Did animal rights groups condemn horses to suffering?

Posted by Marc Hodak on January 5, 2011 under Unintended consequences | Be the First to Comment

Apparently so:

Though horse lovers cheered when the last slaughterhouses were shuttered, some now say they may not have thought through the consequences.

The slaughterhouses disposed of the thousands of horses abandoned or relinquished each year by owners who find them too old or temperamental to be useful or who simply can no longer afford to care for them. Now, many of those horses are sold for $10 or $20 at low-end auctions and packed on crowded transports to be slaughtered in Mexico. Animal-welfare experts say the horses often suffer greatly on the journey.

In 2006, just 11,080 U.S. horses were shipped to Mexico for slaughter. In 2008, after the American industry shut down, that number jumped to 57,017, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

So, the net effect of this slaughter ban was to transport the horses, and the profit from selling their meat, south of the border.  The ban was put into place in large part because of apparent mistreatment of some horses on their way to slaughter.  I doubt the mistreatment applied to 46,000 horses, or was equivalent to spending several days starving on a hot train to Mexico.

“Every day, I’m turning horses away. I feel like I’m playing God, because I have to pick and choose,” said Whitney Wright, director of Hope for Horses, a rescue group in Asheville, N.C. She worked to shut down slaughterhouses but now would like to see a few reopen under strict guidelines for humane handling.

If you think killing is tricky business, try bringing something back from the dead.