[hOrSeCrAzEeE120]

What is your opinion on slaughter??

my opionion is that it should be stopped and it is a very cruel thing. i dont understand who could be that cruel to do something like that. horses dont deserved to be treated like that, same with any other animal. all of those animals deserve attention and all the love in the world!

[crazi4horses]

i feel the SAMe way! GrR..

[Toby&Arie]

I don't like it at all but as it stands now, it's a necessary evil. The quantity of horses exceeds the demand there is for them. Nowhere else for them to go. Cutting down on needless breeding and preventing overpopulation is the first step towards shutting slaughter houses down.

[harli36]

I can't agree more with Tobie. Right now slaughter is a necessary evil. There are tons of animals that are being neglected in this country today. Many of these owners ignore the problem thinking I'll just send them to slaughter when the problem gets too bad. So the horses are neglected until the next trip to the auction. Unfortunatly it is outrageously expensive to bury a horse. Do you really think that the people who are neglecting horses now would spend the money to have the horse put down and buried in a timely fashion if there was no such thing as slaughter? For these reasons and more the American Association for Equine Practitioners. (The association that all vets belong to in the US) is for slaughter.
The animal abuse and overbreeding need to be put to a stop in this country before we can put a stop to slaughter. I personally don't see this happening for many years unfortunatly.

[hossluva]

yeah i think it is totally trirrible (i spelled taht wrong o well)yeah like the race horses they dont win a race they dont win money they get slaughtered well what if we were the horses we didnt win a race no money so no life? i doenst make sense it needs to stop!!!!!!!!! flaming_

[Shimmer62]

I agree that it sucks but there is not much we can do there will always be people who care for nothing other than themselves and let their horses and other animals starv. Slaughter in some ways is a relief for those poor animals that have had to suffer their whole life. If I had bill gates money I would adopt them all and buy colorado or something to keep them fat and happy and wild like they should be. But that is not going to happen I always do what I can to help.

[Carly]

Tonie and shimmer:
I agree completeley..there isnt much we can do...at least not until there is no more pointless breeding, and careless people out there...i agree it is very cruel! but there is not a place for all of the to go!...not every1 can afford horses...not everyone likes horses (shocking i kno lol...sorry)...my horse was saved form slaughter! shes an ex racer! wink
the best we can do right now is not to breed just to havre a foal...breed for other raqsons...good reasobns ie:breeding 2 show horses to get another. breed your foal to get a horse that you are going to use...i dont know...
we can also buy from the auctions, adopt, that is saving horses! thats the only place i get my horses from! who cares about their lines (unlees you sghow in breed shows etc) for pleasure/kids/fun shows, the rescues seem to be the best! same with dogs! mix breeds are always good!lol...
sorry...i know i basicly said what was already said...but thats my opinion! wink

[Blistering Winds]

I am all for slaughter. Same reason as Toby said. Necessary evil.

As for race horses don't win and go to slaughter? Nope. On average, the race horses are sold to other owners. Race owners don't want a measily 450 bucks for their horse, which is what a TB, weight wise, would bring in right now. They will sell their horse at a higher price. Unfortunately, THOSE people who it gets sold to might send it to auction after they give up on it.

Kill buyers only have so much they can spend on a horse. And as long as you keep your price above 1000, even a bit less than that, killers won't even be interested because they can't make any money off of them. Slaughter buys by the pound, NOT by training, breeding, etc. They don't care how well trained your horse is or what it is. If it weighs something, they are interested.

Unfortunately, there is MUCH neglect and abuse right now in the US. Why? Ignorance on the Horse Owner's part. Ignorance of care, health, cost. Then they get in a bind, the horse looks so crappy, NO one will buy it. THey don't even THINK about slaughter because they are so far out of the information loop, they don't know about that choice.

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. (that is me) Unfortunately, horses don't reason nor tell us that fact of what they want or what is going on.

Few places to bury, almost no where you can burn a body. Need $$ to do that because of the Health Department cracking down on **** like that and nosy neighbors turning you in for "Devil worshipping" when you do. (girl in my class had the cops at her place for that after she burned her horse who died)

Solve the overpopulation of horses, solve the neglect, solve where the horses will go when they pass, and THEN solve slaughter.

[CJ]

I disagree w/ food-slaughter; Europe is a pretty big place, what do they need Our horses for? As for Japan, let them go to Europe. Not real fond of killer buyers, but there is some truth to mercy slaughter. Yeah a funeral could be cost prohibitive, but burying a horse cost no more than renting a backhoe to have a manure pit dug. After the better part of 20 years, I couldn't stand the thought of a horse being ground up- excuse me, rendered - for fertilizer.

[Dawn]

CJ:
burying a horse cost no more than renting a backhoe to have a manure pit dug.

In almost all areas of the US, it is illegal to bury an animal. It can be very, very expensive to have them picked up.