 At 3:30 PST, a group of representatives from U.S. and Canadian animal science and humane livestock handling organizations, as well as federal and state livestock processing regulatory agencies will convene at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for a discussion entitled "Setting the High Standard for Humane Processing of Horses." The "processing" part of the equation entails the slaughter and butchery of the animals for the purpose of human consumption. The panel, which is being held as part of a four day Summit of the Horse includes representatives from American Humane, the Humane Handling and Assessment Tool Project, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The issue at hand has stirred passionate and polar arguments from those who see horse meat - especially that of wild mustangs who are seen by some as an invasive species - as a cheap, viable source of food for hungry Americans, and wild horse advocates who see the slaughter of these animals as cruel and unnecessary. We've asked before if our readers would be willing to eat horse meat and were slightly surprised by the outcome, expecting an infinitely more negative response.
Is there a change in perception on the hoof? All week, American Morning is exploring the issues surrounding wild horses in the West. Read Mustang Roundup: Taking the wild out of the West |
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Sounds great to me! Lean and mean, with no caffeine. Yee-haw! Maybe flooding the meat market with equine flesh will help bring the idiotic price of beef back down to something reasonable. As long as I can get lots of tasty red meat steaks, I don't care whether or not the hoof is split. Carne rojo es muy bueno!
My Little Pony:Eating is magic
There's a Mustang in my barn right now. When she got here she was wild as a March hare–now I can do anything with her. As a matter of fact, she trained easier than any other horse I've trained.
YOu know that humans still eat humans in many parts of the world. Does that make it anymore acceptable? No! It's the same with our companion animals.
How about instead of killing Mustangs with the excuse "they have no food", we tell the cattle and sheep industry to quit grazing their stock for free on federal land?
I get so absolutely furious just thinking about this. The human race is so unbelievably arrogant in their thinking that we own this planet. We treat every other living creature as though they are simply temporary guests and at some point in time, their stay on our planet will have to come to an end. In the grand picture, we are nothing more than a speck of dust. I appreciate the need for food, but I believe we are raising enough cows, chickens, etc.. to meet that need. And not only to we decide which creature to slaughter, we torture it in the process. It's shameful and cruel. Horses experience pain and fear. But the powers that be don't seem to mind, as long as it doesn't directly affect them, it isn't given a second thought. How do they live with themselves?
It is like eating humans! I have three wonderful horses, they are more than just animals, it is clear that some people don't see horses like I do. I recommend going to a barn, after 2 minutes of being around horses at a barn will change your mind completely! Just take the moment to think about the horses instead of eating them. I think only a sick person would even touch horse meat. You have my vote for not killing beautiful creatures that deserve to be respected and euthanized instead of killed and eaten. Think about what they have done for us, farming, showing, breaking amazing jumping records, bringing us to the olympics, being a great companion, and also think about the millions of wonderful books and movies that horses have inspired us to make! Each horse has their own wonderful personality that can never be replaced again, think about the wonderful soul your killing for meat. I have an older horse and I just want to say he has changed my life dramatically and has changed me as a person, he may be old but he still is young and happy on the inside and even the outside. We show, jump, and we are a team. I think they should make an act that if you breed horses you must have a reason for breeding them and you must not be breeding a bunch of horses for no reasons, it's not their faults but our that we take breeding for granted!
To all those who said humans used to eat horses, just because we used to do something doesn't make it okay. We used to steal humans from other countries and make them slaves but that doesn't mean it's okay to do now. I bet half the people who said they'd eat horsemeat would also say they'd eat roadkill, cats, dogs, or whatever. Not very scientific polling results.
At the inappropriately named Summit of the Horse, Dr. Temple Grandin said that only about 20% of slaughter facilities operate within acceptable humane guidelines and 10% are intentionally inhumane. So let everyone observe horses being slaughtered and then poll them on whether or not they'd eat horsemeat. Better yet, follow the horse dealers who: steal and lie to get cheap horses, pump them full of drugs if they're ill just so they might make the trip, shoot the eye of any horse giving them trouble, then make the long trip to the slaughterhouse without water. And that happened when slaughter plants were open in the US.
Note: Dr. Grandin specifically asked that her name not be publicized with the summit, yet her request was ignored. Slaughter proponents said Dr. Grandin was involved in designing every aspect of a new humane facility yet Dr. Grandin told Animal Law Coalition “I have told Sue Wallis that I want no involvement in her business dealings. …[W]e have done no design work.” Dr. Grandin was also quoted by Horseback Magazine as saying Wallis had “misrepresent[ed]“ her involvement. At the summit a man told Dr. Grandin that the standards to prevent cruelty were too costly. There you have the truth – humane slaughter will never happen because these people are all about greed.
I don't even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I do not know who you are but definitely you're going to a famous blogger if you are not already Cheers!
What makes eating wild horses different from eating a cow are several, but these are the two main ones:
1. There is to-date to way of humanely slaughtering horses for meat on a commercial scale. The horse's mindset is such that traditional slaughterhouse practices cause terror and resistance, and often the horse has to be shot several times before the mark is hit. Slaughterhouse practices also often include stringing the horse up by its heels and starting to enviscerate it while it is still alive and conscious. This is cruelty, no matter how you look at it.
2. The politics of wild horses: Wild, free-roaming horses and burros have been protected in the US by law since 1971. The law was enacted, and remains in effect, becasue of a strong will of the American people for this to be the case. However, there is a strong well-financed movement afoot (and the Food Network show is part of it, I am pretty sure – "Product Placement') to undo these laws, due to the tremendous profit potential in rounding up large herds of mustangs and for meat. Since Europe no longer wants domestic horses (who may have been given vaccines, antibiotics, wormers, pain killers etc) the American Mustang represents an untapped pool of profitble meat.
Lets go give the Mustangs some drugs and they will be unfit to eat too. What about the drugs they give the mares so they don't reproduce? Aren't these unsafe for humans?
Horse is very tasty!
Curious article and responses. I have 6 horses here that i am quite fond of, but like any animal species in the modern world, the mustangs need to be managed. I have seen the destruction in NV over the 10 years I lived in Elko when the herds got too large, its a delicate eco system in the high dessert there, it can only support a limited number of any species, let alone non-native species such as horses. Think to many people are letting tie heart over ride the logic of the brain on the whole management issue, and until that is solved, consideration of horse on the table cannot be addressed objectively.
No way. Horses are our companions, not just another food source. Horse slaughter should be aginst the law. Horses are a GREAT source of exersize, love and most of all LOVE. They love us so we eat them??? That's the part I don't get. PLESE stop horse slaughter!!!!!
This subject should not even be discussed in the United States. Horses built this country on their backs alongside of humans and now for THANKS we have an idiot out there taking a POLL to see if we should EAT them? That person should go live in CHINA, where there is no regard for any human or animal LIFE. ONLY MONEY, POWER AND GREED WITHOUT ETHICS, SINCERITY OR RESPECT. It is more apparent than ever the WRONG people are in charge..
What people don't understand is that horse are initially raised as a companion animal and during that time are given drugs chemicals that are not allowed to be given to a US livestock animal. Then, at some time in their life when some human determines that they are no longer usable as a companion animal, they are all of a sudden a livestock animal. They cannot be considered livestock in this country because of all the drugs and chemicals that were used during their companion stage so they are shipped overseas. It amazes me that these foreign countries even accept them. Then there is the over breeding issue. Which is the same problem we have with dogs and cats.
Horse meat especially American is not healthy enough for human consumption. Many people have and will get sick if they consume horse meat. Most horses in the Unites States are given Bute if they get injured or feel pain. Bute never leaves a horses system. If a human consumes horse meat with bute in it, the person could get very sick or even die. Besides bute race horses have been known to be given steroids, it does happen. Also wild horses are placed on PZP which is like a birth control pill, except it is given like a vaccine. There have been no studies done that shows pzp does not affect horse meat. The truth is we already have enough issues with cows, chickens and poultry. If horse slaughter is brought to the U.S it will be not properly regulated and people will get sick. I believe it is better to not allow it to happen.
*edit* The truth is we already have enough issues with cows, pigs and poultry.* Sorry I meant to add pigs there not chickens, chickens are poultry lol.
Horses have been a mode of tranportation throughout the centuries whether in the Far East; Europe; Africa; Middle East; South America; North America; and Australia. Covering the gamut of reasons for that transportation including carrying soldiers into war (where the horses lost their lives); crossing a continent so it could be settled; carrying products such as logs, milk, vegetables to market, etc; moving people in sleighs, covered wagons across country; pulling farm equipment for hundreds of years to establish agriculture and provide food to peoples; and a thousand other uses to man including sport and recreation and love.
The horse is a symbol of the a free heart and wild spirit. If anyone cannot understand the special place horses hold in civilization including America, they fall into the category of the heartless and ignorant humans.
Judy Rupard, U.S. Marine Corps, Kansas City, MO.
Does no one know what the original use for a horse was? Are Americans really that ignorant (speaking as one, of course, from the most redneck part of the country-the south)? We ATE horses. We didn't ride them, we ATE them. We ate them along with the ancestors of the cow, sheep, goat, pig, and anything else we could catch and kill. Get over it. Horses were food. They still are. We used cattle, goats and other animals as pack animals, pets and other things, but we still eat them, don't we? Horses are no different.
It all depends on culture. Some cultures saw horses as multi-purposed, and would (and still do) happily have them plow their fields and cook them at the end of the day. Some cultures had other animals for food, and chose not to use horses as food.
Horses shouldnt be slaughtered to feed humans if any human is sick and discusting enough to even think of eating an animal that is a pet and gave to people for thousands of years you need slaughtered then, a horse is a pet, not something that should even be consitered a food sorce for humans let alone anything else. horses were what the soldiers rode on before we had what we have now, horses were the number one way of transpertation, if you are sick enough to slaughter a hose you your self should be slaughtered.
The government has over 40,000 horses in captivity, many, many more than are left on the ranges.
They will not tell citizens where they are and they are complaining because this one facility is at it's limit with 1,700 horses.
Where are all the other horses?! Who is caring for them and who is monitoring their care?
These horses belong to the citizens of this country, not the government!
These are America's horses!
We can not view the roundups anymore, for fear that the truth be shown in photographs.
Departmental corruption and corporate control are partners of destruction with total lack of honesty or integrity.
Our rights are at stake, our heritage and many beautiful, innocent lives.
The roundups need to stop immediately and some funds spent on accurate and scientific evaluations on what is going on and what future lies ahead for the land and these animals amidst the intent of eradication that is apparent and most obvious.
CNN, can you find out where the 40,000 PLUS horses are and in what conditions they are being kept imprisoned, and their heath???
There is more to all this than meets the eye and more than what the BLM wants to tell. (If they were not rounding up horses, allowing oil spills, permitting pristine public lands to be excavated by big corps, what would they do?)
I put other as mine because you will have the people that will not care what they eat. Then you will have the people who will want to hunt them their selves. Then you will have those who love all animals and still will try it. Then those who are so against it that they will protest against it, because they believe horses are beautiful and shouldn't be eaten. Then you will have those who will start to horde the horses in an attempt to save them from being eaten. Then those who do not care either way what happens. You see no matter what way it goes nobody will be completely happy. Me I will be the one who will cry when I see it in stores and will never do it no matter what, I will always love horses, have since I was a little girl, to this day I still do. I also believe that the horse deserves some life, they serve a purpose, maybe not to everyone but to the cowgirl, or just trail rider, trainer, farrier, or just the kid who gets to ride a horse at the fair to them they serve more than a purpose.
Holly.
This is to all the pro-horseslaughter people out there. Can't even believe some of the comments i've read. I agree with Yas. Learn a little more about a subject you are so clearly ignorant about. Visit a horse slaughterhouse, or any other slaughter plant in the country. But be sure to look into these animals eyes first before they step up to be killed and see if there is any fear in them, listen closely also to theirs crys of pain and fear when they stick the knives in their throat to let them to bleed to death on the floor, or when they hit them between the eyes with a big sledge hammer to knock them down. Then go get you a big plateful and see how tasty it is. And for Jessica i hope your" dumb" ass is the first one that chokes on it. No doubt your a 250 pounder anyway that will eat anything that doesn't eat you first. Karma's a bitch, look out for those wolves out there, they might just cook you and eat ya!! Ha!!
I'm totaly disgusted with the idea, when does it stop....not all animals were put here on earth so you could kill them and stuff your face, horses run in family unites they have feeling just like you family pet Rufus has feeling.....Americans don't just eat anything & we cherish our pets, horses are pets & beautiful wild life....we are NOT like the Asian people we DONt eat our family Dog....I'm trying to keep this clean but I'm so pissed, we haven't got a food shortage...Slaughtering these Horses is unbelieveable....You are Cruel People & Will Go to Hell...
exactly, horses are a symbol of the freedom we have today, ive been around horses all my life and the people who do these cruel acts to them will all die and i hope they die the same way all horses that have been slaughtered have
Horses are not meant for food espicially the American Wild Mustang. Wild Mustangs have been around for centuries and are, like the American Bald Eagle, a symbol of the United States and the Old West. They do not deserve to be served in any resturant or in the meat department at Walmart. Think about it, would we ever see the Blad Eagle served on a plate?
Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride,
Friendship without envy,
Or beauty without vanity?
Here, where grace is served with muscle
And strength by gentleness confined
...He serves without servility; he has fought without enmity.
There is nothing so powerful, nothing less violent.
There is nothing so quick, nothing more patient.
~Ronald Duncan, "The Horse," 1954
All of these pro slaughter people, forget one thing, animals feel fear and pain. I guess if all these pro slaughter people put themselves in the animals place waiting with the smell of death and blood and the screams of the ones being slaughtered in their ears, they might think again. as the majority are sepaerated from this process it becomes very sterile for them, so they really don't care. I find that the humanity of any human that can look a sentient being in the eye then blow it away beyond believe. Perhaps there are two types of humans, true humans and those of a lesser type, barbarians.
The problem with eating horse meat is the slaughter process. It is often inhumane, from the transportation of the animals to their deaths. This is because slaughter house methods (again, from transportation to the actual slaughter) are not catered to fit horses who are generally much bigger and very sensitive. Also, most horses are injected (in various ways) with chemicals and medicines that are not supposed to enter the food change. Finally, slaughter is said to be the 'answer' for unwanted horses, but in face just encourages it. The REAL problem is the incorrect breeding practices such as overbreeding and breeding crap horses, or even not responding to the market.
Interesting that we "need to control wild horse populations" in public lands but not a single cattle rancher has lost his grazing lease to use public grazing lands. Basically taxpayers are giving almost-free grazing land to the cattle industry. The side effect is the bison and horses must be "controlled". Big Ag interests win again.
There are many animals on this Earth that God put here for supplemental food source. I do not think the horse was one of them. They are for work and pleasure not a smorgasboard. Besides if and when something super bad happens on Earth, within the first 3 months half of the population will have died. Instead of targeting animals worry about fixing the problems that this world has. All the talk is cheap fellas, in Washington. Can you live in the real world without all of your finery and comfort ? I think that prospect of eating horses is a little over the top and will cause alot of us to choose animal over man. At least THEY are intelligent.
I love horses...just not for supper. Americans have MORE than enough to eat as it is. WHY eat horses? We are growing fatter and fatter by the day. Believe me I know this for a fact because it is my job as a nurse to care for all these sick obese people. My back just can not take much more. Please America...THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU STUFF INTO YOUR MOUTH!! EAT YOUR VEGGIES!!! NOT THE HORSES!!!
I agree totally!!!
man has to learn not to relegate
any other living things to his dinner plate
animals are here to share our world
not be menu selections,
unfurled
humankind your kind is lost
as is your soul
a terrible cost
do not eat the flesh
of fellow beings
learn that your heart
should be all
feeling and all seeing
The way this poll is worded we had to check other. We, ourselves are against the slaughter and use of wild horses as a human food source. Not only do we believe that there is a better way to control equine numbers in the wild, but we fear that acceptance of horse meat on the average American's dinner table could eventually create more problems for the wild horse as well become a real concern for the domestic horse.
Its not just immigrants or people from other-than Christian religions or outside of American culture who would condone eating horsemeat. In my previous comment I said I would eat horsemeat, if the life and death of the animal was regulated/administered properly. I am not an immigrant. I am a midwest-born, farm raised 3 generation Christian American woman with a college degree who has owned horses all her life.
Why, in good conscience, are you even asking, CNN? Why do humans deserve such liberty of choice in your view? Have you even thought of the lives of the horses, and how they are handled, when you suggest such pro answers in your poll? People consider the terror in the last months, or whole lives, of these animals whe you answer. Have you any idea what kind of massacre it is? Can you see and feel what the horses do?
This sickens me that true Americans would even think about eating horsemeat. They are a huge part of our lives throughout history as always being there to work for us and now bring so much pleasure to so many people's lives. We need to raise awarness of how horses are helping the terminally ill and handicapped adults and children with unbelievable success. I hope someone is bringing that up in congress. And as far as American tradition goes, yes it is taboo if you care about America, but we know the percentage of immigrants coming into this country is constantly growing and they are the ones that will condone this. This has to be stopped!
Had a great Horse BBQ over the weekend, Some of it was a little tough, but we just fed the leftovers to the dogs. Trying to fatten them up for the superbowl party.
Really people. Whether or not people should eat horses is really a moot point. Unless something catastophic happens, the nessecity is not there, So those of you freaking out about how HORRIBLE this is, calm down, and for those of you who want to see it happen, give it up.
CNN just put this up to ensure a huge argument, and guess what, you fell for it.
And to Karen- REALLY? poetry? Give me a break.
NO I WILL NEVER EAT A HORSE!!! PLEASE STOP EATING ANIMALS!!
man has to learn not to relegate
any other living things to his dinner plate
animals are here to share our world
not be menu selections,
unfurled
humankind your kind is lost
as is your soul
a terrible cost
do not eat the flesh
of fellow beings
learn that your heart
should be all
feeling and all seeing
CNN.. THANK YOU FOR DOING A STORY ON OUR MUSTANGS!
America needs to be educated to their plight of survival in our West! These amazing, beautiful creatures belong to each and every tax-paying citizen.
Some of the comments here are from the heart and so good to see that we, as a people are standing up and fighting for what is part of our American Heritage. I, for one, am proud to have such a magnificent animal be part of 'who' I am and what they stand for.. FREEDOM. Don't let them be taken from us, slaughtered and driven to extinction.
The practice of slaughtering horses is barbaric, cruel beyond belief and NOT what my God intended for them.
We DON'T EAT HORSES in AMERICA.. plain and simple. Just as we don't eat our dogs or cats. They are companion animals. People who are PRO slaughter will tel you a horse is livestock.. they WANT slaughter houses to open back up in America. What they WON'T tell you is IF that slaughter house opened up in YOUR neighborhood, you would have blood running in your rivers, streams and lakes.. in your ground water... Every slaughterhouse that has been shut down previous to 2007 had some sort of health code violation that made drinking water and/or other health issues going on, behind their closed doors.
Some of these comments here are so, so immature. Seriously, remember Kindergarten? If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all? Or, in this case intelligent..
Save our Mustangs and Burros from going to slaughter and save them from going extinct .. I want my kids and theirs, and theirs to come, to see the beauty in these awesome animals and to feel the FREEDOM.
Thank you, again CNN...
Thank you to all vegetarian and vegan people commenting, they are truly the ones living their lives without causing any suffering whatsoever and my highest respect is to them.
However the couardly statement by pro slaughterers that one should have to be a vegetarian or vegan in order for their opinion to count is getting very old, and its like me saying that you have to be a butcherer for your opinions to count. Rather obvious is that one wouldnt need to be anything in order for their opinion to matter.
You would never hear me say that the slaughter of cattle is not inhumane, im sure not one cow or pig dies in peace while being slaughtered.
However, there is an inherent difference between slaughtering a cow and slaughtering a horse that needs to be considered.
First of all physically, their brains are farther retreated inside of their skulls which makes it near impossible to hit them in that spot that is smaller than a nut, which renders them unconscious.
Second, the horse is a flight animal that is very quick in its reaction time and the second before something is about to hit them in the head they will move swiftly.
Therefore the captive bolt or shotgun usually ends up in their eyes or cheeks instead.
Third of all most our meat cows are not slaughtered by stabbing in the spine, which is how the horses in Mexican slaughter plants are slaughtered currently.
And last of all, it is the intelligence and want and need for human attention that gives the horse its incredible versatility. It is these same qualities that are a major factor in the assessment of the amount of mental and physical suffering involved with horse slaughter.
