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RE: [RC] slaughter vs consumption - heidiIndeed. Please define "humane" and "ethical."
A captive bolt in the brain is certainly "humane." And to
suggest that it is unethical for humans to consume horses is biased at best.
What is completely inhumane is to be unrealistic about the world in
which we live, in which many horses will end up starving, ill, injured, and neglected, with no recourse to many owners. You CANNOT legislate morality--perhaps Prohibition was one of the more graphic examples of that. And to ignore the fact that most horses in this country (I would wager that it's the majority) are in situations where they are expendable when their humans face hard times is indeed unrealistic.
The article that Angie shared IS the reality of it. And what has
been forced by the poorly-thought-out-and-emotionally-driven anti-slaughter legislation is indeed inhumane.
I never much thought about horse slaughter in my growing-up years--we
"culturally" did not eat horses, and when ours were old and infirm, a quick bullet ended their lives, whereupon they were consumed by birds and coyotes.
As I've grown older, I have realized that it is immaterial who eats the
horse (human or coyote), even if I prefer not to--and that most of the world can use humane slaughter as an option, whereas leaving the carcass for the coyotes is not an option in much of our populated world.
Outlawing slaughter has and will continue to promote equine suffering--an outcome that I personally consider to be unconscionable. If the folks who have agitated for anti-slaughter legislation TRULY wanted to help alleviate equine suffering, they would petition to have local plants built where horses could be directly hauled by their owners. I can guarantee that NO amount of lobbying will change the fact that most horses live in a precarious balance--and when the lobbying to prevent slaughter progresses to another level of "success," the horses are the true victims.
Karen, I do admire what rescues do--that's great. I abhor careless
breeding without thought or study to ensure that the resultant offspring can have useful jobs. But neither your position nor mine on those subjects will have any great effect on the reality of the situations of many horses in this country, should they fall upon hard times. It is relatively simple and within the means of most people to euthanize dogs and cats and have them buried or cremated. When a horse falls on hard times, those options just are not realistic in a great many circumstances. THAT is the reality of it, and THAT is the niche that slaughter serves to prevent those horses from going on to suffer.
Heidi
Heidi
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