[Blistering Winds]

CJ, do you know how much it costs to get the permit to bury a horse? Almost $200 in places. You have to have a survey done of your property, water tables measured, and if they are up to a certain height, CAN"T BURY. If you do, can be a HUGE HUGE fine and possibly jail time in some places for contaminating the water.

[arasemt]

Someone told my that her dad's horse died of colic last year and it cost $1000 to have it picked up.

[Carly]

Blistering Winds
[QB)

Honestly, if I was a horse, and had the choice of starving to death, or taking a trip that will end my suffering, I'd take the trip.[/QB]

I agree...me too! and i wouldnt want my horse...or any horse to suffer like that...i dont agree with slaughter...but sadly thats what it has come to due to ignorant,selfish people!...

[Mandi]

Personally, I feel it is NOT a nessisary evil. I have seen a slaugher house first hand, and honestly, I hug my horse every day because I WILL spend the $1000 to bury my horse. They slit the horses throat and let the animal BLEED to death SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY. The animals walk to their deaths, many are old, haggard but the ones that stick out are the younger ones, still full of life but put to butcher. Mares can be in foal, their bellies holding an unborn foal, it too will be part of the massacure. The men kick and prod the frightened animals down the ramp. NO tranquilizers, no pain killers, NOTHING is given to these poor animals, they are murdered, victoms of ignorant and penny pintching owners who could care less about them. If you love you horse, you wont let them be butcherd, you WONT let them have to die slowly and painfully, waiting for you to come across the harizon to come save them. You'll be with them in their stall, holding them and telling them they'll be alright, and have to pay, quiet a lot of money, but horses are expensive, they are alive and dead one of the most expencive things you'll ever have. But if your willing to look in ur horses eye and tell them that their comfort in death isn't worth $1000 go ahead, be my guest.

[Carly]

i will/never would send my horse to the butcher! if was suffering...would be put down...or i would be holding them (crying my eyes out)telling them how much i love them!
i think you misunderstood what we are saying!

[Mandi]

Letting horse slaughter continue is horrible, saying its ok because the animals are suffering does not still make it right, honestly you can say that if you were in the horses shoes you'd want to go to the slaugher house rather than starve to death, well, you are a human, not a horse. You have the luxury of that choice, the horse does not. I remember a comment that just keeps me up at night, a man (no older than about 18 maybe 19) looked at the horses, then back at me. I was crying and telling my dad that we had to save them all (we were there because a boarder at our barn had put their 11 year old mare up for auction after she threw her owner, no one bought her after a month so her owner put her up for auction and made a pretty $300 off Treasa's hyde!) but we were there only to try and buy one horse off before it was too late. The boy looked over at me, disgusted, annoyed and said blankly to me "Horses dont really want to live when they're no good to people anyway, we're doing them a favor". When I looked into those big frightened eyes of those horses, I know they didnt want to die, even if they were straving to death, mangled and mamed, ugly simply from neglect, I know they didnt want to be murdered. Horse slaugher should be illegal, or atleast more humane ways to be used (such as pain killers, etc.) bawling It makes me so angry that people treat animals as if they were machines, "ok, its broken, i'll dump it in the trash and buy a new one!" Until people can treat animals right there should be like a license for owning animals, especially horses. take a test and if you STILL want an horse, you have the drive to take care of it. It makes me so sad that people can treat animals so poorly, thinking soully for themself.

[Nika]

I totally agree with Mandi...she said everything I would have said...grrrr down with slaughter, if you're not willing to put your horse down and get rid of it humanely, then you should seriously reconsider how much you love your horse. If I were a horse that got sick I would seriously hope no one would slaughter me.

[cowgurly02]

I'm sorry but Mandi is dead wrong about how they kill the horses. My best friend works a feedlot/slaughter plant and the horses are slaughtered the same way as cattle. We also live about 10 minutes away from it. Here in Canada is the horses LEGALLY have to be dead before their throats are slit, they are given an electric shock to the brain that kills them first. Also, it is ILLEGAL to slaughter any pregnant animal!! Horse buyers REFUSE to buy PMU mares (trust me I KNOW because my family owns a PMU barn) because they are pregnat. They HAVE to wait for them to foal before they can be slaughter which wastes too much $$ feeding them. I have NO PROBLEM whatsoever with (humane, which is what it is here in Canada anyways) slaughter. There are too many horses, without slaughter horse prices would be driven down so low that no breeders could make a living, hence the quality of horses would go down dramatically. If you don't like the slaughter, go and try to buy all the unwanted horses out there. There's too many.

To me, there is no difference between the slaughter of a horse and of a steer/pig/sheep, etc...

<small>[ May 04, 2004, 05:06 PM: Message edited by: cowgurly02 ]</small>

[Mandi]

Canada and the US have a big difference in such things, besides, JUST because the animals are supposed to have those humune treatments doesnt mean that certain companies will use them to save a few bucks.

Here are a few pictures, look at them and tell me and everyone else if you could tell those horses that they had to die because otherwise a breeder couldnt make money. If you can do that, I wonder if you are any better than those who murder these innocent horses.

Warning! Pictures should NOT be viewed by children or those of the faint heart, very graffic and grusome! (look at your own risk!)

Horse Slaughter

Horse Slaughter2

Horse Slaughter 3
Horse Slaughter 4
Horse Slaughter 5

Horse Slaughter 6
Horse Slaughter 7

[cowgurly02]

In those pictures the horses have already been killed. How do you think they get the meat off? Of course they skin them, but not alive. And yes they are hung upside down, AFTER they have been killed. That's how you skin them and remove the innerds. If you want a detailed explanation as to how an animal is butchered I can tell you, but I'd rather not on a public thread due to the young eyes out there. At my farm we slaughter our own cattle and we hunt in the fall and skin/butcher our meat off the carcasses so I know how it's done, I usually help skin, half and quarter the bodies. They have to be hanging by their hind legs for it to be done properly without soiling the meat. But as I said, the animals are DEAD before they are hoisted.

Also, the slaughter houses aren't going to "save a buck" by letting the horses bleed to death. That's like saying "McDonalds puts sawdust in their burgers just to save a buck". First off, it's inpractical. There is no reason to do it. It doesn't change the meat any. Secondly, it would actually costs them MORE to let them bleed out than it would to quickly kill them. Plus there are inspections. Slaughter house owners aren't the "evil" people they are made out to be, we slaughter our own cattle and my family certainly isn't.

<small>[ May 04, 2004, 05:46 PM: Message edited by: cowgurly02 ]</small>