The myth that horse slaughter is quick or in any way humane, is a wishfull, far fetched stretch of the truth to say the very least. .
I think it is wrong to sell the wild mustangs for meat. They are a protected species, or supposedly protected, by the BLM. Lately, the BLM has been doing some questionable things concerning the wild horses, at least in my opinion. Now, I'm hearing that it may soon come to mustangs being rounded up to go to slaughter. Horses went extinct in the Americas once and, if we permit the mustangs to go to slaughter, they will be again.
Look at it this way. The government approves of mustangs being rounded up and taken to a slaughter plant in Mexico or Canada; who will monitor how many of the horses are being rounded up? Whose to say that John Doe won't stop at rounding up the horses to be sold even though there is nothing wrong with the horse population in that area? Then what happens when all the horses have been rounded up? And don't tell me that it won't happen. The buffalo nearly went extinct thanks to over-hunting, along with various other species around the world. So, after the wild horses, what will you butcher next? The buffalo again? Heck, if we feel the need to eat everything we can get our grubby hands on, let's start eating each other. "A Modest Proposal" comes to mind, suddenly...
Stop the roundups. Stop the slaughter of wild horses. They are now being managed into extinction. There is corruption in the BLM agency. Appoint another agency to protect and preserve them according to the INTENT of the 1971 Wild horse and Burro Law.
I PERSONALLY THINK TO EAT A MUSTANG IS WRONG. THE WILD MUSTANGS ARE ALL WE HAVE LEFT OF OUR OWN HERITAGE. THEY ARE NOT FOR EATING, THEY ARE FOR VIEWING THEIR BEAUTY AND FREEDOM. FREEDOM WHICH WE HAVE NO MORE AS A HUMAN.THEIR NOBILITY ISN'T OURS TO TAKE.WE HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT, IF WE DIDN'T OBESITY WOULDN'T BE SUCH AN EPIDEMIC IN OUR COUNTRY.
Lets see the Secretariat burger, oh and if it's registered AQHA it can be Doc Bar burger. As far as wild I don't know how about the stang burger? You people are sick and un American. They butcher horses alive and all that concerns you is money. Leave the Unitied States you don't belong here. Go somewhere that it is acceptable to eat pets, and working buddies.
This is pretty sad...
We've decimated their population and to finish the job we'll go ahead and eat whatever remains. I guess there is no reason for boidiversity any longer since humans have everything figured out.
Read this book and maybe it'll shed a little light on how easily we're all manipulated.
Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West
By Deanne Stillman.
For those who don't want to read the entire book, the Economist has an article with a pretty good synopsis. It can be found here: http://www.economist.com/node/11613949.
CNN... a little note. Please start digging a little deeper. I'm having to go international more and more for anything that even begins to have the semblance of something with a comprehensive analysis of the issues.
WHAT IN THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!?!?! Do you not understand that these animals, all of them, have feelings much like our own?! Have we not already betrayed all of the other animals we eat on a regular basis? They don't look like you and me, they don't think like you and I do. But they feel pain and they're living, breathing creatures like we are. We have already betrayed animals that have never served us much of a purpose other than food, are we really sick enough to betray the animal that has made us who we are. Actually, I take that back, I'm not blaming a horse for the monster the human race has become. Let's re-phrase; are we going to murder and eat the animal that for years has served us with nothing but unconditional loyalty. The horse has died for us in battle so that man can be free, the horse served us as our only method of transport and did so faithfully. And above all, horse has served as a little girl's best friend. Think of the little girls that fall asleep every night cuddling their little plush horse with posters on their walls, books on their shelfcase and toys in their closet. How can it even be a thought in your mind to wake that little girl up tomorrow morning and sending her off to school or daycare, and when she comes home, setting down a nice fresh plate of horse infront of her and telling her it's supper. That's sick. These creatures have done nothing but good for us. "Eating my grassland, starving my animals." Why don't you take that gaping hole in your face, close it, and never open it again. The world would be a much better place without you. MUCH better. So humans dominated the earth, yes, but why are all other creatures so inferior? I have a great idea. You want to make a new public meat? Fine by me, let's help the world out at the same time. Let's make human meat. Horses have done nothing but good for us. Man brought horses to America. We're why they're here. So shut up and let them be here, they have every right to eat that grass. They don't buy and sell land like we do. Stop terrorizing them, don't eat them. Stop acting like the earth is our's. We're the idiots destroying it. Those horses have every right to be here. They don't speak our language so we take advantage of them. Stop it and leave them be! How would you feel if a new race came to dominate you tomorrow? Leave nature alone for once. This is rediculous!
VEGGIES...it is what is for my dinner, always.
The difference between eating a horse versus other agricultural livestock goes back to centuries of breeding low-intelligence (easier to slaughter) animals for meat versus breeding already highly intelligent animals for companionship and athleticism.
Horses are pretty high up in the intelligence and sensitivity scales for mammals and have been a partner for man in many ways that are as important, or more important, than the dog (horses have been indispensable in war and transport).
The ethics of killing man's best friend should be considered first in this debate – we can find protein sources in many other places (and healthier ones). As Gandhi said, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
Wonderful comment and I wholeheartedly agree!
The questions asks what the country as a whole would accept. I think that they would, indeed, eat horse. I, myself, would not ever touch it. I find it despicable.
This is sick how anyone could murder a horse for food is beyond me I would die first
To even consider eating a horse is a disgusting, sick, and unenlightened thought. Anyone who would even consider eating a horse has obviously never known horses. This is a shame because without the horse this country would never have been built. What do you think "horsepower" is? Why is this an indicator of how much power a vehicle has....because horses moved people, wagons, carriages, barges, and plows. The horse is a part of our culture and has not been considered a food source in our history in this country. Horses, are used for therapy, for work, for companionship, for sports. We should treasure our horses....not consider eating them! Would you consider eating your dog or your cat? Would you consider eating people just because there are too many of them? Answering that you would eat horses indicates that You Have No Breeding because anyone who understands horses would never ever do it under any circumstances.
I can't even believe that there is any discussion on this topic. We should be trying to save our wild horses, not eating them. What's wrong with you people? We will be lucky to save our natural ecosystmes in the next 20 years. I guess I'm not to surprised. As capitalists you're all about me, me, me... How can I be more prosperous? How can I get more stuff? Why should I care about other species??? Jeez...Can you hear yourself? Once this world is gone, including all of of it's beautiful animals, and beautiful places, than what will be left? I know, I won't want to be here anymore.
You people who said you'd eat a horse are sick and wrong. What's next, your beloved companion animal? Horses are just as intelligent AND EMOTIONALLY DEVELOPED AS DOGS.
I am an avid equestrian and have bred, raised, trained and shown horses my entire life. I can't imagine eating my horse or any other pets. I believe that the horse was created originally as a "working" animal since the beginning of time. They've been used in service for centuries and historically they've been used primarily for that. Riding, pulling farm equipment, trailers, ridden to fight wars, logging, racing, therapy, carrying mail, etc.. Horses are extremely intelligent and no one can make me think any different about that. When you can train a horse to do just about anything you ask of them or any task, well that's pretty damn smart. It saddens me that any human would eat a horse, they are such beautiful animals and can be so loving and affectionate as well. What is next, cannabalism? Would you eat your best friend? Not me, nor would I eat any pork, fish, seafood, veal, cow, or fowl. Humans teeth are not canine in shape and because of this they aren't really designed to be carnivorous. They are shaped to eat and digest plants. So eating meat I believe was never an intention in our origins. People choose to eat meat but its not really what we were designed for. Eating plants and vegetables is what our teeth are really shaped for. And besides that, it's a much healthier way to live. So all you carnivorous people out there, why don't you try eating one of your children, parents, or a friend? Wouldn't that be humane. Leave the horses alone and for what they were intended for, working, service or for just beauty. History tells the truth, maybe some of you should read more.
Well being a horse owner and seeing our government taking more and more control over or lives I see how this can effect everything that happens and doesn't happen. What I can say is if the government invested as time and effort in our wildlife such as the equine as they do bailing out the banks which are still going bottom up. The horse may die away as have thousands of other creature have on earth since man has intervened. Is there an easy solution. human require meat and the market is overwhelmed with regulations to the point where beef ranch are no large raising beef. This goes for any other type of produce. The government has set regulation so high it is impossible to get fair market value for the product. The question I ask is what is right and wrong. Is it wrong to load a thousand animal into the belly of a ship the is only suppose to hold 100 yes it is. We wouldn't do this with criminals in fact we give more rights to someone who rapes and murders then an animal. I can go on. But if we look at ourselves and take a step back and stop and think animals are as much a part of this world as we are.
I keep reading about the toxic drugs/chemicals in horsemeat - The truth is, aside from a very few tranquilizers or complex painkillers (which are NOT commonly used for routine horse care), nearly every type of dewormer, fly/pest control, painkiller/anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drug/chemical used on horses IS also used on cows, pigs, or chickens.
Withdrawal periods (days or weeks you must wait from the last does before the animal's meat or milk is considered "safe" for slaughter/consumption) for drugs and chemicals have been established for the "meat species"..... and if you buy these products labelled for these "meat species", the withdrawal periods will be on the label or product insert of the drug/chemical.
The reason there is not an established withdrawal period for horses, and the reason the label says "not intended to be used on horses used for slaughter" is NOT because these drugs/chemicals will stay in the horse's body for eternity.... but because it costs money to do the study to establish the withdrawal period, and thus far there has not been enough demand for anyone to fund these studies.
I know this to be true. I have used the same chemicals (Ivermectin, sulfas, pyrethrins, vaccines, banamine, etc.) on mutliple specieis and they are perfectly acceptable to use on "meat species" intended for slaughter, as long as the withdrawal period is observed.
Phenylbutazone ("Bute") is NOT 'forever" in the horse's system if used only once– it simply does not have an established withdrawal period, because establishing one for this type of drug is very expensive. Although there is a zero tolerance for any residues found in meat or milk, the USDA has not outlawed the use of Phenylbutazone in any cattle except dairy females 20 months or older.
Here is a link to drug withdrawal periods in "meat species"–
http://www.farad.org
Here is a link to information about using NsAIDs in cattle (including bute)–
http://www.farad.org/WDIlookup/Publications/Digests/032008ExtralabelNonsteroidal_anti-inflammatory.pdf
I am a lifelong horse owner and horse lover (and yes, I am female.) I was also raised on a small farm and have eaten cattle, pigs, chicken, rabbits, and ducks which we bred, raised, and killed and processed either at home or at a small local packing company.
ALL of the animals I have raised and eaten can be pets. ALL can be affectionate. ALL deserve humane treatment.
If the care, transport, and ending the life of horses can be regulated and performed humanely, then I have no problem with horse meat being eaten. I would eat it.
The care, transport, and ending the life of ALL animals used for meat needs to reviewed and improved.
If an animal lives a "good life" and has a "good death", then whatever its remains are used for after its death are inconsequential in the larger scheme of things.
Mustangs are feral just like the dog thats been rummaging through your trashcan. Nothing special about them.
I own and love horses. I personally feel that emotion plays a huge role in this case. Stop thinking with you're heats and start with your brain. Those mustangs are quickly running out of land to graze on and are putting farmers in debt. Ranches depend on those plains to feed their cattle, the mustangs are putting a dent in grazing lands. They need to be managed better. The BML adopts out quite a few of the mustangs but what about the rest? Once captured they are never returned back to the wild. They sit in corals and eat up our tax dollars.
I have no problem sending off mustangs for slaughter. They have never been touched by chemical wormers etc. The meat is safe. I'm so tired of bleeding hearts saying "save the poor witttle ponez!!!!". What if it were wild herds of cattle
we are talking about? I'm sure NO ONE would have a problem sending off those wild cows for slaughter. Why? Because people dont associate cattle as companion animals. Horses are still considered livestock just like cows, goats, sheep etc...
Its life people... In order to salvage the environment that mustangs are destroying we need to take serious action.
This is not about grazing lands for cattle. This is about oil contracts in Southern Oregon, Northern California,Northern Nevada, upper range of Colorado. Again....oil pipeline.....NOT grazing lands. Not enough horses to do the kind of damage people are claiming. I am a rancher and I live in the land of Natural gas enterprises like Chesapeake. This is about OIL for humans.
Given the fact that the "LAW" states that the wild mustangs are to be protected "AT ALL COSTS" "to roam free and have no hinderance from the american people" (para phrasing on the end of that);
making "OUR" mustangs a part of the food chain for human consumption would be a ""STRONG TESTAMENT" THAT ALL PEOPLE IN THE GOVERNMENT ARE CORRUPT AND THINK THAT THEY CAN REWRIGHT THE LAWS ON THE BOOKS AT THEIR WILL"
This law was put into effect for a reason.
Opening up the abaility of horse meat for human consumption IS NOT the solution to the compleatly
enept job of "handling the troubles that the BLMs MIS-" management of the wild horses and burros have caused from it's infancy."
People have always been the problem when it comes to the fate of our planet. "We" (humans) do NOT listen to mother nature, past cultures, the American Indians way of thinking" IF you kill an animal for human consumption it is "supposed to be out of respect and to thanks the Gods for recieving that to sustain us"
People do not think they way we had long ago.
IT IS TIME WE LEARN FROM HISTORY AND UNDERSTAND THAT MAKING ONE PROBLEM TO CORRECT ANOTHER ONLY COMPILES A PROBLEM IINTO ANOTHER MUCH LARGER PROBLEM!
Personally,I saw ABIDE by the rule that is "LAW"and let no man be allowed to break it nor change it.
There are people that can not consume horse meat as it is, as they have a serious alergic reaction to it and get very illl or die when they have. (This meanig not indivudals but certain races of people.)
The queston should be what can we do to fix that that we has ha totally ruined.
(and on this questionare the question "should be" would you being an american eat horse meat or not. NOT, would americans ever do so.)
Horses are pets like dogs. Are you wanna start eat dogs when there are no horses left? No!!! Leave the horses alone. And the people that voted yes most likey have never rode or have had a horse. I believe horses have a souls.
I am surprised at the immaturity many show up here. Somebody even proudly named himself "Horse Eater" in response to one's a beautifully sincere comment...
Since some good comments have been posted on here already (regarding why horse meat should not be added to the Americans' menu and such) I'll just post up something here for you pro-horse slaughter guys to enjoy: http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/foia.htm
And I hope you had fun having a taste of your own bloody medicine.
I agree with all of the above comments that stand against horse consumption. Every time I feed my dog I wonder how much horse meat is used. On the label it states 'meat by products.' We could be feeding our dogs anything, after all they have imported 'pet food' from China that poisoned pets – not that the morals of capitalists are any better . What more can I say? The inhumane treatment we inflict on animals is barbaric, cruel, and unnecessary..
What happens when all the wild horses are extinct? Then people steal horses to make a buck. We already have a big enough problem with horse thiefs, we really don't need to provide an incentive for the crime I will protect mine with whatever means I have too. Horses that have been wormed are not to be used for human consumption it causes cancer to humans. Its a bad idea all the way around. And as far as feeding the poor??? Bring back americas farms and provide them with jobs to be self sufficient.
Are you kidding me, eat horse..... Never, NO WAY. I would find some weed to get first before I would consider eating a hors. I'd eat bark off a tree, befoe I ate a Horse.... That would be like eating my best friend.....
WTF...!!!!! I cnt believe why people do this it's so sad cruel and wrong!!!
Did anyone ever think the fact there are too many horses, is too many being bred? Indisciminate breeding of horses, because someone thinks they want a foal and not gelding stallions, becuase its a testosterone thing. Not to mention the fact the federal government provides subsidies to the race horse industry breeding programs....how many of those horses end up winners? not many, What happens to them then?
Seems to me it's the true answer is responsible breeding. But horses are not meat.
These beautiful and regal animals are meant to roam free and wild as God meant them to...we have plenty of other animals that are used for eating (and I don't like that, either!), but this roundup, cruelty, abuse of these beautiful and loving animals MUST STOP NOW! They are fantastic pets, they have feelings and are so full of love, if you have ever spent time with a horse anywhere...I cannot believe there are not more important and pressing issues in the world that something this inhumane and unnecessary...maybe someone's got way too much time on their hands. I would not eat horse if I were starving! These gentle souls were not meant for that!
There are so many reasons why we don't need to eat horses. And why would we want to?
Horses are much more difficult to slaughter than pigs or cows. They cost significantly more to raise than cows or pigs.
People bring up horse slaughter as a way to get rid of the extra horses that we have in this country (and we have lots of them), but none of those horses could be commercially sold as meat because we don't know what's in their bodies.
It's a stupid, unnecessary idea.
The human race does not need (much) meat to survive. If consumed, it should only be an appetizer size portion, preferably homegrown with no chemicals, antibiotics nor hormones. Fast food triple decker anything is gluttonous. How many fields did those consumers plow before or after such an indulgence? Do they ever crave a salad? Human obesity is epidemic and rampant near any fast food establishment. The corporate food industry has made it difficult for anyone to afford healthy food and the medical industry must be getting a kick-back. Under current USDA regulations we remain unable to ensure the quality of the beef industry with E-coli reports becoming the norm, How on earth could anyone ensure the quality of horse meat at this stage? Why should we eat anything that may makes us ill? Eating "out" has already become a game of Russian Roulette, from cilantro to eggs. Entire civilizations have survived on rice and tea alone, although iodized salt certainly helps early development. It's time carnivores left the wild horse be and protected them in order to preserve historical bloodlines that helped forge nearly every civilization. Once gone, that heritage will be lost forever. Instead, meat eaters should re-think and clean up their own plates with healthier alternatives. Although underground horse meat reached as high as $20/lb in FL, is it really that delectable? With the abundance of other meats available at market, who really needs horse meat? There is always fish with petroleum, mercury and PCB byproducts. While companies like Monsanto triy to pawn off seedless seeds and harmful chemicals to control our food supply, consumers should be more concerned with whether rice will survive. How long will this generation continue to turn a blind eye and beat a dead horse? Eating horse serves little more than economic gain for suppliers and additional risk for consumers. The horse has selflessly enriched civilization beyond wonder, in war, agriculture, sport, exceeding any other animal accomplishment in all of history.
I don't think ALL Americans will be for it, nor against it. But if slaughter is legalized again, a bunch of problems that were eliminated, or just lowered the percentage, will be back. The horse theft percentage will rise again and very likely leave some little girl crying over the lost of her beloved pet, though she may never know where it actually ended up. Many more perfectly healthy and able horses would die instead of going to a good home. And the mustangs and burros might just go virtually extinct. I say fix the so-called mustang problem by putting them back out on the range. As far as I know they cost nothing to the taxpayer out their. Yes the herds need a little managing, especially since their natural predators are being killed off as well, but the BLM is over managing the horses and burros to extinction, and slaughter is not an option to deal with them.
oh yeah, also if mustangs are used as a food sorce, we're adding all the birth control chemicals that they are testing in the herds. Not to mention all the stuff domestic horses may have recieved(viatmins, supplements, etc.)
Indeed Ashley! Indeed!
What is wrong with people, surely there is enough food here without having to eat our mustangs. I think when we resort to that the end will come.
STOP THE ROUNDUP,BAN HORSE SLAUGHTER AND TRANSPORT OF HORSES FOR SLAUGHTER!!
BLOODY VAMPIRES, LEAVE MY HORSES ALONE.
GO VEGAN-–Save animals, live healthier!!!!!!! for me it is about how they are treated in the way they are processed, I just do not see why they have to be miss treated, any animal period. be it spider or elephant, to me they all have feelings.
lol FAGAN
none meat eater here.if i was a meat eater i would never consider eating a horse,thats so wrong!!!
... do you think you guys at CNN could have made the effort to publish a photo of our true American Mustangs instead of a bunch of Icelandic ponies ??? I agree with the poster above ... come on CNN ... you can do better.
... Hey CNN I DO want to thank you for the article and for bringing attention to the American Mustangs! It's just that as an equestrian, would like to have seen the proper photo :-). Bit like running an article on Golden Retrievers and posting a picture of Cocker Spaniels.
Kim...lol. Good catch! Icelandic ponies indeed. Come on CNN! Post photos of our own Wild American Mustangs that since 1971 were SUPPOSED to be protected!!!
As a professional equestrian sports journalist for 25+ years, I have little faith in a poll, or in the information provided, by a news agency so ignorant to its subject that it resorted to a stock photo to run with this article. Your image is not of American mustangs. It's of Icelandic ponies, no doubt taken when the volcano erupted. I recognize the breed type, and the geography, b/c the magazine where I serve as contributing editor, Holistic Horse, ran images provided by a Norwegian eq photographer, that were of this same region.
