CA Slaughter Bound Horses

[guest@endurance.net]

Dianna Chapek dmchapek@hotmail.com
The laws in CA regarding transport to slaughter ONLY pertain to horses
being transported for HUMAN consumption.  It's NOT a crime to ship horses
to slaughter for any other reason; dog food, zoo food, fertilizer, etc.
While the "feedlots" in S CA aren't feedlots in the true sense of the
word, they are a last stopover before going to the slaughter yards.  As a
young girl, Leonard's was "the" place to buy a horse because he was a well
known horse trader who had as good a reputation as a horse trader can
have.  What is being call "feedlot" today, we called Leonard's Junk
Horses.  Yes, there are some good finds in this group of horses for the
savy and/or lucky horseperson.  A number of wonderful kid's horses at the
stable, mine included, were "junk" horses.  But the majority were, and
still are, broken down, lame, unhealthy with permanent disabilities,
behavioral & mental disasters (man made), etc.  These horses are destined
for the next low end auction and/or eventually to slaughter.  The horses
with their registration papers aren't necessarily sold through auctions.
Some are private individuals who don't want to deal with selling
privately, so dump their horses with a horse trader.  There are also
breeders who sell horses in bulk at auctions and horses with papers sell
for more to private individuals.  I've been told that fat isn't desirable
in horses like it is in cattle and (didn't verify this info, obviously)
that a thin horse actually is better eating than one with fat.  As far as
inforcing the transport for slaughter laws, it'd be extremely difficult to
do because how are you going to prove the horses are transported for HUMAN
consumption.  I suppose if someone was to follow a particular, somehow
marked horse on the truck, out of state, to the slaughter yard in maybe
TX, then follow the somehow marked carcass to it's final destination which
was a dinner plate in Europe, then maybe the seller could be prosecuted.
And to keep this endurance related, I bought Wraff (6600 miles) from a man
who was taking him to the next week's auction at the Euclid Auction Yard.
One of the auctions from where the horses end up at the "feedlots".
People doing rescue work should be commended.  It can be expensive and
emotionally exhausting.  The next time you decide to sell a horse who can
no longer be ridden endurance (whether soundess, health or age related)
stop to consider where that horse could potentially end up.  And be glad
that there might be a rescuer who sees that gimpy, tired old horse and has
the compassion to take him to his final, loving home to a warm barn and a
manger full of feed.