that beef was very expensive because of the beef shortage and people didn't like being cheated by paying beef prices for horse meat. In fact, the use of horse meat during and after the war was a good way for people to get affordable red meat. This was especially true in Europe and Japan and those countries still consume significant amounts of horse meat. Horse meat tastes good and is leaner and healthier than beef. They eat it for the same reasons we eat buffalo meat.
In the early days of the United States people usually did not eat horses because they were more valuable alive for use by farmers, cowboys, and the Calvary. Now it is an emotional issue. Horses are now mostly used for recreational reasons and many are considered pets. We don't eat horses for the same reasons we don't eat cats and dogs even through they are also eaten in some countries.
It is a misuse of government power to try to outlaw something that is not a problem. Exporting horse meat to other countries is no more a problem than exporting beef. I am not interested in eating horse meat but I am interested in not farther eroding our freedoms in the United States just to placate horse lovers. I was raised on a farm with horses and I love horses. I have many fond memories of driving the team at harvest time and riding the horses. I also have fond memories of all the other farm animals but that does not keep me, and most horse lovers, from eating a nice juicy steak now and then.
Anti-horse-slaughter folks use the arguments that the slaughter is inhumane and it is illegal to slaughter other domesticated animals (cats and dogs) for meat. Killing horses at a slaughter house is inhumane in the eyes of many but the killing of cows, pigs, and chickens in a slaughter house is just as inhumane. Domestication of animals comes from many generations of a breed being around humans for so long that they interface well with humans and they no longer have any wild traits. Pigs are every bit as domesticated as horses and they are often raised as pets. Cows (oxen) were used just like horses a hundred years back and a cow can be saddled and ridden just like a horse. Neither the "inhumane" or "domestic" argument is a valid reason for the horse-slaughter law.
The horse-slaughter law will not stop the slaughter of horses. It only removes the funding for federal inspectors at the slaughter houses which means the slaughter companies will not be able to export horse meat for human consumption. When they lose the export business they may no longer be profitable and will have to close. Horses that are no longer useful will still be killed. If there are no slaughter houses they will likely just be killed and burried.
It is OK to be against horse-slaughter. Write letters to the editor, picket the slaughter house, send out emails, and post blogs but don't try to abuse the power of government to promote your personal beliefs! The horse-slaughter law is a bad law that should be rescinded.
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