This is akin to polling people about President Obama while running a photo of Michael Jackson, but hey, they all look alike, right?
Thumbs down on the quality of your journalistic effort, it only diminishes your message, whatever side of the issue you fall on.
Are you all freaking kidding me!!!!! horses are NOT FOOD. im happy to buy everyone a ticket to malaysia so you can all eat monkey brains! may all of you who eat horse be eaten when you die. and killed in a most inhumane way as well
Wild Horses,
Couldn't drag me away...
Therefore I would not eat one.
As a wild horse and burro lover as well as a lover of all equine, seeing the healing nature of horses and burros, their social behavior towards each other in the wild and their intuitiveness in their response to humans, I couldn't understand how anyone could eat horse or burro meat. Yet there is another aspect that people need to open their hearts to , one that is ethical and spiritual in nature. When God established His laws of what were clean and unclean animals to eat, He established that only those that were cloven hoofed and chewed the cud were considered clean. There was a definite reason why God had to teach what was clean and unclean. It wasn't as though God was flipping a coin to determine what was fit to eat and what wasn't, rather there were definite physiological reasons why certain animals were not to be eaten. Why? Even though the animals served a purpose in the balance of all life, still as far as human consumption was concerned ony certain ones were good and others bad for us. Horses and burros are neither cloven hoofed, nor do they chew the cud, therefore according to God, horses and burros were not to be eaten. Even the concept of eating meat, period, is something God is allowing for a time, yet in the beginning right after creation, everything was a vegetarian ( no predator and no prey). There is to be a restoration of all things, according to God, a restoration to the prefallen state, before man fell into sin. This is yet to come to pass, and is prophecied by the prophets Isaiah ( Ish. 11) and the porphet Hosea ( Hos. 2) where again there will be no predator, no prey, everything will be vegetarian, or perhaps further than this, vegan, and the whole earth will have a knowledge of the Lord. This is the true heart of God. I urge everyone to search the scriptures and see if these things aren't so. The bottom line, as far as this issue is concerned, horses and burros, in God's eyes were not to be eaten, not because of some Godly whim, but because there were physiological reasons why they were not good for the human body to consume.
Thank you CNN for taking a stand for the Wild Horses! You have done a great job but please don't let up. Please do story's for all the animals! They need a voice they cannot protect their self!!
Wild mustangs are an American treasure! I cannot believe anyone would even consider eating them as food. They are part of the American landscape and history and as such should be treated with respect and dignity. There is no possible way anyone should kill and eat a wild mustang.
Will I just do not now. They are many things I think the people would not do and yes they do it!
But if you are asking if it is OK to slaughter the wild horses that have been rounded up so they would not be in the hold places I say NO. Stop rounding them up. DO people know that we the people are paying for this and all the round ups with out real reason for rounding them up? We now have moor in on hold then out in the wild? IF they were let be and over seen in the in the wild we would have more money to spend in other places. There have been people that could and would manage them better and less money. Wait up for for it is to late. If it is not already? I could go on and on but is short what is been done to then IS WRONG and this is just another way to take them off they home land still!
Eat horse meat. NO WAY. OVER MY DEAD BODY. Sadly the purported "Summit of the horse" was a "Summit of pro slaughter advocates. Thankfully people are starting to realize that the toxins left in a horse's system never dissipate, and lead to very serious health issues affecting human bone marrow, including cancer. This, to me, is like asking a person if they would be open to serving up their pet dog or cat for lunch. It is cruel, ridiculous, and extremely dangerous. Horses are beautiful, loving, intelligent animals that perform, obey and care for kind humans. Their payback should not be a cruel, screaming ending. Like I said, not that I have an opinion, but OVER MY DEAD BODY.
When will people learn that God made all of us, even horses, animals who helped our country become what it is today. They helped us through bloody wars, community service, and are there for you when no one else is. I think God gave us horses to be our friends, to show us how to love, because horses who have caring owners love them. Sending them to slaughter houses doesn't sound like a very good way to repay them, and a horrible way to thank God for the gift of the horse he gave to us! Horses love their family, whether it be an owner, or a heard of wild mustangs, endangered by so much already, though they are innocent. I feel like a parent to my horses. I know not everyone will learn to love a horse, but for those who know what it means to love an animal like a person, ask yourself this question: Would you send your own child to the slaughter house? My answer is no forever. This may be a strange analogy, but I love all my pets as if they were my children.
P.S. To round up mustangs may seem nice to all you cattle farmers who use there public lands for privately owned cattle, but it's the mustangs' home. I feel privileged to love those mustangs I've never met. By the way, did you know that those stupid round ups cost thousands of taxpayer dollars? When the time comes that I will have to pay taxes, I won't do it to kill a history of horses. If American's really are so near sighted to think that horses are born for slaughter, then the day horse slaughter is made legal in America (which it won't be!), I'm boycotting it. Support The Cloud Foundation, Save America's Mustangs, ASPCA, etc...
Oops, typo. I meant unselfishness to children.
Studies have been done to show that horse meat can actually cause cancer and birth defects
I consider myself to be very fortunate to have grown up and be exposed to horses at an early age. There is and will always will be something very majestical and special about them. And to those of you who bash the ones that are saying that horses have served humans and that is why we should not eat them I believe they mean in more ways than one. For example giving the handicapped mobility again, helping troubled teens to believe in themselves again and give them hope to believe that anything is possible even training a wild mustang, teaching people patience to slow down(training and getting a horse to trust you does not happen overnight), teaching kindness to both adults and children, a companion in times of trouble, teaching responsibility to selfishness to children and most importantly is the love and trust that forms between a human and an animal and is sometimes so hard to find in another human being. Horses have not just served us as a means of transportation, they have done so much more. It's a give and take relationship. We feed them and care for them and they return the favor in more ways than one.
I can not comprehend how it is possible for so many people to ignore completely the very clear admonishments of the spiritual masters the y claim to follow. "Thou Shalt Not Kill" has been taught and emphasized repeatedly in closely related wording in every generation of man. Yet, people adopt an artificial superiority and dismiss, ignore, spit on these Maters for warnig us away from the terrible deed of killing. There is no room for doubt. I have researched many religions, and the link between many generation where one intitiates the many, then selects one member to carry forth, and this goes on, and on, and moves from one geographical area to another, but is never broken. All are vegetarians and no one can obtain humanity until one follows this most crucial of all commandments. It is only after killing has ended that thine eye can become single, and the person can fill with light, or dye while living, cross over and return at will, meditate on the inner sound, light, living life stream, living water, sound current, om, aum, tao, hu, name, word that was in the beginning, Amen, whatever we have heard it referred to, it sustains all in Creation, and we are to honor all in Creation, never harm sentient beings, never disrespect this life that is here for the same purposes as we: to live with the Nature created for us all and to thrive in love in order to spiritually grow. Do not break this for us. Our karma is darkening and we will reap every little thought and deed we sow, if not in this lifetime, in future lifetimes, in many dimensions or in this one. This is law..
Just two words on this subject – HELL NO.
Anyone who thinks its ok to slaughter and eat wild horses are absolutelly Un-American.these animals were created to enjoy watching them roaming free and raising their families as God so intended them to.You wouldn't think of eating your pet Rover or Sadie your cat would you,well leave the wild horses alone and let them live their lives as God created them for and that was NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.There are enough animals that are raised just for human consumption,Leave the WILD HORSES ALONE!!!!
Mary Mathews thank you very much for your coherent comments. I agree completely. In addition I feel that there are not too many beings we do not either, torture, eat, wear or simply kill for sport. Why add yet another species to slaughter when we cannot even keep up with 10 BILLION animals that we currently slaughter-our system is a travesty in every way. Unfathomable cruelty, pollution of water, land and air, it tears communities apart, most of the jobs go to illegal immigrants because no one else will do the job in these industrial slaughter houses, the huge amounts of land that is used and goes arid, and the unbelievable amount of water it takes to raise livestock. And yet with all of those 10 Billion slaughtered animals hunger is still on the rise and we throw away 40% of our food-something is very wrong. But yet we want to add another animal to slaughter to try and remedy an issue which is our making in the first place-overpopulation of domestic/industry horses due to over breeding. The industry is of course into the idea because it keeps the demand price high and they can make even more money off of the the last drop of blood-literally. It is 2010 and more people are understanding the deep nature and self awareness of most all animals, it is not sitting well with anyone with any kind moral compass. That is why more and more people are choosing vege/vegan. No we will not wake up in this lifetime or probably 10 lifetimes to a vegan nation but people are most certainly tired of the clear unnecessary abuse, rampant over breeding of all animals (in the large agri business as well) and the slaughter of animals. Most people are just sick of it. Our moral compass is shifting and it is pointing away from such gluttonous violent and wasteful ways of living. The baby boomers moniker will be "More is Not Enough".
I have never heard of people using horse meat for human consumtion. It bothers me and irritates me that people have the thought of slaughtering them and using them for meat when they should be left alone to run in pasteres. I am definitly against this !
I am a vegetarian 95% vegan and would NEVER EVER eat horse of cow as I am an animal advocate.I find some of the comments listed on this forum highly offensive and it is obvious that there are a lot of jerks out there who have zero compassion for animals.What goes around comes around!Gee I wonder what the taste of these vile humans might be like.May be I might break off being vegetarian to chomp at the flesh of some of these vile human cretins for a change!!!
If it hadn't been for Senator Harry Reid and a Republican in the senate a few ago stuck in a bill allowing the killing of more horses to send to countries for meat is disgraceful. It is time to put a stop to this slaughter and the roundups. I believe they are doing this because of the cattle ranchers because they eat up the cows food. That is what they said about the Prairie dog too. It is time to save these horses not put them on some one's dinner table.
Is somebody saying we don't have enough variety of food in this country ?!!!! How absurd if so.
Chasing down America's beautiful wild horses by helicopters is a horrible crime being facilitated by a portion of governments.
I can only say this is cruel, unnecessary and ethically wrong.
I can't believe some of the asinine " replies" to the question of eating horse meat. I'm not a complete vegetarian but I eat less meat then I used to because of the unsanitary, overcrowded conditions in which they are raised and slaughtered.
I would never eat horse meat as having owned and ridden them they are too much like family pets.
We need to leave the mustangs and all horses alone they are what helped build this country. They have feelings and love their babies. We have other things to eat and are not suppost to eat anything without a split hoof.
thats why the world is the way it is, people just leave animals alone. There is other things to eat than animals, I hope this horse meat trade is not back in the US> i PERSONALLY STOPPED EATING MEAT LAST YEAR FOR SOOOOO MANY REASONS, i REALIZE ANIMALS FEEL PAIN, SADNESS, ANXIETY AND MANY OTHER THINGS THAT WE HUMANS FEEL. sO EATING THEM JUST MADE ME FEEL AWFUL. I feel better and happier that I dont consume meat! "THE GREATNESS OF ITS NATION IS ITS MORAL PROGRESS AND ThE WAY ITS ANIMALS ARE TREATED"
We have become so separated from our natural world that I fear the majority of people will follow blindly without thinking of the horse as the special spirit that it is. I also unfortunately feel almost the same about cattle but because of my upbringing continue to consume it on occasion. The horse however is far more of a thinker and much more affected by his surroundings. They also form even more of a bond within the herd and with humans.
WHAT WAS THE REAL PURPOSE OF THE SUMMIT OF THE HORSES?
It would seem the biggest concern was the low amount of money that the breeders are selling horses for these days. Complaints were made over and over how breeders are now unable to get a fair price for a horse. The solution seemed to be mutual and agreed upon and a horse processing plant here in the United States was the popular idea. Jokes were made about eating horses “just add a little extra butter to it” said Tom Collins -Clark County, Nevada Commissioner.
No one seemed to talk about the real issues in this meeting that one would face if a horse slaughter plant was opened tomorrow.
1. Are we planning to breed horses here in the United States for food? If not, the people in other countries are quickly becoming passionate about the fact that they DO NOT WANT OUR HORSE MEAT. They only want horses bred for human consumption. If they don't want to eat our horses anymore, should we process it and sell it here to our people? I think NOT! I certainly would not want to eat a sick, old cow. Do you? So why would you want to eat a sick old horse? Cows are slaughtered before the age of 2 and there are many reasons for this. This was not discussed at all.
2. We have closed the last of the horse slaughter plants in the United States for MANY reasons. Those reasons were not discussed at all at the meeting. They are just in one big hurry to open a plant here in the US now that the EU is saying NO WAY! I personally know several people that live in Belgium that only recently became aware of horse meat from America being in their country. There were banns there and people were throwing horse meat on the floors of markets in protest after finding out that horse meat had tested positive with drugs not meant for human consumption.
3.If you are against horse slaughter, then there is no way to justify it PERIOD. Giving in and saying it would be better for the horses if we open a plant here in the US is taking a BIG step back IMHO. Temple Grandin admits that when she is in the cattle slaughter houses that she turns her back and the abuses go on. She said the United States are worse than the ones in Canada(for cattle) We can not begin to stop the abuse in these plants for chickens, cows and other animals but we believe it won't go on with the horses. Why would we believe that it would be different for a horse that has a natural head shyness? In my mind there is a difference in an animal bred for food and an animal that has been taught and shown a human connection and bond. AGAIN WE DO NOT RAISE HORSES FOR FOOD SO THIS IS WRONG PERIOD.
Ponder the idea of what America would do if horses were not ate anywhere in the world. This is what we should do NOW. Slaughter should not be an option to the overbreeding problems that we are now in. If breeders want the prices of horses to go up then they should breed and raise less of them, not find a convenient want to get rid of the excess we have now quickly.
Why did they hold this meeting? Simple… there are too many horses being bought at auctions for low prices. Some that these same breeders may have bred 4-5 years ago. And although there is nothing wrong with the horse, they would prefer it be slaughtered and the consumer be forced to buy a new expensive one from them. Their overbreeding for many years has now destroyed their business and with the economy being the shape that it is in, people are always looking for a bargain. It is all about money and business and it has nothing to do with the care of horses.
Wait, if it's about eating Mustangs, why is the picture of Icelandics??
I hope & pray (God forgive me) that everyone of you sick people who would even consider or have consumed horse meat DROP DEAD! I PRAY, I PRAY & I'LL KEEP PRAYING! Sooner or later & I hope sooner, you all will finally feel the result of eating a domesticated animal! Whether they are wild or not, they were never meant to be for human consumption!
Wow, psycho much? You wish people DEAD and "Pray" for them to drop dead... over an online poll... awesome.
Horses are being captured right now all over the west.The icon of the American west is just going to be a page in history. I said a long time ago once they start running out of room to hide them, someones pockets are going to be lined with the blood of these horses. I find it hard now to believe anything the government says about protecting them ,when someone can get rich off of selling them for meat. This is not about the sweet meat of horses. Its all about money and greed. End of story.
#1 God says to NOT eat horsemeat!!!
#2 All horses have been treated with chemicals that have residual effects -
the race horse loaded on the back of the track, on to the slaughter house and on a plate w/in 7 days – the stolen horse taken to slaughter with no medical history, the wild mustangs that have been treated with sterility drugs – PZP- that has caused numerous health issues in the mustangs years after one injection. Ever since the US allowed foreign owned Belgium slaughterhouses that came into the communities violating safety, environmental issues, polluting the communities sewer systems, never paying numerous fines and penalties – then not even pay their state taxes – leaving the community to pay for the cleanup. Horse slaughter had been illegal for at least 40 years by a humane law that just never was enforced. Though Belgium owned, US tax-payers paid for the inspection of this meat that would be exported. It was advertized to these other countries as 'free range mustangs – knowingly lying sending out tainted meat to unsuspecting consumers. But we advocates have been educating them on how they were duped and they are now incorporating passport system and time for withdrawals on some of the chemicals. I wouldn't recommend it after all – INCREASE OF ILLEGAL ALIEN WORK FORCE ON WELFARE SYSTEM, MORE VIOLENT CRIMES, COMMUNITY POLLUTION THAT RUNS LEGIT INDUSTRIES OUT – BUT THE BIGGIE OF ALL – GOD HAS TOLD US NOT TO EAT HORSE MEAT – WE DON'T NEED ANY MORE REASONS IT 'S WRONG. PERIOD.
God told you not to eat horses? Your reasoning is obtuse.
Seek help.
This is an offensive poll and you conducted it last year and the answer was overwhelmingly by a majority, hell no.
Really? Cause CNN keeps track of their polls and I think the result was somewhere around 42.23%. Did you even read the article?
and FYI.....this poll is only at 30.92% for no as of this post.
People who own horses matter....we do not want our American horses or Mustangs sent to slaughter period. We do not need polls to say so. Exposure of the horrible slaugherhouses, the killer-buyer auctions, overbreeding by AQHA and the racing Industry will help draw attention to the issue. Shame on you.
Another point horses are very keen and aware of being in danger. the whole going to auction to be thrown in a slaughter transport truck. to smell and crys they experience of blood and pain before it is their turn. no animal should be slaughtered that way! again see it then ask if you have no problem eating horse! grrrrr stupid people throwing opions without educating yourself on the industry and cruel journey they go through!
Watch how horse is slaughtered in Mx. then ask yourself if you if you think any animal should die that way for the cost of a meal. stabbed violently over and over until spinal cord cuts and then hung up while still alive by their legs to slit the horse throat. no animal should die such horrific way!
For some reason Whodini is coming to mind right now....."the freaks come out at night....the freaks come out at night!".
Horses should not be eaten. They have been assisting humans in transportation, labor, war, discovery for thousands of years. For that alone they deserve respect, protection, and freedom.
Seriously? Where do y'all get this information that mustangs are going to be meals? At the recent Summit of the Horse, despite some people in the crowd and among the panel thinking it may happen (mostly those in NV), Bob Abbey said strong and clear (again) that healthy mustangs will not be euthanized, and that the BLM is committed to having wild horses on the range for future generations to enjoy. They are also revisiting HMAs that were once zeroed out due to lack of forage to see if they may be able to support some of the horses.
The moment Mr Abbey spoke those words, those who'd been ready to send NV's excess horses to slaughter shut up and not another word was heard from them. Instead, the focus shifted to domestic horses, with Sue Wallis saying that wild horses made up less than 3% of the nations horse population and that the overpopulation of domestics should be the focus of discussion.
Unfortunately, Bob Abbey has double crossed us too many times for me to take any comfort in his words.
No way, jose. In fact, lets improve the living/slaughtering conditions for other animals as well. We should shift away from factory farming to smaller, family run farms.
Boy, I think everyone forgot what the original question was in this poll..."Do you think Americans will ever accept horse meat as part of their diet?" My answer is no I don't think they will as a regular staple of their diets, and lean toward the "some might" option, but not me.
I have read enough posts to see why Muslims want to kill us. Based on what I've read, the predictions in the Bible are coming to fruition as displayed by the rampant selfish, self-indulgent know-it-alls with no conscious. I see very little concern for anything except strife for earthly pleasure and ego satisfaction at the expense of morality. Ignorance in not bliss, it's the road paved to hell and sickness- as evidenced by comments rendered. I wonder what God would think of some of these comments- his laws are laid out pretty clearly if you just get up off your *** and read. The book of Daniel specifically states that man is healthier by not eating meat at all – if you do just a minor bit of research and read the China Report, you can learn the truth- now there's a concept that works!!! LOL LOL But I guess it's just easier to please the lazy gut and stuff yourself into disease and justify why u r right, well read, and know more than God– allowing yourself to care less – condoning blood sucking torture- as long as u get to enjoy the ramifications for your eating pleasure-that is unitl the day comes when you have to answer for your actions. I can just hear the groveling now..." But God, I didn't have time to read your word, yeah, I knew animals were alive but didn't understand they had your breath of life in them, geez, I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to torture, kill, maim, and eat those things that belonged to you- no I didn't know I was being tested and was the higher domain which came with responsibility! No, no one told me but I was sure I knew it all... it's not my fault I didn't read, listen or learn...."
Seriously. You are nuts!
I concur!
It is clear from these posts, much anger and nausea rise with the thought of consuming horse flesh.
Many jabs are thrown and jokes made by angry would be horse eating, posters.
Ignorance is not humorous, any where... at any time and here shows, truth scares those in favor of horse slaughter, to the point of assaults.
We are on one side, the side of freedom, peace and wellness in the name of compassion and balance for our wild horses and respectful, kind treatment of our domestic horses.
Thank you CNN for raising awareness to stomp out the grossly cruel torture that is horse slaughter.
