Re: RC: RE: horse slaughter

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 3/16/00 7:43:09 AM Pacific Standard Time, KDykes@cpes.com 
writes:

<<  Have you
 witnessed the death of these animals in this situation?  They are pushed
 down a chute, bashed in the head with a captive-bolt, sometimes several
 times when they miss the first time, drop to the floor where they are then
 hoisted by a hind leg into the air alive, and their throat cut.  THAT is
 what happens to these "companions" who are no longer useful. >>

Having been on a kill floor of a horse slaughter plant on multiple occasions, 
I can assure you that the above is NOT a particularly accurate picture.  The 
horses DO go down a chute--they usually go quite peacefully, unless there is 
a particularly unruly one in the bunch.  Usually, if the crew knows they have 
an unruly horse, they send him down the chute by himself so he does not upset 
the routine.  The act of going down a chute is not a particularly odious 
activity for a horse, if it is done properly.  Many large farms utilize 
chutes for handling large numbers of broodmares and youngsters routinely.

In reputable plants, the people running the captive bolt RARELY miss--and 
when they do, it is usually because of a particularly unruly horse.  (And 
quite frankly, I've euthanized similar horses that had to be trucked to a 
bucking chute and restrained with ropes so that a person could safely get a 
needle in the vein--so not much different, really.)

Once a horse has had a captive bolt go into his brain, he is DEAD.  His heart 
will continue to beat for a few minutes and his diaphragm will contract a few 
more times--this will happen with chemical euthanasia or gunshot to the 
brain, too.  I have followed heartbeats on horses who are brain dead from 
chemical euthanasia (NO eye reflex, etc.) for a minute or more.  The 
slaughter process takes advantage of this, and hoists the horse immediately 
following death by captive bolt so that the agonal beating of the heart will 
assist in the bleed-out process.  The horse DOES NOT feel this phenomenon.  
It is no less humane than if one left him lying on the floor until the heart 
stopped and THEN hoisted him--so why risk a decline in quality of meat?

This is EXACTLY the same process which cattle undergo for slaughter.

Heidi