The Brutal and Secretive Trade of American Horses Killed For Their Meat

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/environment/brutal-and-secretive-trade-american-horses-killed-their-meat



Herded down a concrete shute, the horses -- black and brown and grey; fat, healthy, thin, lame -- have little idea of the fate that awaits them. But one by one, the horses are separated from those behind, a metal trapdoor swinging down to confine each to a metal box. There's blood and filth on the walls and floor. Flies buzz.

A man leans over the horse -- the animal freezes at first, then jerks forward slightly, obviously terrified -- and stabs a knife forcefully into the top of the horse's head. The horse crumples to the ground and the man stabs it again. The side of the box opens, discharging the body onto a stained floor. A metal chain is hooked around a hoof, the horse swings up and onto a moving production line. Men set upon each body as they come through, slicing away skin and tissue and butchering the exposed flesh.

The footage illustrating this grisly scene in a Mexican abattoir offers a rare glimpse into a brutal and secretive trade that few Americans are aware of -- the export and slaughter of homegrown US horses to supply a meat that's shunned at home but popular with diners overseas. Each year, thousands of horses -- abandoned pets, ex-racehorses, farm animals -- are rounded up and trucked across the country south into Mexico, or north into Canada, for killing and processing and dispatching abroad, many to Europe, a major hub of horsemeat consumption.

It's a murky and often-informal business, with numerous buyers, sellers and middlemen in on the game. And it's part of a much bigger, international trade in horses and horsemeat now in the spotlight in the wake of the European horsemeat scandal. This was initially triggered by the discovery of equine meat in "beef" burgers on sale in Ireland and the UK, and has now widened to include numerous meat products.

[Peter cotton]

1. I just ate some horse a few days ago. It was delicious.

(in Iceland, mind you)

As long as it's treated the same as any other farmed animal, I don't see any problem with it.

[Tien1985]

2. The problem

comes in when they falsely advertise it as some other meat, or when they slaughter animals in a completely unregulated system.

I have nothing against horse meat, but I don't like the secrecy that's happening around all this.

[Peter cotton]

3. No diagreement there.

[newfie11]

4. I thought the Americam slaughter houses were once again killing horses

I am a horse owner and I can tell you they need to bring back horse slaughter in America and regulate it.

No my horses will never go there and I would have them put down before they were allowed to starve. we are having a major drought in this area.

Horses are not being taken care of and left to die from starvation.

Hay used to be around $80 a ton is now $300 if you can get it. People have lost jobs, etc.

In past times people would have sold to the killer buyers at auctions. If people have no money for hay,they also have no money for vet bills.

[life long demo]

5. THIS IS JUST WRONG

I am against any horse slaughter plant opening anywhere in the US. I am against any horse shipments outside the US for slaughter. I believe if there is absolutely no other way to care for a horse, it should be put down humanely and as painless as possible. We owe them no less.

[Peter cotton]

6. If we treated horses the same as any other food animal, would it be wrong?

We owe them no less.

Er...why? What did a horse ever do for me that caused me to incur a debt towards it?

[WinkyDink]

8. You seriously need a lesson or twelve in world history.

[Peter cotton]

10. How strange. I've had a number of classes in world history, and the ethical issues

involving consuming horses were never covered.

Obviously, the course material was terribly incomplete, given how important this subject is compared to trivia such as the fall of the Roman Empire.

I feel so deprived...

[life long demo]

9. Is that how you measure the worth of an inhabitant of earth, by

what they do for us? I view all inhabitants of earth worthy of being treated with respect and humaneness even the 2 legged ones that I disagree with.

[Peter cotton]

11. If by "inhabitant of earth" you mean "non-human plant or animal", well...yes.

I view all inhabitants of earth worthy of being treated with respect and humaneness even the 2 legged ones that I disagree with.

Does that extend to, say, the smallpox virus? Should we treat a slime mold or a mosquito with respect and humaneness?

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Can anyone explain why this is worse than the brutal trade in cow meat?

As a vegetarian I find this all sort of silly. Stop. Eating. Meat.