Did you hear that Truth? You scare all those in favor of horse slaughter, to the point of assaults.
Shame on you Truth...shame on you...
Ty, ty, I try...(We all try, you succeed)...From Casablanca
It's nice having a roof over your head and a warm bed to sleep in. Not worrying about being hunted or having your land taken away. Not afraid of losing your family. Not worried about walking into a slaughterhouse to end up in a grocery store.
To all those that are in favor of eating horses or any animals and especially those making jokes - I am sorry that you have no soul and are just consuming all that you can devour.
I didn't bother reading any further than the 1st post.. because it just makes me sick to my stomach to read most of the comments. Those of you trying to figure out why some people see horse meat different than elk, deer, cow, whatever... read the Bible and you may just find out. Horses were NOT put on this earth for us to eat.. but for us to enjoy and help us in many different ways.. but not to fill our stomachs. If some of you would get out alittle more and enjoy life and everything it has to offer and just go for a horseback ride.. or just feel the presence of the horse.. if you dont have a change of heart.. all I have to say is you dont have one. Some things are just NOT right. And using horses for slaughter is just WRONG. Like I said.. Pick up the Bible and you may learn a few things. There are animals put here that are for us to eat.. such as cows.. elk.. whatever.. ( note: a split hoof) Eat that.. we def. are getting a shortage of any of those!! Thanks :) No need to reply to me.. those who disagree with me.. because I won't be back to look at this post! :) God bless.. and I pray that more people can see a horse.. yes.. the wild mustangs.. more than just a 4-legged creature.
Why are all the fun days, when I am away from my desk for most of the day?!?!?!
Can't we all just get along???
Apparently not.
Vegans are self-righteous zealots who want to save the critters, all the while slaughtering the unborn. A step above animals are all of them, if you ask me.
And let's stop all of this hysteria over the whales too while we're at it.
We concur-Stooooooopid Vegans!
Whatever your opinion of Vegans, people need to realize that the vast majority of us involved in anti-horse slaughter are not Vegans or even vegetarians. We are not even about "animal rights." We are advocates for horses – period. We eat meat, have nothing against animal agriculture – as long as it's humane of course just like anyone else. We are against slaughtering horses for human consumption for the same reasons many have already stated: Horses are companion animals in the us (FDA classification of horses: Companion animals) They are not raised for food, and therefore come into contact with many substances that ban them from the human food chain for life. Horses are significantly different from cattle that methods of transportation, slaughter equipment and techniques used for cattle are extremely inhumane for horses. It is nothing short of criminal to send this tainted meat overseas for unwary consumers are told it's a "health food." The plants themselves have been environmental disasters everywhere they have been, and, being foreign owned don't even pay taxes to the US. Horse theft takes a giant leap when the price of horse meat is on the rise. Believe me, I know this from personal experience. The horse slaughter trade is a cruel, predatory business, existing for profit – not a disposal system so big breeders can over breed to their heart's content, and get paid for all their "culls."
I don't know how many of you here have had any experience with horses, but I have owned and trained them for over 30 years. They are extremely intelligent, gentle, forgiving Creatures that have served man in peace and war since time immemorial. Personally, I think they deserve better than a horrible death when they are no longer "useful" to a human to whom they gave all they had to give.
i'm gonna start a "SAVE TRIGGER" campaign.. who's with me???
I think it's rather ANNOYING when people use CAPS to make THEIR POINT sound MORE IMPORTANT AND SIGNIFICANT than it REALLY IS! It makes posts HARD TO READ and makes it HARD TO TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY!
1. Tazer,Please don't yell,I have a headache!
2.I'm with ya Wendy!
Why do you ALL want to eat my Mustang? Not getting enough Metals in your diet?
The meeting in Vegas sounds like doom and gloom for Wild Horses. Where are AMERICANS who know as good as gold
that our government has on its law books the mandate to care for our ICONIC WILD HORSES. AND have IGNORED
this law. I am told that I am naive about laws concerning our government. Well, maybe government is the problem!!!
MY HOPE IS: that THIS CONFERENCE WILL SPOTLIGHT THE NEED FOR THE SENATE TO PASS THE BILL THAT WOULD NOT ALLOW THE PROCESSING OF OUR WILD HORSES never to be brought up again!
i dont agree with eating horses. i think they're meant to be ridden, not eaten. but that's just me. i couldnt do it. if you wanna eat a horse, feel free. i eat venison, and its yummy. that said, i def dont agree with them rounding them up with airplanes. if ya wanna round up some horses do it the old fashioned way. get on a horse yourself. any other way is just plain lazy. this is one hot potato of a topic and hopefully the self righteous leaf eaters will stop calling the meat eaters cannibals.
playing "spot the Philadelphia Eagles fan" ... got pain? http://on.fb.me/fzzmEM
A horse is a companion animal as is a dog or cat. They are loyal and trust worthy, more than most people. Would you eat your best friend? They are beautiful and very intelligent creatures.
Have you ever seen the movie "Alive"?
I would totally eat my best friend.
Gee, I didn't think they murdered them before they ate them. Thought they froze to death first. Some people are just cold hearted and that is the category you fit in.
I am human and therefore have warm blood. Fact check yourself before you wreck yourself!
"They are beautiful and very intelligent creatures."
Beautiful and intelligent on some rye bread with mayonnaise!
I have arranged a lovely little antipasti tray with some salami di cavallo. You should swing by!
Does the horse have a cork to smell to know whether or not it is good to eat? Can I get an aroma of thoroughbred? A faint hint of mare? A bouquet of hay and urine?
Where do I find this equine cork?
Does anyone what part of the horse is the cork? Should one smell the cork to ascertain the quality of said horse or is that considered archaic and out of date?
My liege, one should think that if one were erudite, one could quickly figure that out. I'm not prevaricating.
You talk about mustangs and then show a photo of what looks like Icelandic ponies in Iceland– neither should ever be slaughtered.
Everyone should watch this news report from KLAS in Las Vegas before voting– http://www.8newsnow.com/category/28259/8-news-now-video?clipId=5439795&autostart=true
"Poor Animals! How jealously they gaurd thier pathetic bodies, that which to us is merely an evening's meal, but to them is life itself.' – T. Casey Brennan
What ashame, too many people have so little compassion for the living. A change of common sense, compassion and dignity of perspective would do so many so much good.
There have been ample times in our History that horse meat has been a staple part of the American diet. During WWI and WWII had it not been for horse meat, many thousands of people and troops would have died.
The benefit of horse meat is widely accepted in other countries as a low fat high protein source of food. Americans in many cases are turning livestock into pets making it seem socially unacceptable to eat them. However, you can't keep your horse in your house or a neighborhood (ie they are farm animals) and a horse with usability can become a very spendy animal to keep long term. Throwing away a good food source or pushing for euthanasia is not only environmentally offensive but shows what a wasteful society we are that we are throwing away a good source of food while communities in our country and others starve for lack of food.
If Americans won't eat it, at least the meat can be shipped to where it will be. (ie the rest of the world)
A wasteful society? 1 pound of meat takes 20 times more resources to make as a pound of grain does. The water it takes to make a pound of meat is the equivalent of 6 months of showers. If we took all the grains we feed to animals raised for food and fed them to starving people instead, it would be a much more efficient use.
Please include citations in your next post.
Livestock's Long Shadow (a UN report) – read the section on water depletion and pollution.
That sounds more like a porn movie to me.....
That sounds more like conceding defeat to me...
I concede nothing.
All I got out of that was that other countries need to use their water more efficiently....
And I quote "In the United States for example, although locally importatn in some states, livestock drinking and service water use was less than 1 percent of total freshwater use in 2000(Hutson et al., 2004)"
Marrying a 2 year old girl and consummating the marriage is accepted in some countries, too. That doesn't make it right.
And that doesn't make it wrong either...just different.
Wow witty one you call yourself, you have absolutely no sense of right and wrong, you think you are funny and call yourself just that.
The greatest wisdom in life is to know the difference between right and wrong and you are an example of someone that has no moral compass whatsoever.
If consumating a marriage with a 2 year old girl is not wrong in your eyes then what is?The world is just a peachy place where all that matters in your brain is you and the defenseless deserve no protection?
Im sorry that you had to go through so much in life that this is what became of you. Im not being sarcastic, I'm truly sorry for you.
When the slaughter house was open in Texas you couldn't buy medicines for your horses that might taint their meat...because the hope was you would kill the animal. Plus stealing was rampant. Steal a horse out of a pasture and sell it for Belgian dinner tables before the owner can find it.
I have nothing but contempt for everyone involved in this process. Dan Rather came to the slaughter house in Texas and did a news report on jobs Americans don't want. I lost all respect for him too...the bozo. It's natural that there are people who see a dollar to be made killing horses.....the French, Belgians and a couple of other European countries probably c0-sponsored this event to get access at our animals again. Believe me...let them open these deans of thievery and torture again and Texas and I'll do more than write angry letters.
And what more then writing angry letters will you do? Post silly messages on food blogs? Cry yourself to sleep every night?
Let them open one and I will buy you a horse just so I can steal it and sell it to the dens of theivery and torture.
Side note – Chuck Norris put the laughter in slaughter.
send it all to china tell them is a new developed rat they will eat it.. thats what they do to us.
A friend of mine sent me a report from China that they are poisoning themselves through things they do to their meat animals....ie horses.
And my best friend sent me an e-mail with a picture of Asian women with boob scarves around their necks.
There, now both of us have made comments that have nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Lyn, you ask us to "do some research" then spout your opinions at us as if they were fact. By your logic, should lions and wolves be prosecuted for murder? I mean, if they are intelligent and feel emotions, then they MUST know that killing animals is wrong, no? They must just be evil and should be brought to justice. Thats the road you are heading down. Anyway, for every horse you don't eat, I'm going to eat 2.
I am simply appalled at the majority of these comments. All you people who think eating animals is your "right" need to visit a slaughterhouse. Animals were created to live with us in harmony. The human digestive system is that of a vegetarian. Do some research. Eating any animal is cannibalism in my opinion. All animals have intelligence and feel the same emotions that humans do – pain, fear, sadness and joy. I cry when I think of horses being killed for meat.
I think I'll have a big, fat, juicy cheeseburger for lunch... & hold the lettuce. Oh wait, I'll save that for you!
"The human digestive system is that of a vegetarian. Do some research."
Where is your research? Why do humans have canines? For ripping and tearing meat, of course! We also have molars for grinding up veggies. So maybe we were meant to be omnivores? Shocking idea, I know......
Compare our teeth and skulls to that of a lion and a gorilla. We look more like the gorilla, an herbivore. We don't have long, pointy, sharp teeth like a cat does. So that argument is dismissed. Our saliva, stomach acid, and intestines are also similar to an herbivores. Think about it, if we were meant to eat meat why would it make us sick so often? Eating meat can lead to heart disease, cancer, strokes, and many other health problems.
Given that pretty much every vegan I've met is also a liberal, it makes me wonder why the far left hates choice, when it comes to letting others choose their diet. Choice in killing a baby=Good, choice in having a hmaburger for lunch = Bad. Typical of the far left party of hate.
Thank you for your response.
Just because you have lost all of your front teeth doesn't mean the rest of us have to conform to your way of living. I have canine's in my head and they are sharp and pointy....
Your argument is dismissed cause I SAID SO!!!!nee ner nee ner :P (I like the way you argue...it's so easy!)
Here is my research:
Enjoy!
As a general rule, i dismiss any argument from anyone who uses the phrase "you people"...
That said, most of us who consume a balanced diet are happy to live and let live. As far as I am concerned, you can live on meat, veggies, or freakin sawdust for all I care. Knock yourself out.
The vegans however, act like they are on a never-ending recruitment drive. *You people* are as bad as Amway distributors or religious zealots in my experience.
It's very sad that vegetarians don't "hate" meat eaters, we just want to educate them. However, one constantly gets "hate" messages towards those who have made vegetarianism their choice.
Not meaning to offend "you people"!
Keep your "education" to yourself, and we'll manage to coexist just fine, thanks.
Lyn, if you do not take advantage of this offer, you are a murderer, a killer, you are poisoning yourself and your family, and you are a generally horrible person:
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Must be willing to work from home without supervision.
Lyn shouldn't be unsupervised.....
@Observer@Lyn – Nice spam attempt. Hopefully the mods will remove this quickly. (Well as quickly as they can being sick and all.)
Not a spam attempt, I was trying to point out just how patently annoying both vegans and MLM folk can be...
@Observer Yeesh. How annoying. =)
Thanks for the advice! Actually I do work from my home, however it's not multi-level marketing ... I believe that kind of went out with the 80's. I work for a high tech gaming company.
I hate when people anthropomorphize animals and use it as an excuse to decry meat eaters. The fact is that, while animals do have basic emotions – feeling content, fear, hunger – they* don't feel emotions in the same way as humans. They don't have complex emotions, they aren't able to understand or analyze them, and they don't have the ability to act independently of their instincts. Which means that while they can feel fear, there aren't rabbits sitting around in a field somewhere worried that something might have happened to Thumper, worried that they might be next. They can recognize danger when it presents itself, but they can't anticipate or plan for it, and they aren't capable of understanding the consequences.
These are significant, fundamental differences between animals and humans. Which means that arguing that animals shouldn't be eaten because they feel just like humans do is not really valid. In most animals the "feelings" and "emotions" are simply their instincts in action.
*When I say "they" I am classifying animals in general. However, I do recognize that research has shown some species, such as dolphins, as having a more advanced cognitive ability to recognize emotions and act in response to them.
ahhh does that mean Watership Down wasn't a true story after all ??? I am so disappointed )-:
Hello Lyn, how are you? Here is a STFU salad for ya'.
I think many people would make a choice to becoome vegetarians if mustang meat were the only alternative to meat. It would push them over the edge. Slaughterhouses need to clean up their inhumane acts (that includes fowl), i.e., cows (downers, especially), fish, sharks, etc. It is disgraceful the way animals are treated. I'll take the salad.
Have any of you who have posted to this feed ever been to a slaughter house? Have you ever seen, heard or smell the terror? I doubt it, but I have. I am a proud owner of three horses and one donkey. Slaughtering horses is not the answer to mustang overpopulation nor to hunger issues, especially in America. There is no reason anyone in this country should go hungry. And as for folks like MIke, why don't we just finish off the bison, the elk, the caribou, the wolf, and the most invasive of all species – man. I'm sure he'd agree that none of them are important to our history. Go for it Mike!
So you want to eat some man meat, do ya?
I would never eat horse meat because they are a big enough part of my life that it would be almost like canabilisim for me. Same with dogs and cats. Just wont happen. However, there are two things that whoudl be discussed at this meeting, because since they banned horse slaughter the bottom has dropped out of the market. I'm not pro horse slaughter by any means, but when it is humanely done, like they do in most of the U.S. sluaghter houses, it is a lot kinder to the horse than some of the situations horses find them selves in now days because people are willing to starve a horse or turn it loose rather than find a home for it or euthanize it because there is such a huge over population of horses and its hard in some parts to even sell a good quality, well broke horse. Mustangs should have a chance to be adopted before they are automatically sentenced to the slaughter house, but sometimes slaughter is in deed the best answer.
A woman here in Texas had her pet horse stolen out of the pasture and humanely slaughtered by the thief at the now defunct Kaufman slaughter house. It won't be just mustangs being killed.
I wouldn't have any problem eating it if I had no other options. Eating any type of meat is a choice.
Would all you cry baby, bleeding heart, save the horses idiots get off it? Wild horses are just horses...they aren't the great symbol ot the American west all you east and west coast whiners think they are....they are just one more life form on the landscape, and, are, in fact, an invasive species, feral animals which are often diseased, stunted, impacted with worms,, with hoof and dental problems, and other issues. Some can be turned into decent riding and working horses, but many can't.
Of course they should be considered as a source of food. Horse meat has long been eaten in other countries, and there is no reason, moral or otherwise, that they shouldn't be here.
I've owned and been around horses for close to 50 years, have had great ones and poor ones, and have some understanding of them.......they are great animals but, in their own way, so are deer, elk, salmon, and all the other animals we eat. All you "romance of the west" sidewalk cowboys (and lots of cowgirls too....) who have no more experience with horses than what you've seen on TV or read in a book need to get real......(or just stay in the city where you belong......).
You seem a grasp for the obvious...except that slaughter houses dictate what medicines an animal can or can not get. I was told by a vet that the medicines I needed to keep an old horse alive could not be sold to me because the slaughter house needed the meat pure. Plus the dumping of frozen horse carcasses in Houston, Texas horrified a lot of people. Not to mention the news reports of people coming home to find the horses in their pasture missing.
It was the TB and QH industries that got these butchers shut down. I need to contact them to see how they are gearing up for a return to the good ole days of sick horses and thieves.
AS a horseman you must live where there are no slaughter house problems. I too am a horseman and have no problem euthanizing a sick or injured animal....but the problem won't be killing off the mustangs....it will be the thieves going into pastures and stealing a foal for the slaughterhouse....it will be dead before the owner realizes it. And the medicines to keep horses sound will be denied to you because no one wants to sell tainted meat to the slaughter house. I had to buy human medicines and double the dose to help an older horse of mine. And I'll do it again too.
Are you a tranny? A horseMAN with a name like Beverly? Beat up in school much?
I apologize to anyone named beverly johnson that may have been offended by my use of their name in my previous post.
I've been around a lot of wild horses and have yet to see one "diseased or stunted". what have you been doing "around horses for 50 years"–working as a kill buyer?
Sure. Why not add shelter dogs and cats to the list of things we'll eat, as well?
I know that it's not for everyone, but I can't see any distinction between killing a horse, a cow or a dog – and because I'd never eat a dog, I'll never eat a horse or a cow, either. Vegetarianism was the right choice for me.
i know the post is about eating horse meat but the problem that most people not in the horse world take into thought is the damage that this has brought to horses. i have owned horses my whole life so i understand the reprecutions of not having legal horse slaughter. people that are not in the horse business and just see them as pets are ignorant of the fact of how many horses are starving and suffering because owners cannot take care of them. with the economy people can barely take care of themselves. with not having humane slaughter houses open in the U.S. we're really just hurting the horse. this is a must to relieve the pain of many suffering horses in this country. think about the horse before yourself when voting for this needed action!!!
I can't wait to eat horses! Take this passage from the book of Mark:
"Moo moo, tweet tweet, all meat is good to eat!"
And as Mark is the ultimate know-all on meat, I would say that the argument is over!
You are absolutely my favorite. :)
That is my new goal in life...to stay your favorite:)
Seriously, Witty One: "Moo moo, tweet tweet, all meat is good to eat"... Yeah... is this SUPPOSE TO BE compelling?
These are my responses to you:
"A veteran USDA meat inspector from Texas describes what he has seen: "Cattle dragged and choked... knocking 'em four, five, ten times. Every now and then when they're stunned they come back to life, and they're up there agonizing. They're supposed to be re-stunned but sometimes they aren't and they'll go through the skinning process alive. I've worked in four large [slaughterhouses] and a bunch of small ones. They're all the same. If people were to see this, they'd probably feel really bad about it. But in a packing house everybody gets so used to it that it doesn't mean anything." ~Slaughterhouse 1997
"We manage to swallow flesh only because we do not think of the cruel and sinful thing that we do. Cruelty... is a fundamental sin, and admits of no arguments or nice distinctions. If only we do not allow our heart to grow callous, it protests against cruelty, is always clearly heard; and yet we go on perpetrating cruelties easily, merrily, all of us – in fact, anyone who does not join in is dubbed a crank." ~Rabindranath Tagore
"As soon as I realized that I didn't need meat to survive or to be in good health, I began to see how forlorn it all is. If only we had a different mentality about the drama of the cowboy and the range and all the rest of it. It's a very romantic notion, an entrenched part of American culture, but I've seen, for example, pigs waiting to be slaughtered, and their hysteria and panic was something I shall never forget." ~Cloris Leachman
"Thou shalt not kill" does not apply to murder of one's own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai." ~Leo Tolstoy
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." ~Albert Einstein
"Would you kill your pet dog or cat to eat it? How about an animal you're not emotionally attached to? Is the thought of slaughtering a cow or chicken or pig with your own hands too much to handle? Instead, would hiring a hit-man to do the job give you enough distance from the emotional discomfort? What animal did you put a contract out on for your supper last night? Did you at least make sure that none went to waste and to take a moment to be grateful for its sacrifice?" ~Anonymous
"Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men." ~Leonardo da Vinci
Ha Ha Angry and Jack you just made my day!!!!
In the '60's there was a tavern in Buffalo well known for it "beef on weck" and folks flocked there for that. And it was a delicious piled high "beef" sandwich. No one knew they were eating hosremeat until the place was busted.
Funny CNN should carry this now, the Globe and Mail just did a piece on this yesterday. An interesting excerpt regarding chemical residue testing by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (Canada exports 20,000 MTonnes/year):
"According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, when it comes to “chemical residues,” horsemeat performs as well or better than beef, chicken and pork. In random tests conducted in 2005 and 2006 – the most recent data – 99.95 per cent of horse samples showed “no detectable residues,” compared with 99.02 per cent for beef and 99.71 per cent for pork. In its eight years of testing for phenylbutazone in horsemeat, the agency hasn’t had a single positive result. And since July 31, to comply with European Union regulations, the CFIA requires horses be certified as drug-free for six months prior to slaughter."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/why-you-should-eat-horsemeat-its-delicious/article1857411/
Personally I might just have to give it a go the next time I'm in la belle provence.
I do not eat animals that have been inhumanely raised and slaughtered. That means I eat very little meat and what I eat I choose carefully. Horses, because of their extreme flight/fear response, are almost impossible to slaughter humanely. In my state we have small, mobile slaughter services that will come to your farm and humanely kill your animals pre slaughter, and in some cases butcher them on farm also.
If horses were on the menu in America it is guaranteed that many people would be eating meat containing toxic substances commonly given to most domestic horses. Even if the label said, "100% humane wild caught horsie" would you be dumb enough to believe it?
I could go on but this is about would you eat it, not the moral and ethical battle of unwanted horses and the BLM removal of feral/wild horses.
Here's the issue: When the majority of people think "BEEF" they think of a steak or hamburger, or packaged meat. Maybe even a roast beef sandwich. They don't think of a brown, white, black, thinking & feeling 4 legged warm blooded animial. When the majority of people think "CHICKEN" they think hot wings, breaded chicken breast, or chicken soup. When the majority of people think "FISH" they think of fishsticks, sushi, or a salmon fillet perhaps.
These are the "first things that come to mind" when the word is said.
On the other hand, when the majority of people think "HORSE" the first thing that comes to mind is something wtih a saddle that you raise from a pony, jumping events, the old west.
When the majority of people think "DOG" they think the furry friend who they raised from a puppy running around their house.
Many people here are posting what sorts of animals are food, and what sorts are not. Sure, there are nutritional differences here and there. If that is your bar that must be passed for categorization, you should all eat macrobiotic. In the end, what the majority of people classify as food vs not food in the animal kingdom is a COMPLETELY ARBITRARY contrivance of their personal psychology. It is all just word association.
And for those of more religious inclination who are against eating horses, you are free to do as you wish, but in terms of judging OTHERS who wish to eat horses, I offer you this excerpt from Romans, chapter 14:
"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. "
Good points, all.
I always found that bit of Scripture to be a little odd – equating vegetarianism with being "weak in faith." There is actually a very strong case for faith-based vegetarianism in both Christianity and Judaism (if you Google around, you can find some literature/published books regarding this). I'm Jewish, and since I went vegetarian, keeping kosher a la Leviticus has been very easy – don't even really need to think about it anymore!
Interesting, Suz. I'm Jewish as well. I'd imagine Kosher is much easier being veggie. I guess the only quandary then is, what do you do about legumes & derivatives on Passover? From what I've seen, Ashkenazi will not eat legumes whereas Sephardic Jews will.
Also I find it interesting in general that most kashrut did not make it into the new testament.
However, to address your point about Biblical reasons for veggie vs omni, this is not isolated to food really... the books are so huge and contain writings by so many people, there are contradictions everywhere!
this horses are America's Icons....and they deserve to roam free....like they always have....there is room for all of us including them....or God would not of created such a beautiful animal....horses are not meant for horsemeat or for human consumpotion.....stop this nonsense....save our horses...please
EMOTIONAL OUTBURST! OPINION STATED AS FACT! CONDEMNATION OF THOSE WHO DO NOT AGREE WITH ME! RANDOM RELIGIOUS REFERENCE!
ASININE INSULT! LINK TO LOOSLEY CORRELATED SCIENTIFIC STUDY! NEGATIVE INSINUATION OF YOUR MOTHER'S GIRTH!
Well i'm not sure about eating horses for human consumption but there needs to some sort of outlet for all these older and unwanted horses. I think that it is ridiculous that we can not slaughter horses in the US for some sort of consumption or use. I hate going to these larger horse auctions and going to the back part of the barn seeing these older/injured animals that should have been put down before even making a trip to the auction but then to know that they are going to be sold not for slaughter which would end their suffering but they will be kept alive to prolong their suffering till either they just die or if they get lucky someone will humanely end their life. I believe the reason there are so many of these type of horses showing up at these auctions is probably because the person can not afford the vet fee's to humanely put this animal down and then have the cost of disposing the carcass after the fact. So thus if the slaughtering of horses were made legal that would take care of some of these instances.
The problem with horse overpopulation (if there is indeed one) is the fact that people in this country DO NOT TAKE responsibility for their acts. If they cannot afford a horse, they shouldn't have one. If horse breeders cannot handle SO MANY horses, THEY SHOULD NOT BE BREEDING THAT MANY HORSES. THERE SHOULD BE A LAW AGAINST OVER BREEDING. Horse breeders discard all the horses that are NOT 100% PERFECT as if they were trash. WHY SHOULD HORSES PAY FOR PEOPLE'S LACK OF EMPATHY, RESPONSIBILITY & INCOMPETENCE?
HORSE OWNERS WHO CAN NO LONGER TAKE CARE OF THEIR HORSES SHOULD HAVE THEM HUMANELY EUTHANIZED.
DON'T GIVE ME THIS CRAP THAT "WHAT TO DO WITH SO MANY UNWANTED HORSES" - TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTS & STOP THROWING THE BLAME ON SOMEONE ELSE.
Your face.
I really hope us humans do not stoop as low as to eat a horse..read your Bible !!!!!!! God Bless us cause we sure do need it the way the world is acting ....
It is illegal in the US... enough said. Bottom line, NO
Many large horse ranches produce 200 or more foals each year...way more than modern society have room for.
Quarterhorse breeders ALONE breed 250,000 horses every year!
Why don't the large horse breeders stop their silly over production of hundreds of excess foals each per year!?
All those horse breeding ranches are just like the PUPPYMILLS of the horse world!
How does that answer the question of eating these mustangs. Your on another completely different topic.
Many of the wild horses receive PZP a birth control vaccine, it is unknown if the vaccine will harm humans. Would you like to have your families woman and children test and see if it causes miscarrage or no ability to have children?
The Europian food rules state that no wild horse meat is accepted for humans to eat. Also the same drugs used on the wild horses (by the blm) are BANNED from any food animals in all non-ignorant countries.
Can you understand that drugs like Bute..cause cancer in humans? Can you understand that the commen wormers (used by the BLM on wild horses) like ivermection kill even dogs outright. That is why horsemeat is not used even for dogs. They tried that years ago..several kennels of racing grayhounds were killed. Some dog breeds are hypersensative to commen horse wormers like ivermection.
Besides wild horses are NOT a food animal..they deserve to be free just like Bald Eagles...you wouldn't eat bald eagles would you?
Horses are companion animals to most people. We do not send our old dogs to china to be skinned for coats do we?
And besides, horses recieve medications that are proven to cause cancer and disease in humans. Horses full of cancer causing drugs are currently sent to canada and mexico...for many years American horse-traders (kill-jobbers) have been sending cancer and diseases to ignorant foreigners.
Sue Wallis and her minions of horse-eaters can go choke on their tainted meat from killing childrens ponies!!
For those who want to justify eating horses because people eat cows, pigs, etc etc: IS NOTHING SACRED? Should people start eating cats, dogs, snakes, and everything else that moves? HOW ABOUT EATING PEOPLE since there is an overpopulation in the world?
THE IDEA IS TO ELIMINATE ANIMALS FROM THE EATING LIST - NOT ADDING TO THE BUTCHER'S LIST - No one needs meat in order to live unless you live in caves. But since the world is not prepared to drop meat from their plates, how about using a LITTLE COMPASSION AND START DROPPING MEAT FROM YOUR PLATE NOT ADDING TO IT?
See my notes in parentheses.....
For those who want to justify eating horses because people eat cows, pigs, etc etc: IS NOTHING SACRED?(nope) Should people start eating cats, dogs, snakes, and everything else that moves?(yes) HOW ABOUT EATING PEOPLE since there is an overpopulation in the world? (you first?)
THE IDEA IS TO ELIMINATE ANIMALS FROM THE EATING LIST(your idea?) – NOT ADDING TO THE BUTCHER'S LIST – No one needs meat in order to live unless you live in caves.(what about people that are allergic to nuts and other protein rich substances? they need meat to survive...and I bet most of them do not live in caves) (Side note – I wouldn't mind living in a cave) But since the world is not prepared to drop meat from their plates(true statement), how about using a LITTLE COMPASSION AND START DROPPING MEAT FROM YOUR PLATE NOT ADDING TO IT?(If I drop the meat from my plate it will probably hit the ground and then will be wasted after 3 seconds(5 seconds in some regions)).
Have a great day!
Some friends of mine found this link which is in vietnamese and they talk about Chinese people eating human flesh with pictures to prove it. Warning, this is graphical.
http://netdichvu.com/?q=node/23
Surely this can't be right???? Or can it? If this is correct, have you sent this to CNN to look at? Good grief what a way to start my day. Disgusting!
I'm not even going to click on the link. Think I'll wait and see what kind of fall out there is.
Horse meat? Why? We're not short on meat. How about using more buffalo meat instead? If we have to come to eating horse meat, then eventually it'll come to human meat someday too. Actually they're already practicing human meat in certain parts of china. I've seen pictures of chinese tying young girls up, cutting their throat, collecting their blood, cutting every organs up and feeding to prisoners and stuff. They also eat babies too. There's a link out there if you want to find out more. They usually block Americans out of it though that's why most people don't know about it.
ALL OF YOU VEGANS / VEGETARIANS!
ANSWER ME THIS:
Was your VEGETABLE at the beginning, end or PEAK of IT'S life-cycle?! THAT'S RIGHT!
YOU MURDERED YOUR VEGETABLE, because it WAS NOT DONE living. THINK ABOUT IT!!!!
Get over it, for #$%^&*'s-sake... The life-cycle of your vegetable (fruit/nut/etc.) was intended for SEED, not FEED!
The birds/animals/whatever REAP the BENEFIT by CONSUMING! So you have issues, so what? It's just that: YOU HAVE ISSUES! Stop pressing them on the rest of us and stop spreading a preventable and un-necessary disease in the form of MIS-INFORMATION!!!!!
David W. Day
'Have you served your country in the ARMED FORCES?! I thought not. I'm the FIFTH CONTINUOUS generation to serve.'
Civil War {discharge hanging on my WALL} (Union, mind-you), The Great War, the Duece, Korea, `Nam, Gulf;
We've been there, done that, and got the t-shirt
Talk $hit when you've done $hit, and even then don't say $hit (or at least try not to in my case)...
You wouldn't understand, obviously.. Thank you, and Have A Nice Day..
David W and other like you: you represent all that is wrong in todays society. You show an exceptionally vapid and thoughtless thinking process. I'll bet the only thinking you ever do is centered around your loins, your stomach and your backside. Unfortunately people will have to put up with you for years yet since you exist and will loudly and stupidly proclaim your right to be master of the universe. So sad and pathetic. Not a real man at all but a weakling who mewls and throws a tantrum when someone disagrees with you. Poor little boy! Such a shame you don't have the capacity to learn something new and something better. People like you will always be evolutionary dinosaurs. Of all the creatures on this planet, man is the only one that has managed to put evolution into reverse!
TRULY! It is because of scums like you that this world has become impossible to live in. The language you use to express yourself only emphasizes what is so wrong with the human family. Unlike non-human animals, and the vegetable world which eliminates each and everyone of its bad and weak kind, humans keep them at any cost and the result is a world full of worthless trash that do no good for self or anyone else.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND MANY THAT POST ON THESE FORUMS ARE SIMPLY TRASH THAT IS ADDING NOTHING GOOD TO THE HUMAN KIND, BUT ONLY DESTRUCTION & UPSET.
A vegetable can't suffer. It has no central nervous system. Animals, on the other hand, have feelings, can suffer, and feel pain. I think we both know there's a difference.
Wanna come over and grill steaks tonight?
Vegans are barbaric. You think nothing of the taking of an actual life to feed your selfish lust for vegetables. How dare you deprive a vegetable of life. It is offspring! It is the product of otehr vegetables! It is alive! You people disgust me.
My grandfather says that he ate a lot of horsemeat when he was in the army, 40's – 50's. He said it was real good. Of course it is illegal in California and possibly other states. Can't be illegal everywhere in the U.S. if the military was serving it 60 years ago, I doubt all 50 states would have passed laws against it.
I'd give it a try, why not.
The serious public health threat of horse meat is evident, to all but Wallis and Duquette who is nothing but a meatpacker. Horses are not raised for human food consumption and the presence of toxic drugs makes horse meat even dangerous enough to be banned from dog food. The ignorance and greed of Wallis add only more bad taste to the national disdain that is looming over her proposed plan, which will affect the health and welfare of her state with a public health risk. Bute, Clenbuterol, PBZ (horse aspirin, widely used for Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds) Stereoids and Banamine… are not a cocktail to be fed to unsuspecting humans. Also the risk of a potential Trichinosis outbreak is unsconscionable. People do not eat horses in America, period.
If Wallis’ bloody lust for horse flesh would indeed be initiated by a concern for the “welfare” of horses…, one can wonder why the country so vehemently opposes such ideas. There are alternative solutions, horses need no slaughter plant, only a second chance.
Hay banks, special programs within rescues, cost-reduced humane euthanasia (administered by a licensed vet) or programs such as the Arizona Dept of Agriculture’s Equine Rescue Registry -
http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2010/10/26/state-agriculture-department-launches-registry-to-help-abandoned-horses/
are available. Wallis is nothing but a self-appointed, grotesque entrepreneur, who is using people’s naivete and economic pressures for personal gain. http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/medications.php
It is the strong position of VEW members that absent any formal regulation or structure by the United States with regard to medications and food safety withdrawal schedules for equines entering the food chain, horsemeat derived from any U.S. horse can never be regarded as safe for human consumption.
Furthermore, VEW member veterinarians strongly object to the AVMA and AAEP position in favor of horse slaughter for human consumption. For the AVMA and AAEP to condone the human consumption of meat derived from equines that have not been raised or medicated in a manner consistent with food safety regulations is, in our opinion, unethical, disingenuous, and dangerous.
So Wyoming is on America’s map for national outrage, tourist boycotts, contamination and sanitary hazards, ignominy and shame, brainwashing a new diet of horse carcass/meat/product which is unfit for human food, misbranded or adulterated (laced w. ingredients not approved for food safety standards) and Wallis’ view on wholesomeness a total insult to our intelligence and health, so join the rest of us with sane minds and say no, hell no !!
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2010/06/09/opinion/staff_editorials/ourview291.txt
Right on, Monika. Solutions are out there if people who truly care about the welfare of the horse or any animal are willing to seek them out and implement them. Personally, I'm for VOLUNTARY contributions from those who profit from "everything horse". A "stamp of approval" that would not only help the horses, but also be great PR for the contributors!
The highly questionable endeavor of Sue Wallis to reinstate the selling of tainted, drug administered flesh of horses is nothing short from a scandal. The public health hazard it poses is grossly ignored by Wallis and I cannot see how Dr. Grandin will associate herself with this. An obscure “humane” aspect of slaughter may be one thing that is widely argued amongst people, thus Wallis resorts to using that very argument to benefit her agenda. Many believe there is no humane feature to slaughter (as is evidently known and has been documented). Dr. Grandin’s work on behalf of thousands of cattle is an entirely different subject; the proposed slaughter vision of Wallis does not deserve Dr. Grandin’s attention as the whole idea is based on half truths and misinformation. Americans do not endorse the slaughter of their pets and the obvious health hazard of bute and other traces of drugs administered to horses and the prohibition of horse flesh to the processing into petfood make it clear that the suggestion of slaughtering horses is an absurd pretense instigated by other incentives than humanity or an overflow of neglect. There is no hard data to support Wallis’ claims – but there is plenty of evidence that neglect and abandonment have significantly DECREASED since slaughterhouses closed.
Dr. Grandin knows of other alternatives to help horses, of which there are many. These ideas are assisting horse owners and their horses, offering solutions other than lining the pocketbook of a state legislator who lacks responsibility, ethics and integrity in public office.
Some of the solutions presented to Dr. Grandin are :
http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2010/10/26/state-agriculture-department-launches-registry-to-help-abandoned-horses/
Now that could also be implemented in other states.
“Trail’s End” is another program created by Front Range Equine Horse Rescue in Colorado, which offers plenty of results.
Then there is Colorado Horsecare Foodbank. They have helped folks in California, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Illinois.
It is one more solution that will go nationwide – if pursued with serious devotion. And it is much more appealing and conscientious than the illicit promoting of horse slaughter such as Wallis does, when she in fact has nothing but monetary exploitation in mind. The growing/selling of flowers for CO. HorseCare Foodbank has helped many horse owners struggling due to the economy here in my equine state to keep their horses. It allows horse lovers to participate in a meaningful solution that creates assistance and support, brings people together and mostly: prevents the very fate that these horses never should have to face in this country. We do not eat our pets, and to most horse people, their horses are their pets. This organization now holds yearly fundraiser banquets, sells flowers to hundreds of people in Denver each year, who enjoy buying them from us instead of the Home Depot or Walmart…. and it creates positive CHANGE for the horses, not the industry mogul promoters aka Sue Wallis.
The energy Wallis spends on selling her fairy tales of kindness and “aid” are nothing but a callous intent to deceive horse folks. While Dr. Grandin’s achievements are obvious, I can only hope she is not contemplating the swindling efforts of Sue Wallis, a con in disguise.
There is no guarantee on regulations or safety to consumers. The irresponsible overbreeding must stop. Registration fees can be increased to help prevent this. A horse slaughter plant in WY. will not help the economic welfare of the state, it may lose tourism which is documented as income, such loss could mean additional taxes for WY residents. The fact is that Wallis’ conceited slaughter dreams must be exposed as a fraudulent attempt for self-gain and a grotesque ignorance of the risks and obvious health threats to the public. We horse advocates protest the constant fabricated myths of Wallis and the proposal of any tainted meat to anyone is not an option. Tapping into whichever potential source, such as BLM mustangs, rescues or unsuspecting private horse folks is the work of a fanatic, whose outrageous claims and abuse of her position as state legislator must be replaced with effective measures – implementing true and moral solutions to the horse world in America – in which the perilous slaughter of horses has no place.
I wonder what other ideas Bob Abbey would promote to restore / protect America's mustangs – maybe return the approx. 20 million acres, on which the wild horses and burros roamed at the time of passage of the 1971 Act, for which loss of range BLM has yet to provide adequate justification ? Or protect the natural resources on the range by reducing the livestock grazing permittees ? Or end scapegoating the mustangs and burros for hamburger and gasoline ? Or reintroduce natural predators to fulfill their age old ecological role ? Or establish equal water rights instead of letting ranchers and developers monopolize them ? Since Western ranges seem to sustain the millions of cattle who graze on it just fine, reducing the subsidized cattle leases would only make sense to maintain the thriving natural ecological balance for mustangs, as it was meant to be by the 1971 Act. Ecotourism focused on wild horses in their original federally protected habitat would not only boost the economy, but also not require the enormous subsidies as is currently the case in the public land's livestock industry. Or is it to finally apply real science to conduct true and realistic range land health assessements instead of speculative conclusions such as Wallis resorts to ? Or is it to end the inhumane round ups (plenty of evidence footage available) and the broken range management system that favors ranchers and other commercial interests ? These mustangs are the people's horses and they must remain wild and free. Stop auctioning off our public lands to foreign owned companies for cattle and fossil fuel drilling – spend our tax dollars on an "in-the-wild" management program, not removals. Assess our public lands independently and stop the propaganda.
Slaughter of horses is not the answer. The mentality of DISCARDING must stop. It’s a well known fact that even in the good ol’USA inspections were seriously lacking to ensure any aspect of “humanity” which indeed does not exist, but is a big word for propaganda purposes. No slaughter was ever “humane”, whether here or abroad. This country is out of control with breeding. Not just horses, but dogs/cats who pay the ultimate price for an ignorant society at best. Regulate this excess breeding, increase registration fees and rethink the throw-away approach. The excuses of pro-slaughter folks do NOT reflect a responsible desire to find a morally feasible solution, but embellish their agenda with misleading fairy tales of humane euthanasia, which slaughter is not. The public health threat of adulterated meat is another significant component that is dismissed and reflects the very ill-minded principle of pro-slaughter action.
To see how a modern country like the US resorts to such backwards dealings and trends of animal cruelty, which it clearly is, like it or not – is worrisome and shameful. Furthermore the finger pointing blame-game of labeling anyone opposing this very propaganda as an animal rights terrorist just demonstrates the lack of intelligence and the profit-driven tunnel-vision on the factual substance of the matter. Educate we must. End the lies we must. Little beginnings lead to greater results. Solutions against horse slaughter were presented to Dr. Grandin before the summit.
Yet in those there is no profit – which is the main incentive driving the pro-slaughter minds: greed and exploitation, a way to continue the irresponsible dumping grounds of looking the other way, an American trademark.
Humans have always eat other humans. Put them back on the menu and they won't be so quick to eat or mistreat "any animal".
All emotion, trumping logic. sigh
Horsemeat is 50 per cent leaner than beef, high in protein and 10 times richer in Omega-3. Gram for gram it is richer in iron than spinach, high in B12, rich in zinc, and very low in saturated fat. It is frequently prescribed by doctors in France and Italy for anaemic patients. Horses are far pickier eaters than cows, and those bred for the table are generally eating an additive-free diet, making their meat far safer for the consumer.
In France, horse is the only red meat which has increased in popularity recently, and the government has relaxed the regulations which meant it had to be sold in specialist butchers. Now it can be sold in supermarkets, and sales have soared.
I am not talking about old nags destined for the knackers' yard, animals who have outlived their usefulness at the local riding stables, retired racing fillies or even unwanted pets. I am talking about horses that are raised specifically for human consumption. Breeding and raising horses for human consumption is a industry that should be considered and would provide money and jobs for many communities.
If you or I want to eat horsemeat, then it's our choice....and safe USDA inspected horsemeat should be made available in our local supermarkets!
If anyone believes that horse slaughter is humane, necessary or a viable food option, please watch this first: http://www.defendhorsescanada.org/ChambersofCarnage.html .
What this article fails to mention AGAIN is that:
#1- Mustangs are NOT an "invasive species" but they are an animal that was native to these United States that has been reintroduced.
#2- The roundups are not about eating horses for human consumption, but they are a political tool to clear the way for privately-owned cattle to graze on public lands. There are fewer horses on the range than in 1971 when they were protected, but more cattle are on federal lands.
#3- Even when slaughterhouses existed in the United States, horsemeat was not eaten by Americans. As a public, we see horses as a companion animal as we see dogs and cats and they are raised for sport, therapy and recreation.
#4- Horses are treated with several medications that are dangerous and fatal to humans. As horses are not raised for human consumption, they are not tested for such medications before being slaughtered. These medications, therefore, can be ingested by those who consume horsemeat.
#5- Horses are stolen for the purpose of being sold to slaughter. The horses that are slaughtered are not wild mustangs, but family pets.
#6- The slaughterhouses that killed horses were constantly breaking environmental laws and dumped waste into public lands and rivers. This is one of the main reasons they were closed! They have no respect for the law or life- either horse or human!
#7- Any overpopulation of the horse will not be solved by slaughterhouses- in fact, continuing to allow individuals a way to make a profit by breeding horses in an otherwise non-existent market will only exasterbate the problem of overpopulation!
#8- The roundups cost close to a million dollars EACH. That's a million dollars of your taxpaying dollars- and to house the horses that they "needed" to take off the range continues to costs you even more. Allowing them to remain on the range (but not allowing privately owned cattle to graze on the same land) costs NOTHING. Small foals were run so hard that their hooves literally fell off. There is no way to counter the cost with selling the meat, and the moral costs are even higher.
#9- Eatocracy- your continued lack of investigation into what is really behind this and your attempt at "creating" controversy is a joke and is disrespectful to everyone involved. Get your facts right before you throw something on-line. Even the BLM said today that slaughter is not an option for the wild horses. Stop trying to create the news and report something intelligently instead.
There really AREN'T that many mustangs on the range left. Many are in holding pens and thanks to the three strikes rule many are shipped to slaughter anyway.
No, eating horses is not safe, the amount of drugs (many which say not to be used on horses for human consumption) is greatly disturbing. Many of these so-called mustangs could be former domestic strays or abandoned horses pumped full of drugs. And what about the few critically endangered still wild Spanish Mistangs? Do they deserve a second wipe-out?
Careless breeders cause a larger horse overpopulation problem, particularly quarter horse and thoroughbred breeders. Slaughter for any consumption is dangerous, I feel bad for anyone naive enough to eat horse meat.
Some of my ancestors rode a horse one day and ate it the next. I grew up ranching and was exposed to where your food comes from so it doesn't bother me. We raised them to work or to eat. If they didn't have a job they didn't get fed, even the cat had a job.
Gross! Not to mention the practices behind all of it are inhumane, evil and cruel. Eating horsemeat that comes from animals that are bred and raised primarily for hobby, sport and to be part of someone's life and family is like eating dog or cat, wrong! Gross!
Hindus would say the same thing about us eating cows.
As a vegetarian, I have little to no stake in this dicussion, but I would like to point out a few things.
First, horse meat is not kosher. A horse neither chews its cud or has a cloven hoof. Why it wasn't declared kosher is open to speculation, of course.
Next, in many cultures, horses were too valuable to use as meat animals on a regular basis. They were expensive to raise and train, and too useful in agriculture, transportation, and warfare. In the U.S., the horse became romanticized to a greater extent than other places, and eating horse meat because a social taboo.
Lastly, a comment about eating dog meat. The Aztecs and their other allies were famous for raising dogs as standard meat animals. What most people miss about this issue, though, is that the dogs were fed a completely vegetarian diet of corn, fruits, and vegetables (one story tells about watching a dog eat an avacado). The non-meat diet for the dog kept their meat from being rancid or otherwise bad tasting. So yes, eating a dog that is an omnivore won't taste very good; it's all about the diet of the animal.
Most Americans aren't Jewish, so they could care less if anything is kosher or not.
Tuna are carnivorous, and they taste just fine. How do you know an omnivore won't taste as good as an animal fed a herbivorous diet? Have you eaten any omnivores? Obviously not, what diet a feed animal has been raised on and how "good" that makes the animals flesh taste is really just an opinion. Will the flesh taste different? Almost certainly. Whether or not it tastes good is the opinion of the person eating it.
I don't see horse meat as a big deal. It's no different that kitten or puppy. Why waste good meat? Heck, I think unwanted human fetuses should be fair game. Meat is meat, right?
I agree, except unwanted human fetuses should probably be used to make cat or dog food, and not eaten by humans.
From time to time, people tell me, "Lighten up, it's just a horse", or, "That's a lot of money for just a horse". They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for "just a horse".
Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a horse". Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a horse", but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by "just a horse". And in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a horse" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.
If you, too, think it's "just a horse", then you will probably understand phrases like "just a friend", "just a sunrise", or "just a promise". "Just A Horse" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust and pure unbridled joy. "Just A Horse" brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person. Because of "just a horse", I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly into the future.
So, for me, and folks like me, it's not, "just a horse", but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment.
"Just A Horse" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day. I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a horse" but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a man".
So, the next time you hear the phrase "just a horse", just smile, because they "just" don't understand the lessons in life – through God's gift – Just A Horse.
Horsemeat is delicious. It's also leaner than beef. I'd be buying it right now as my main red meat if it was available in my area.
If a horse meat restaurant ever opens in the US that may be the time I will have my gun toting nervous breakdown.
Just an added thought, who has always been the biggest industries to support horse slaughter is the Quarter horse and Thoroughbred industries. So far it is still against the law to sell government captured mustangs for slaughter, and I doubt that will change real soon. So it is our domestic horses that are raised for money that go for slaughter.
How could anyone even consider eating them?
Not in this life would I eat a horse. I eat meat but, if u think about it, it's pretty sick.
Horse are not meant to be eaten!!!!!!! They DO NOT deserve this!!!! This is disgusting.
Its bothersome to consider what is to be humanely killing something. Rounding up wild horses to make a few bucks because we can't think of another alternative is concerning. I realize people have different tastes but it appears now, we are just killing something because we don't have another alternative. Seems like we are okay with rounding up horses and shipping to Mexico and now we've figured out there is money involved and we can keep it for ourselves. I guess dog, cat and old people will be next. We can't afford to take care of them, so lets just humanely kill them and sell the meat. Sounds like a plan. I also think its interesting that CNN covered the story but left out the part of rounding them up to slaughter.
There is no way in hell and any moron that is stupid enough to eat tainted meat that has been poisoned with several dangerous drugs gets what they deserve. Good riddance, there are too many people on earth as it is and I would much rather live with the horses.
I have eaten horse, dog, cat, moose, caribou, turtle, and other non standards edible critters. (all were farm raised, no pets!) Horse was, along with moose, my favorite. Its meat is tender and sweet, not much fat at all. In Jeju Island off South Korea horse meat is the traditional meat, a left over form when the Mongolian hordes left their horses on the Island after a failed invasion of Japan. In Jeju I ate a five course malgogi (horse meat) buffet and oh, it was delicious. Even mal hoe (horse sashimi), raw slices of horse meat with wasabi and soy sauce... The French also eat horse meat (and they protest when the Koreans eat dog!!) and they think it's a delicacy too. Americans need to get over the initial shock (why?) and try some horse. It's good food.
Sanmusa, you are a disgusting human being. Please, FEEL FREE to go back to whatever filthy, backwards country in which you came from, and STAY THERE. I actually feel sorry for you, you have zero compassion for animals in which most people consider pets or family members. Oh wait, I don't feel sorry for you anymore.......Now you just nauseate me. Good luck in this life you are living, you're going to need it. Have fun in hell.
the Bible plainly states, fruits, nuts, vegetables will be man's meat. we raise and torture the animal before finally killing it. someday when we stand before God all who have abused His creatures will know what they have done. it is not wrong for instance for the way the Native American killed to live. but we raise and torture and fill the animal with injections and hormones and if you want to know why we have cancer and heart disease, look no further. these animals are feeling all pain the way a human would, and they know fear, hunger, the way a human does. we'll understand, someday....
waka waka waka, playground for vegan propaganda, blah blah blah.
Meat is good. In general, we are good at eating meat. We just shouldn't eat so damn much of it (then why is it so damn tasty?!?!?).
If I could be sure that they lived a good life out in the wild, I think I could eat horse. I grew up with horses, so I know how special they are, but I also know how much it sucks when they starve or get sick, or injured, and can't be properly cared for and are left to suffer. So if I could be sure of the horse's origins (so no supermarket horse, please), and didn't feel like I was eating someone's pet, I could probably grub on it.
I would NEVER eat horse, dog, cat. I agree with Susansocal ... soylent green one day.
Horse meat WAS a staple food during WW2.. and beyond.. Alpo Horsemeat dog food was my dogs favorite food.. there is a scene in O Brother Where Art Thou where they all sat down to horse meat dinner..horses are LIVESTOCK..
NO WAY!!!!! No to meat – especially horse meat!!!!!!!! NO WAY!!!!
Soylent green one day? :-)
Hells no.
You may eat like a horse but please don't eat a horse, or cats, or dogs, or elephants, or tigers, or shark's fins, or bird's nests. You can make a decision without saying any god told you to do so.
Eventually, we're all gonna have to give up meat if we want to survive, as stated in the UN's report, "Livestock's Long Shadow". It's just way too damaging to the environment. For that reason alone we shouldn't start eating horse meat. You're gonna have to give it up eventually, and expanding the variety of meats you eat is just gonna make it harder.
On another note, it truly makes no sense to me that people can eat beef, pork, etc. but not horse meat. Beef is a leading cause of heart disease, the number 1 killer in America. Pigs are smarter than horses. Just go vegetarian, it's really not that hard.
There are many of us that can't thrive on a vegetarian diet. I gave it a serious try for two years. I call that the two years I was hungry all the time.
I have eaten horse meat and if it is fed for slaughter it taste a lot like moose to me. Personally, Bullwinkle was harder to eat then Black Beauty.
I'm sorry, but I can't believe that. I don't know what you were eating, but you must not have had a very balanced diet. Eating meat is unnatural and harmful to our bodies, and there aren't any nutrients you miss out on if you live a healthy vegetarian lifestyle.
From what I understand, soy and peanuts are some of the biggest sources of protein to vegetarians.... and I am allergic to both.
Eternal indigestion or a hamburger... I think I'll keep eating meat.
We inadvertently ate horse meat on a trip to Russia. We kept wondering why the beef was so tough and not like at home and we were finally told why... that is what horse not cow meat. Based on the taste and consistency of the meat I do not think that it would be a hit in the states. I would never choose to horse meat based on past experience/taste.
Jesus christ, or (Mohammed if you prefer), do Americans really need to be eating MORE?
That's ridiculous!
1 word
Tacos
My horse is part of my family! I wouldn't eat my cat or dog there is NO WAY I would eat my horse. Especailly I know what drugs I put in him and most say not for food animals. Not me!!!! I'll eat my lawn first! I don't fertilize it.
No way, no how to horseburger. Next? Hot dogs made out of real dogs.
People keep comenting regarding "what is the difference between horses, cows,pigs and chickens". All these animals are considered livestock. However, I believe that horses should no longer be considered as livestock. Besides the role that horses have played in the history of our nation, as mentioned before, we have raised the value of horses. Due to thier build, strength, agility, quickness to learn, and ability to bond with humans, they have now become not only loved pets but valued athletes! I don't think you will find any other "livestock" running in races and winning millions of dollors. We have turned horses into such accomplished athletes that they are the only animal you will find with thier own Olymic team. How can we value these talented animals enough to put them in the Olympics and yet turn around and eat them for dinner??
i agree. Horses do miracles with autistic children, for example. Or people who have psychosis. Equine therapy is sucessful, also for people who are in wheelchairs. There is a deep psychological and emotional connection between a horse, and a child, always. I recently went to Berlin in a horse club and and saw this girl, she had no legs and was riding a grey horse, they came back from venturing in the nature, it was so peaceful. The horse was so kind to her. She groomed her horse. It was fascinating to see the interraction between the two of them. Imagine what this girl feels on her horse. Horse backriding allows you to see the world another way, and access mindblowing places without disturbing the nature around. I love horses so much, i could go on for hours talking about how i love them. My English is weak tonight for some reason, anyway. Back to the subject, it is very very very comforting to know that they are wild horses, living, in this world. Horse kingdom. All of them are different, with different coats. They are amazing. They deserve the status of being "protected". Eating this? No way.
http://www.8newsnow.com/category/28259/8-news-now-video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=5439795&flvUri&partnerclipid
Well done George Knapp and Simone Netherlands
CNN 4 part series airing daily.. well done CNN!
"Those who wish to profit from the butchering of America's horses must find another way to earn a living," said Suzanne Roy of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign in a statement. RE: The pro horse slaughter summit debacle
I guess it's too bad that most people never check facts. I have worked on ranches and at auctions. I know what is pumped into cattle that are raised for slaughter, and I know the auctions have no way to check and don't care. One of the biggest things is growth hormones, which has been directly linked to our American children developing younger, because people eat so much at places like McDonalds. The same with horses, they aren't checked when they are sold for slaughter as to what is in their systems. I like meat, but sure as heck don't buy at the grocery store if I can help it. Another thing no one seems aware of is the horses as we know them today, originated on the North American Continent, and spread across the rest of the world during the Ice Age. They then died out, and were reintroduced by the Spanish. This makes them have a more legitimate claim to being native, then the elk which were introduced where I live, and wild horses were here before the elk were introduced in my area. Yes, I have eaten horse meat and it was good. Will I kill one of my horses so I can have some more, no. And will I fight to keep our wild horses on our public lands, you bet I will, because I have gone out and done my homework on all sides of the issue.
HORSEWICHES.
As I said, Don't tell me how to spend MY time, and I won't tell you how to spend yours.
I don't understand why there is a law against the processing of horse meat for human consumption. You can't tell me that allowing horses to starve to death and founder to the point that their hooves fall off is more humane than allowing them to be sold and properly processed. The big reason why the horse slaughter facilities closed in the first place was due to the inhumane transporation of these animals. That Has to be resolved!!!! I understand most people do not want the slaughter of horses due to it's iconic place in the American west, but there has been an explosion of horses on federally managed land and taxpayers are paying millions of dollars to feed these animals. That population has to be reduced and not to mention there is no telling how many people have "dumped" their horses or released them due to not being able to care for them anymore. Reopening the facilities is one way to 1) decrease the amount of time and money the federal government spends on the wild population. 2) We have an over abundance of horses that many people can't take care of, notice how many horses that horse haven places have and there is always a backlog of more to be rescued. In some areas of the country, it has gotten so bad that cattlemen at local stockyards have to lock their empty trailers because if they don't they will have a trailer full of unwanted horses when they return. 3) Although a small number, reopening slaughter facilities and transportation drivers would provide that dreader word JOBS.
I think the problem lies more in regulating how the slaughter process is handled, than whether it should be done. I don't believe it is humane, but I don't believe you can Kill anything humanely. Horses being left to suffer isn't the answer either..... The process itself needs to be cleaned up...horses are not meant for human consumption. They have dangerous chemicals that could harm us...they would have to be raised specifically for food before I would agree to them being considered edible livestock.
There is no way to kill somethng without pain. Slaughter is a very grotesque process that is scary, confusing and painful for any animal that goes through it. Here is food for thought though. We believe that we have the right to kill and eat whatever allows us to catch it....put yourself in the animals position: What if we were the hunted? We go crazy when an animal attacks a human, often waging war on the species associated with the attack. We are not better in our existence...we should respect all life, especially the ones we are taking in order to nurture our own. That being said, we have to eat....cows, pigs, horses, chickens, etc...should all be treated in a way that guarantees as little pain as possible to the slaughtered animal, promotes optimal health in regards to the food we consume, and allows for some sense of dignity while in process(transport, waiting, loading, killing and waster removal).
"Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man."
~Arthur Schopenhauer
"The most violent weapon on earth is the table fork."
~Mahatma Gandhi
"As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together."
~Isaac Bashevis Singer
Do you not eat meat at all then? Either way, if you do or don't doesn't matter to me because I could care less what you eat so why do you care what I eat? Get over it. Go have a salad.
Wow, The arrogance shown here is truly astounding.
Let's face it people, we are insignificant. Horses are insignificant. A million years from now, no matter what we do or don't do, this planet will not be recognizable as the planet that it is today. We could wipe out every species on this planet, and it won't matter one bit. The arrogance of the human race to believe that we, as humans, can do any significant damage that mother nature cannot repair is beyond belief. Nature made us to eat meat and vegetables. Just because we are at the top of the food chain, some people feel that we need to feel bad about everything we do. WE DON'T. Get over it. We are only here for a short time. If you want a horseburger, GO FOR IT. If you don't, DEAL WITH IT.
Don't tell me how to spend MY time, and I won't tell you how to spend yours.
"Don't tell me how to spend MY time, and I won't tell you how to spend yours." Big thumbs up!
With your way of thinking... one could say, "well, since it won't matter in 1 million years, I can go and try to kill as many people as I can! Or go do drugs! It really won't matter in 1 million years, so why not?" The why not is because one has to think of the people around them... I'm so glad not many other people share your way of thinking, the world would be an awful, awful place.
Arrogance? Maybe humans are insignificant, but it is arrogant to assume that we are at the top of the food chain. Generally we are, but not always. Crocodiles eat more human beings every year than any other animal. Komodo lizards also eat people but leave little evidence because they completely devour their prey. Grizzly bears, tigers, sharks, even hippopotamuses kill/eat numerous people every year.
It's also arrogant to have a lack of concern about what humanity has done to this planet, because in a million years everything will be fine. We need to appreciate, respect and work in harmony with the Earth while we are here.
I find it curious that no-one mentioned WHY in the FIRST place horses were banned from being consumed in the US and other places to start off with.
I know why.....do you ?
use that internet thing in front of you.
Ignorance!
what is this so called internet you speak of??
We can eat cows, pigs, chickens, deers, fish, lobsters, quails, rabbits etc but we are wrong for eating a horse? Such hypocrits from any meat eater! If you don't want to eat it then don't order it off the menu!
Our national treasure deserves to be free, safe and well.
Thank you CNN, for running this poll!
We are grateful for your shining bright light on the shadows of the gruesome horse slaughter industry, now attempting to raise it's ugly, greedy, violent head, here in America.
Our wild horses are noble, sacred and priceless.
To many Native Americans the horse, is sacred and represents both freedom and the wind.
Did you know that horses are not really native to north America ?
Yes, the first horses came to North America in 1493 from Santo Domingo. Horses should be respected. We traveled many miles on their backs and discovered many new lands with their partnership. We conquered many civilizations upon the courageous steads' back...Remember that when you take a bite. I am not saying don't eat them...that is your call...but if you do...remember they are more than a steak.
Actually, the fossils of the first horses on Earth are found in North America. They disappeared for an unknown reason and were reintroduced to the land by the Spanish
add to that the shady roundups being carried out by the BLA on land belonging to the Native Americans without their consent
It's the BLM and the tribes know darn good and well what's going on–they get a cut
If you eat at McDonalds you already eaten horse.
I'm Canadian. Just wanted to say that horses are not a part of Canadian Cuisine. Perhaps the moron who wrote this shouldn't be allowed to write until they get their shit straight.
I am Canadian as well. Maybe it's not on your plate but that doesn't mean other's here don't eat it. You CAN purchase it here, and eat it, legally.
According to the BLM, there are aprox 37,000 wild (feral) horses in the USA.
To put that in perspective: according to the USDA, we slaughter 135,000 head of cattle *per day* for meat in the USA.
Here in Texas, we have individual ranches (i.e. King Ranch) that have well over 100,000 head of cattle.
How can anyone look at those numbers and come to the conclusion that horses are a "source of cheap meat"? We could eat the entire population before lunchtime.
Those are wild horses, there are hundred of thousand privately owned horses that could be sold in to this market. In fact being a breeder when they first started this act and made horse domestic it forced a lot of us of business because we had no outlet for over stock or animals that could not be sold for riding.
Never trust the BLM numbers Kevin. The propaganda they use is despicable. The round ups are staged for their own observers, while they keep us out from documenting the truth. I witnessed one last year and it changed my life. I never thought such corruption possible in America. Check out my facebook page. There is so much the public is not in the know, BLM got away for decades with lies and deception – now thanks to the internet the horses' plight gets exposed.
The BLM – they are removing horses from the wild that do not need to be removed. Nevada alone has 450,000 cows grazing on public lands. Yet the BLM's excuse for removing a few thousand wild horses is that they are in danger of starving, that they are over-grazing and damaging the land, even the GAO could see back in 1990 it was the cattle not wild horses overgrazing and damaging the land and reported this fact. They suggested reducing the number of cattle. All horses removed are in good physical shape, try to find even a thin horse on any videos/photos of any round up. There just aren't enough wild horses on public lands to do damage, even Forest Guardians told me this. Yet there are MILLIONS of cattle and sheep – all subsidized by taxpayers, and the federal government spends millions killing predators to protect these cattle and sheep. Predators that would normally keep wild horse populations low, not that they're high now, they're not.
So the BLM removes all of these wild horses from the wild with no thought to the fact that the economy is in horrible shape, millions have lost their jobs, others had to take lower paying jobs, others had their hours cut, and horses are a luxury item. They expect to sell thousands of wild horses in an already saturated market where people are trying to find new homes for the horses they already have but can no longer afford. This is like building a bunch of brand new houses right now. Think they'd sell? And the BLM calls them "unadoptable" and pro-slaughter calls them "unwanted." And all horses the BLM rounds up that are 10 yrs old or older automatically go into long-term holding as "unadoptable." Why not just leave them in the wild? Ranchers in the midwest are making millions housing these wild horses on their land, they've gotten out of the cattle business. More profitable, less work, housing wild horses for the BLM.
I thoroughly believe from reading most of these comments that there has to be something mentally wrong with most of the people here who think eating anything that moves is okay...Dogs, cats, horses...really? While I do believe eating any animal is disgusting I accept that most of society is too weak to think and feel otherwise, and that for the most part the meat being eaten today is of animals of little to no intelligence (for the most part) I'd say 99% of you are a product of the media/how you were raised, but to not think something like this is crossing the line is a little absurd...get outside and ride a horse and stop thinking about food. Fat asses.
I agree with you 100%- I can't believe the level of blind stupidity represented by the advocates of eating horse meat. God help us all if they are representative of this country.
humans have been eating meat since we first evolved into hominids. only in relatively more recent times in the grand scale of things has society deemed eating certain animals inhumane or taboo. most people look at a dog or cat as a companion because of our relationship with them as pets. same thing with horses and burros, they are used for transportation and utility as well as companions of early civilizations, so the thought of eating one is likened to that of a human because of our bond to these animals. people don't have that assimilation with animals that have been bread purely for consumption, cows, chicken, lamb etc. personally i don't like the idea of eating horses but ultimately there is little difference from eating horse meat over cow meat besides personal view.
fat americans don't need another food option. less is what is needed in this country to curb the growing obese fat a$$es from contaminating the world.
As a human species to re-introduce horse flesh for human consumption would be to turn back the clock to neanderthal thinking.
There is no real reason to eat horses...a small group is pushing to slaughter horses to gain profit not for Americans, but for themselves.
There is no "humane" way to slaughter a horse, because slaughtering horses is grossly inhumane.
'..a cheap, viable source of food for hungry Americans..' Like you're all starving on Death's door!! So what's suddenly wrong with eating crud from McD's now? Is it really necessary to butcher every living thing to satisfy your gluttony? If you ask me you should eat less and move about a lot more!
Anybody not a vegetarian is really a hypocrite to say don't eat horses but eat the cows.
Sounds like the the ad with the cows saying "eat more chicken"...
Very well said Steven!
I would like to try it. If it is really "free range" and not exposed to the chemicals in our modern "food factory" food, I would certainly be interested. I eat and enjoy free range beef and chicken. I hunt deer, which I find FAR cuter than mangy horses. I eat them too, despite the minor chronic wasting disease risk. I think the risk of mad cow (the same thing, really – a Prion disease) from beef is higher as cows never get more than three years old and are too young to show signs of the disease. Horses are probably just as likely to have prion diseases. Perhaps more likely. Has anyone looked into that?
Depends on how hungry you are. I have horses, dogs and a cat. If it's just for the sake of convenience or a cheaper cut of meat, no thanks. But if I or my children were on the brink of starvation, you bet. During & after WWII, it was difficult to find a dog or cat in many European countries. Priorities.
By the way, the horses in the picture aren't Mustangs – they are Icelandic Horses.
I was just going to post the same thing! I guess the Editor was too lazy to do the proper research in the photo morgue.
First off, it's pretty rare to find a person who truly loves animals more than I do. I have proudly extended my family to include dogs, cats, reptiles and birds and one day rodents too. I ride horses regularly and love them passionately.
However, I am not a vegetarian. It is possible to get the protein we require as a vegetarian (though frankly most vegans I know seem to be lacking a little something and I know many), but we are omnivores. We are designed to consume meat and vegetation.
I find that humans as a whole have lost our connection to the world. We go to the store and purchase over-processed foods thusly removing any connection we have to our food. We have no respect for ourselves, somehow even less than that for one another and incredibly – in a horrible way – even less for anything that is not human.
People say we are becoming little more than animals, but I think that is inaccurate. I wish we could live up to other animals. We are in fact animals, after all. More specifically mammals, made of blood, muscle bone, flesh and hair like any other – including the horse.
All this being said, I would at least try horse meat and would eat it if it was something I enjoyed. I would try dog, or cat.
Not one animal is better than another. A horse is no better than a cow, pig, chicken, shark, fish, dog... And neither is a person. We are animals. We think we are so mighty and so far above everything else, but it is humans who are destroying the earth because we think we are above Nature.
My concern in consuming animals is if an animal is endangered. I would never consume tiger or any of the great apes, as examples.
Death is not the worst thing in the world. I find it offensive that people say a horse is so special, frankly. I have looked into a cow's eyes, I have felt their broad, flat, wet muzzles on my face. I have seen calves romp and play. But they are acceptable to consume (here in North America)? Don't tell me horses work for their right to not be eaten. So have cattle. This aversion we have to horse meat is a relatively new thing.
When I can afford it, I will be moving to a large piece of land where I will have pets and animals for sustenance. I will grow my own produce. I want that connection that most people are lacking to their food. I will suffer the grief of doing what must be done to know the animals have been treated with love and respect in their lives, that they died with a little trauma as possible.
I love animals of every kind and respect them. Including humans, for what humans are. But like I said, humans are losing our connections, we are breaking the circles and webs that create stability and as the general population gets more miserable and wonders why we get more and more lost...seeking satisfaction we cannot find and not knowing why. I feel very sad for people.
You win the the award for writing the longest tirade of unmitigated B.S. on this site. Animal lover my ass.
^^ **superlike** How could an animal lover bear to kill one? Maybe you are an animal respecter since you want to make sure they die in the least painful way possible, but I still wouldn't call an animal slaughter-er an animal lover...
You love horses passionately? So you're the chick I see in those naughty videos! Very impressive!
Could we just NOT EAT some other creature. Just ONE! I mean good grief. What happened to little girl dreams of having a pony? HAVING not EATING!
At some point you would hope that people become enlightened enough to understand that human beings do not need to consume the flesh of any animal to survive, and in fact, you can be far healthier eating a diet based on fruits, vegetables and grains.
As a physician, I wish I could show people what the inside of the arteries, colon etc. look like for a person of middle age who has consumed meat, regardless of the variety, over their lifetime. Americans especially love their summer BBQ's, throwing all types of meat onto the grill. Not only are they consuming the additives given to cattle, pigs etc. to fatten them up quickly for market, but they are also consuming the harmful carginogens of the charcoal used to cook the meat. There would be far fewer people taking medication for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and a variety of other ailments if they would cut in half, or eliminate, their consumption of meat.
That being said, I personally would never eat the flesh of a horse, dog, cat or any of the other animals mentioned by other responders. I would not do this strictly because of my thoughts and opinions on the role that animals play in our lives, and especially those that are normally considered to be of the "pet" variety. The eating of exotic aniamls, those not normally found in the human history of American food, is wrong on every level.
Lat me ask you a question... does the sun set AND rise from your asshole??
At least I have the personal integrity to use my own name, and the ability to spell. Two things you apparently have no acquaintance with.
I agree with you whole-heartedly Dr.Claire! The level of idiocy out there is frightening to me. They must have consumed deer meat tainted with the "brain-wasting " disease!
What we do to some meat is bad (hormones, constant antibiotics, improper diet, ect); that does not mean meat itself is bad.
There's a huge difference between eating meatfrom wild game meat or pastured livestock versus eating meat from McDonalds or the like. The "average American" you speak of tends to eat the latter.
Just walk around the grocery store and look in people's carts. You can look at the person's shape and predict what's in their cart, and visa versa.
Just a side note, my OB/GYN has specially told me to increase my meat and protein intake while TTC.
I eat meat. I'm not overweight. In fact, I teeter on the "underweight" line. My cholesterol and triglycerides levels are all great.
I'll stick with the advice from my real doctors, rather than someone on the internet claiming to be a doctor. If you were really a doctor, wouldn't have you a broader view of the reasons people in America are unhealthy instead of blaming a single entity that humans have eaten for millions of years?
I have a very broad view and knowledge of why American's are in the health shape that they are, but since this article was on the eating of meat (specifically horses) I confined my comments to the subject at hand. As for your OB/GYN, I hope that he or she also informed you of the many other sources of dietetic protein besides eating meat. Every doctor counsels their patients, and prescribes treaments, based on their own thought processes of what the practice of medicine means to them. I include myself in that statement, and do so proudly.
I saw the that the sun rose from your asshole this morning. Marie Claire... like the magazine? You are the one who needs to use a better name!
How can you trust an article that, while short, contains several errors. The Restore Our American Mustang Act is NOT law, it never passed Congress. Come on, do a bit of reporting before you start blabbering away. Check out http://www.every5minutes.org for the truth about horse slaughter and wild horses in the US.
Thank you for the heads up. That website clarified a number of issues. It is a court ruling and not federal law that shut down horse slaughter plants in the US.
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
Eating horse meat is barbaric, but so is overbreeding them. It's time the human race becomes responsible in our stewardship of this planet and it's resources. The neanderthalistic mentality exhibited by far too many humans has put our ecosystem in a precarious place, and it is up to us to bring balance again.
Neanderthals would never have allowed our planet to become as it has. They understood their role in the world more than today's human ever will. Choose a different phrase.
CC Croft, you are right. I should have used the phrase 'knuckle-dragging'. Of course, that really doesn't describe the shallow self-centered selfish short-sited mentality of too many humans who live in a 6" bubble and exploit our world and resources for no other reason than their selfish personal desires.
skip the whole tiresome debates regarding what is or is not ethically acceptable to eat and go right to Soylent Green.
That's ultimately where you gluttons are headed.
why? why is it barbaric, compared to cows etc? I genuinely want to know the answer to that question. Is it the "pet" factor? Incidentally I am not much of a meat eater so I have no intention of eating them personally, but I want to understand why other people should or shouldn't be allowed to
sorry that was meant for Janice
Is nothing sacred in this God Forsaken Country anymore?
William (the first post), google search Jason Meduna in NE. You will see what true slaughter by a self proclaimed "cowboy" looks like. The BLM should also be in jail along with this person. 140+ horses starved to death @ a ranch in NE. Bleeding hearts you say, obviously, you have never owned or been around a horse in your life. They are majestic animals & should be protected at all costs!
Have you ever seen wild horses? Been around them enough to know the 'families'? I have, and someone from the right coast is going to have no idea what they mean here in Nevada. There are better ways to control herd size and it isn't killing them. The horses belong to the American people, they run wild on Public Lands. When they are sold for slaughter, who makes the money on it? Not us! Killing them is the easy way for government to control them. Anybody that knows about horses would know how to control herd size.
And no, they aren't starving here, that's what the media wants you to believe.....
Welllll... one reason I would not eat a dog or a cat is the same reason I wouldn't eat a wolverine or a coyote or a mountain lion. Carnivores are not delicious.
Most of the arguments against eating horse meat are purely cultural and emotional, and not practical. In the purest sense, many comments here are correct : horses are prey animals/ungulates/herbivores meeting the criteria for most of the meat Americans consume. Cultural sensitivity would also indicate there are many things that Americans won't eat which are common in other parts of the world, and vice versa. Some places feel the same about cows as we feel about horses.
It is never a matter of how intelligent the animal is. People eat octopus without a second thought. It is usually a matter of the domesticity and ability of the animal to relate to humans in a way humans understand. This can also be interpreted as how compliant the animal is with our attempts to train and socialize with it, or to use it and bend it for our purpose.
The more cute and fuzzy and trainable the animal is, the less it looks like food to us.
You moron – then why is Tiger meat considered a delicacy by some pinheaded, overfed, over sef-important slobs?
you goofball-how does some people eating tiger meat contradict anything he said?? He sais HE wouldn't eat carniverous meat because it wasn't as tasty-he didn't say NOBODY would.
check out channel 8 Las Vegas airing of this issue, yesterday~ George Knapp
http://www.8newsnow.com/category/28259/8-news-now-video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=5439795&flvUri&partnerclipid
From the looks of it, some of these RESPONDERS should be slaughtered! And you call the HORSES dumb??
Much like the Oatmeal, I just want to eat horses. On principle.
lawlz
Horsemeat is our destiny!
This is a timely time to write this article and bring up this issue. Due to largely to lobbying by animal rights groups, federal law currently precludes horses from being processed as food for either human or pet food consumption in the US. This did not used to be the case. Now, unfortunately, we have wild mustangs by the thousands that are rounded up and put in huge holding facilities because they literally have no where else to go. As CNN recently reported, animal rights groups (extremists) are now screaming that helicopters cause the wild mustangs undue stress and should therefore be banned from use by the Bureau of Land Management, which is charged with removing excess populations, far in excess of what the land can support food wise.
While I respect the right of animals rights groups to have their opinion, the fact is, it is nonsensical, extremist and wholly unsustainable. There is NOTHING wrong with processing horses as food for either animal or human consumption in this country, subject of course, the proper food safety processing guidelines.
Bleeding heart liberal activists have found the ear of select legislators and plighed them with erroneous information that has led to where we are today. I fervently hope federal law is overturned with this new Congress and that a proper, humane management plan that INCLUDES humane slaughter of excess animals is once again allowed to move forward.
William:
I mostly agree with you, but I have had contact with people who are not bleeding heart liberals who are vehemently against horse slaughter, including a meat goat producer.
No worries, they just send the horses across either border as "companions" or "pets."
You miss the fact of predator extermination by our government combined with the creep and sprawl of human development nto open spaces and wilderness areas, which really needs to be left to nature, contributes more to the argument supporting overpopulation of feral horses.
Most people eat far more than they need. Skip a meal, lose weight, and save a horse. If you want to have the options of those countries who offer horse or dog or cat meat for human consumption, then by all means, please MOVE there and stay there.
I had horse meat for the first time in France over this past Christmas. It was amazing! Why we ship it all over seas is baffling to me.
I have a question for horse owners since I do not nor ever have owned any. I saw one owner post on another page that they have a few horses and they are thinking about butchering them when they get old. I know horses aren't always "pets' to the degree that a dog would be, but aren't they somewhat of a pet? It seems creepy to think of eating your pet when they are old. Also, isn't "old" meat too tough anyway? Just curious for opinions on this by people who would actually know firsthand.
could honestly never think of doing such a thing to one of mine. but, i would question whether that person was being serious or trying to stir the pot. if serious, i was question whether they actually think of the animals as their pets. not even sure if what they are suggesting is legal...
American horsemeat is highly toxic and not tested by the USDA. A great percentage of horses that go to slaughter in Canada and Mexico are American off-track thoroughbreds....full of lasix, bute, steroids and other drugs. Every equine drug on the market has a warning that states: "Not to be used for horses intended for human consumption." Anyone who eats horsemeat that comes from American horses is putting their life at risk. Go to http://www.americanhorsemeat.com
Bon Apetite!
good information–I wouldn't have thought about that. Although the article talks about slaughtering wild mustangs, not thoroughbreds.
This post is wildly exaggerated. Yes, some domestic horses, like racing thoroughbreds, have drug residue in their tissues that consist of steroids and other drugs like dewormers. Wild mustangs do not. A small percentage of domestic pet/race horses may even have euthanasia drug residue like pentobarbital. Fact is, rendered dogs and cats are currently used for making petfood and also contain drug residues. Processing horses for petfood, as used to be the case in the US, is an economically viable way to humanely use the tissue/protein of a huge animal and should be allowed to move forward by rescinding an ill-advised federal law currently on the books.
This makes me sick that this would even be a consideration. Although I understand both sides, I definitely don't agree with eating horse as just another meat to have around. I am very passionate about horses and have ridden them since I was little. There is something majestic about them. I believe we the people in the US view this as taboo because well the wild horses and horses period have always had this view of the American west. We view the horse just as we do our dogs and cats. We just don't do it. Just because everyone else does, WTF do we have to? Are we going to turn into China completely. They basically slaughter their animals alive and feed them to their people. How inhumane is that!? Very. Distusting and sad. To even consider the slaughter of horses in the U.S. would just be the dumbest thing I've EVER heard. Protect them. That's what makes this country beautiful. That's why we breed cows, chickens, and pigs. They are the US's main consumption of animals.
I've had horse sashimi (raw horse) in Japan on numerous occasions. It seems pretty common in the Nagano region a couple of hours northwest of Tokyo (I've never seen it on the menu in Tokyo, but I'm sure it is). It's cut thin, and served raw, and it's very good. I highly recommend it.
The Japanese eat anything that walks, breathes or swims and if your not careful anything that talks.
agreed. They also quickly resort to cannibalism in extreme circumstances (ie WW2) as a matter of course
havn't we killed enough
I think that the Horse meat probably already is being fed to many Americans without them knowing– why is it that our poor suffer with low quality food- The rich are able to purchase regular organic foods which are so expensive and the poor are left with fast-food saturated with oils and preservatives (UN-NATURAL) foods that business people take the fiber and nutrients out and leave our people addicted to sugar so that they can be gluttonous consumers and hungry at the same time- obese and yet malnourished- while people around the world are starving but when those around the world do eat at least its a natural healthy meal a good healthy meal (most of the time).
You eat cows, chickens, pigs, etc. Why not horses, dogs, and cats?
Are you from China?
As usual replies are moronic. People will eat anything. So sad. No wonder the world is going to hell in a hand basket.
Horses cannot be slaughtered or processed as food in the US, only Mexico and Canada. So ,rather than have a humane high standard of processing in this country, the horses are loaded into double-decker trailers, 50 or 60 at a time, and shipped to Mex or Can over the road. Terrible conditions for any animal to endure.
New standards by the EU in not accepting horse flesh that is contaminated with de-wormers and anti-inflammatory drugs has basically killed Mex's horse meat export business. Now Mexico will not let horses cross the border that are wearing shoes, or that cannot be verified to be free of certain pharma compunds. Killer-buyers in the US are suffering because of this crackdown by the EU horse-eaters, and the killer-buyer/ processor lobby is trying to make slaughter/sale legal in the US.
This discussion has nothing to do with morals, ethics, or humane treatment of animals, it has to do with PROFITS!!!
I have eaten horse meat, and it is very sweet, with a mild flavor. I never had enough to experiment with recipes, since horse slaughter was closed in the US. The last few years has been tragic, since so many horses have simply been shot and buried because there was nothing else to do with them. Like other large herbivores, the hides need to be processed for leather, the meat for food, and the bones for fertilizer. It is obscene to continue to waste them.
the horses previously slaughtered in the US were not consumed here. So you must have eaten it somewhere else. As for the carcasses, most horse who die are taken to a rendering plant, where their carcasses are put to many good uses. Not food uses, but lots of others. If every unwanted horse was just shot, buried, and wasted, where the hell would people be putting them?!
Horses are just too intelligent for me to feel comfortable consuming.
Cows are relatively unintelligent, as are chickens, which is why most of us really have no problem eating them. Pigs are pretty intelligent, a lot more people are uncomfortable eating pigs than one may initially believe (I have no problem with it but I know many who do)
horses however are very intelligent animals, they are on the level of dogs, dolphins, etc.
People who lump all animals together are pretty ignorant. Humans are animals, we don't eat each other. We don't really eat gorillas either because we understand they are extremely intelligent and advanced in their cognitive processing and anyone with even a slight amount of understanding and empathy can see why eating a gorilla wouldn't be a great alternative to cows.
I personally would never eat horses. There's very few foods I will not eat because I'm uncomfortable with it, veal being a big one (locking a baby cow up in a box so it can't move for the 1st couple years of its life then killing it just so it's more tender than free roaming beef is a bit extreme), dolphin, dog/cat. I'd be adding horse immediately to that list if it was made available. There are far better alternatives to horse, lets not carelessly start harvesting yet another species simply because we can
Then I must be ignorant b/c I really don't see a problem with eating other animals who aren't humans.
How sad. Just because you log in a "Medical Student" doesn't give your take any more credibility. You know you work at the car wash. Admit it.
They will eat it if it is reasonably priced as a alternative to what we eat now. The taste doesn't do anything for listing it as a delicacy.... just another protein, meat
This steak still has marks from where the jockey was hitting it. ~ Al Czervik
I pretty much can't stand people at this point. It seems like life to many people is just about food and what the next meal entails. If its not obvious I don't agree with eating horse meat or any meat for that matter. I am one of those weird nut jobs who believes food is just a fuel (no I don't just eat twigs all day).
Maybe if you ate some meat the grey/yellow sickly look you have will go away.
I'm so hungry I could eat a....well, not any more!
Why can't people eat the ones the BLM kills rounding them up? They chase the burros and horses with the helicopters exhaust them,frighten them and they die everyday then the people who want horsemeat can have it and the people who get off on torturing these wild animals will still be happy and get govt. backing to do so then start back up on the wolves because they are not allowed to be anywhere either! and........I am all for the NRA.
Oh boo ha ha...most of you eat garbage thats a lot worse for you than horse meat. As for as the wild mustangs...they should be slaughtered, because they aren't indigenous to America and destroy the native wildlife! It was the Spanish confagstadores that brought them here. Unless it's highly processed, fried, and covered with cheese, Americans won't eat it.
Most of us are not indigenous to America either...I'm Irish and Scottish...DON'T EAT ME PLEASE!!!!!
Actually white people are not indiginouse to the Americas either. should we get rid of them? African-Americans? And frankly, if you are so concerned about distruction to native habitat then you should stop eating meat. According to the U.N. report on climate change (Intergovenmental Panel on Climate Change), eating meat is the primary cause of global warming (all that transportation). A Univ. of Chicago study said the same thing. See it here http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/06/060413.diet.shtml. So, go meat-free and save the planet.
Let's see... turn on my friends of 30 years because because our own population is growing out of control and we're already looking for food sources that we don't yet need, or drop a load of rock salt into the first person that tries to eat them? I'm glad we're not exploring the deep oceans, the critters down there might turn out to be tasty.
What y'all do is your business but I love my Arabians, so my advice is to treat them mustangs kindly... they deserve it.
An article worth reading. So sensible. And don't miss the quote at the bottom.
_http://alexatamanenko.ndp.ca/node/511_ (http://alexatamanenko.ndp.ca/node/511)
ATAMANENKO MOVES TO BAN HORSE MEAT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION
Thu 17 Jun 2010
OTTAWA – New Democrat Agriculture Critic, Alex Atamanenko (BC southern
Interior) tabled a Private Members Bill (C-544) yesterday that would
effectively shut down the slaughtering of horses for human consumption in Canada.
“The fact is that drugs which are prohibited for use during the life of any
animals destined for the human food supply are routinely being
administered to horses,” said Atamanenko. “It is irresponsible for Canada to allow
the sale of meat from horses as a food item when they have never been raised
in accordance with the food safety practices required for all other animals.
”
Atamanenko points to the inexpensive, easily available and widely used
anti-inflammatory drug, phenylbutazone (bute), as one example of what is quite
likely to be prevalent in horsemeat. Bute is a known carcinogen and its use
is illegal in any animal that enters the food supply.
“It is more likely than not that the vast majority of horses will have been
administered bute, or ‘horse’s aspirin’ as it is commonly called,” said
Atamanenko.
According to Atamanenko, at least fifty per cent of the horses being
slaughtered in Canada are imported from the US where horse slaughter has been
banned. The meat is then sold to markets in Europe. There are no regulations
in the US to prevent horse owners from administering banned substances
because horses are not regarded or treated as food-producing animals.
Under pressure from the European Union (EU), Canada is set to introduce a
new ‘equine passport’ system to track the health history and medical
treatments of horses arriving at slaughterhouses, including those from the
States.
Atamanenko believes that it will be impossible for CFIA to verify data in
these passports and expects to see a high incidence of inaccurate records.
“Many in the US believe it should be our job to verify information from US
horses since Canada is the only one slaughtering them for human consumption,
” concluded the Atamanenko. “It’s a stretch to think that information on
hundreds of thousands of unwanted horses that were never raised to be food,
will be complete or accurate.”
Cheryl Flanagan
Horse Rescue, Relief and Retirement Fund, Inc.
_www.SaveTheHorses.org_ (http://www.savethehorses.org/)
_http://www.awionline.org/legislation/horse_slaughter/death_clock.htm_
(http://www.awionline.org/legislation/horse_slaughter/death_clock.htm)
"I mop up. I clean up the mess left by morons who just have to breed their
mare." – Kill buyer Manny Phelps
Charlie Brown's school teacher always said.. "waah waah wah, wah wah, wah wah wah wah".
Like we're all not fat enough! Lets destroy another species to fill our big, greasy gobs. FFS! Leave the animals alone. If you want to eat meat...think cannibalism instead!
Hey...women already use horse hair...eating horse meat is only the next logical step ;-)
Here is a real good reason not to eat horse It is contaminated with medications that are banned in all food producing animals.
Food and Chemical Toxicology
Volume 48, Issue 5, May 2010, Pages 1270-1274
If you need reasons than human health I can't help you.
Some of you may remember back in the '60's there was a boom in the, "2 for 25 cents" hamburger business. Almost every store had 'em. They were made of horse meat. Can't we make more chickens, cows, bison, ostrich, etc?
I have tasted horse meat before. Its not tender. I wish I would have never eaten that meal. I feel bad now knowing that people are showing interest for a big market for that kind of delicacy.
Horses are domesticable like dogs they litterally love to play and they enjoy being around humans. Cows too but humans who work in the meat industry ignore the animals need and they process them like they are'nt living creatures. Cows are breeded for us to eat, because of our precious needs and delicacies.
If the United States start selling horse meat like they sell everything in their country, horses will become victims of the American's appetite .
People will devaluate them as animals and start to see them as food ...(remember the atrocities done to cows ,pigs and chikens).
We all have to remember that there is someone making and looking forward to make money out of us all...how easy is it when you are the one deciding what goes into people's plates knowing that we all need food to survive...They'd feed you parts of a human body that no one would care ...americans are way too busy thinking about eating and food industries are way too busy thinking about profit. Americans are not hungry...neither is the food industry. Cut the crap meat lovers and think how selfish it is to want even more when you have already plenty species to kill eat and then bragg about.
Thinking that, human meat would make a great market for cannibals and other posh freaks would'nt it? Don't you smell the money??? If selling human meat sounds weird try thinking about selling meat from a living creature that can't express itself , can't do anyhting about what is going on around it that can't even have the life it was supposed to have.
I hope one day a better breed of humans come to earth...because right now we are not worthy of what life as to offer.
psh, animals don't have feelings
Also, what's the correct term for horse meat? Deer meat is venison, Cow mean is beef..., what's horse meat called?
Dinner
"Horse Eater"... fuck off. You're a worthless piece of shit going around annoying everybody with your stupid comments. It's obvious you haven't much to say. Go eat your own fucking mother since you find everything edible. Bon appetite!
Sorry, Horseeater; studies done years ago determined animals do have feelings. Their feelings are simply not as complex as humans and other apes (and dolphins and elephants, but that's another issue). The questions that behavioral psycholigists are exploring now is how much animals are aware of and what or how they can express them.
Horses are smart animals that have been providing a great service to humans for ages. Horses learn faster then dogs and have a great healing power. Americans kill too many animals to begin with and most of that food gets wasted anyway. Soon, you all will be talking about eating dogs, cats, and humans....why not?????Meat is a meat...RIGHT!!!!!
Let wild horses run free and those that are a part of our lives be loved and cared for.
Well, I really don't think the article is about who wants to or will eat horse.
People eat all sorts of things all over the world. (Hello Andrew Zimmerman!) The fact is some people may want to eat horse, so instead of it just staying unregulated, they need to put together a way to kill and process horses humanely.
It's called "Setting the High Standard for Humane Processing of Horses" After all, not "Will Americans eat horse."
I'd become a vegetarian a thousand times over before I'd ever eat horse meat. I dread the thought of having to worry about horse-thieves stealing my equine friends and selling them for slaughter just to make a quick buck. Humans sure have some gall calling horses an invasive species.
Maybe, if it helps me win the Triple Crown.
there's no correlation between the intelligence of an animal and it's tastiness. in the US we (can) eat cows, bison, emu, deer, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, alligator, pheasant, fish of every kind, crab, crawfish, lobsters, squid, octopus, rabbit, snake, various rodents and birds. Buddy of mine recently had dog in Korea and said it was delectably delicious. Basically it seems the only non-endangered species we can't get are dog, cat and horse. It's not like you'd eat your horse that is your pet just like the beef you eat isn't your pet cow.
My opinion exactly! You added some to my list above that I forgot and have tried too.
I hope you will be treated like you deserve. Selfish brainless american intelligence is what keeps you from doing inhumain acts...like overlly killing species for your own luxury. In a country like korea they do not care about wich animal they eat because they have been in situation where it was the only way to survive. Now it is common for them and it is ridiculous how many endangered species asian eat for delicacies.
If you really think it is americanly great to try all species in your plate then maybe your not humble enough to be on this planet.
No "culling" is necessary of wild horses, because there are zero excess wild horses, in the wild.
Horses are sacred and do not belong on a menu.
sacred horses taste better.
herp derp
lol, at least mine was on-topic – not some fail attempt to bring politics into a poll about whether or not you would eat horse.
Yeah, I've heard recently about encouraging discoveries of wild horse packs and now there's too many? I don't see or hear about any in the way. Next it'll be wolves and that would definately our fault for re-introducing them into the wild.
Americans don't eat horse meat because they're beautiful, and Americans have a problem with eating anything beautiful. If cows looked as majestic, Americans would not eat them. And if horses were as ugly as cows, we'd all be having horse burgers.
I know some people think cows are cute (not me), but I'm sure the percentage of americans who don't like eating beef is a similar number.
I used to eat raw horse hamburger (no bun) when I was a kid, once a week. Doctor recommended!
Also commonly ate rabbit, deer, doe, wild boar, pheasant, quails, pigeon, duck, snails (loves them in garlic butter!), eel, raw oysters, mussels, clams, sea snails (and more) and fish. Tried alligator, snake, sea cucumber, octopus, squid, dolphin, whale, seal, bee pups, duck egg with the chick inside (and my eyes closed!) and probably some more that I forgot about.
Like a lot of them, will never eat others ever again (mostly because of taste or consistency), nothing was dictated by hunger, only curiosity and open mind when traveling.
I've always said that Sarah Palin is a horses @ss.
herp derp
STFU
why dont we see anyone putting raccoon on the menu? or possum? or squirrel? Horses are getting everyone up in arms and it makes for 'good tv'. if you're willijng to eat horse, then i'm quite sure you're willing to eat raccoon, right? i mean, there's a an awful lot of them around as well as squirrel. plus, it's cheaper to process a raccoon or squirrel than a horse...of course it wont feed as many and they arent as 'exotic' a food...but i'm sure everyone has at least one of the two in their backyard. so i guess the bottom line would be what is always is: cash. what will make the most money. sick.
You assume that raccoon, possum, etc, taste the same as horse meat.
I wouldn't rule out eating them if the meat tasted good and they hadn't been rooting around in your garbage for 90% of their lives.
obviously you have never eaten either. if you'd ever eaten squirrel you wouldnt say it wasnt tasty. squirrel is actually extremely sweet and tender. better than beef in many cases.
Had it once. Didn't much care for it none.
Ok, lots of arguments on here about being humane and about cost. Here's my take.
1. it is a cultural "taboo". and what's wrong with that? it is not in other countries, it happens to be a part of their culture. so who are we to push our opinions on them, and vice versa. if Americans can't stomach the thought, just as we can't of eating dog or cat, then thats OK.
2. Being humane. I grew up with horses. They are intelligent, but a fear based animal. Domesticated horses are used to being handled by humans, but not in the way slaughter houses function. shoots, feedlots, cattle prods, squeeze shoots, separation from the herd, all are not normally used in horse handling. therefore it is impossible for a domestic horse to go to slaughter without it being a very fearful and traumatic experience. i have been around for euthanasia, the whole barn of horses reacts to the death of a herd companion. so is it Humane? not in my OPINION. so, if slaughter is open for non-domesticated mustangs, what happens with the domesticated horse? also, what do they do with mares with foals?
3. Cost. What about our cattle industry? what about our cattle ranchers? Will they lose income? we have government help in place for these ranchers, does that mean they would need money to help them stay in business? why is it necessary to feed the poor red meat? are there not many other ways?
4. The Land. so we slaughter all the mustangs. the government land is now open for "native wildlife". is that really what will happen? you do know much of our government land is used by CATTLE RANCHERS to graze their cattle. also not a native species. also detrimental. is this about CONSERVATION? feeding the poor? or just BIG BUSINESS?
So how many times does it take a cow or a pig to go through a slaughter house before they are accustomed to it? Schmo.
point was that cows and pigs are sent through devices such as shoots in order to vaccinate, brand, etc, prior to slaughter. horses are not, and therefore the experience of going into slaughter is completely foreign to them. the slaughter and transport (in double decker trucks) is not a new experience to cattle. it is for horses. the humane treatment of any animal at time of slaughter in a country as privileged as ours (yes, ours is privileged, even during a recession), is an important issue to consider. it also relates to food safety. give me a more intellectual argument, in the meantime, you can have your SCHMO.
Shame on you, horses are the most beautiful animals in the world. Eating horses is as bad as cannibalism. Don't even think about it.
Are you vegetarien?
This article has an error. I live in Canada and never in my life have I ever seen someone here eating horse meat.
They do have horse Slaughter houses in Canada and they do produce horsemeat for consumption in Canada. That I am 100% sure of. It became illegal in the US and more places opened up in Canada. All of our horses on the Feedlots got to Canada and Mexico for slaughter.
Work with your Government to stop it !
Kelly, no....not all horses on feedlots go to slaughter (not all that go through auctions do either even if the kill buyer buys them!)....horses aren't on feedlots except the ones already purchased for slaughter. Horses don't fatten like cattle do so feedlotting them is a waste. The ones going through auctions and being purchased by the kill buyers are often sorted by that buyer into groups....those he thinks he can resell (ones that have some training, are gentle and catchable)and those he can't (crippled, nasty tempered, grossly ugly, aged). He can/does make more money doing resales of those he can than he will make on the ones going to slaughter and he often has a well established network of people wanting horses or willing to find other s that do. The kill buyer at the two local auctions here is actually a very knowledgable horseman and works to find homes for those that are still usefull.
Really ? – The only reason these horses are being rounded up is that ranchers (who are only leasing government land ,(YOUR land),for pennies on the dollar), don't want the horses competing with thier cattle for food. The horses belong to the American people. Take a vote . The vast majority will want the horses left alone and allowed to roam free. NOT EAT THEM.
I agree completely !!! Why don't they let the American vote on issues like this??? For ranchers to be screaming at the horses and wolves for "encroaching" on their land is sooo stupid – it's their natural environment, not the ranchers.
Bravo Mike !!
yeppers. if it wasnt for the horses the ranchers wouldnt be able to round up their cattle.
Really-? Seems to me that while this is not an official vote that the polling done here proves that there is NOT a vast majority who are opposed to eating horse meat. In fact, for those have have actually eaten horse meat at some point in time they seem to be universally in favor of it and enjoyed the experience. Everyone needs to beware of the ignorant making blanket statements.
We don't have many wild animals left anymore becuase all of our greedy developers insist they on building these awful gated communiities and neighborhoods where every damn house looks the same.....
It would absolutely be a shame to reconsider the Restore Our Mustangs Act and let them be slaughtered in our communities. As it is, we have thousands of horses that are sold in Auction to the Feed Lots in the US, then shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. I adopted a beautiful Quarterhorse from the Feedlot, she was in perfect condition, very well trained and has been amazing to have in our family – I wish we could outlaw the Feedlots!! Do you all realize beautiful Thoroughbreds from the racetrack are sent there if they don't win enough races??
These are brilliant beasts that help build the west and today they forge true relationships with humans, similiar to dogs and cats. They should be protected from humans and they should have the room to grow and prosper.
When will we ever learn that it isn't all about us?!?!?
Pass the peanut-butter and crackers (good protein and no killing – what a thought!!)
Apologize for the grammer !!! I was rewording some sentences and now the beginning is all messed up... sorry !
Horse is quite tasty and flavorful, between beef and venison, which is just about right in terms of position on the phylogenetic tree.
The REAL issue with meat consumption is conditions, under which the animals have been raised, regardless of species. Are all here-professed horse-lovers only consuming organic meat? Do you stay away from the supermarket super-saver megapack of bacon? Because how those animals have been industrially produced, that is the real tragedy.
Rather than getting worked up about a species that is nowhere near the threat of extinction, possibly bother eating less but properly raised animal protein.
Yes, I DO skip the mega packages of meat at the grocery store :)
There's plenty of other animal meat available fo the hungry, like Possum, Coon, Rabbit Squirel, Elk, Deer Etc Etc.
I am an American and while I was in Japan a few years ago, I was offered horse meat sashimi. After a little contemplation, I decided to give it a try... it was absolutely delicious. I love it! I ate it several more times in different locations in Japan and loved it each time. I ate it several times raw and never became sick. I don't think there is a scientific or moral argument against the use of horses as food. The only argument is emotional and that really doesn't hold much water. I say, put it on the menu.
Horsemeat was, for a time in the 70's, available to at least New York state. It was something just a little less than a fad, but much talked about. My recollection is that it never took off within the year or so time period it was around, then just disappeared.
Dogs & cats should be included too. It would solve the stray animal problem a bit and still leave plenty of animals for the obsessed, responsible pet owners.
YOU are an idiot.
...is that sarcasm???
Also, nobody's MAKING you slaughter your favorite pet horse Fido when you were growing up on a farm in the middle of god knows where.
Additionally, nobody's MAKING you eat or buy horse meat.
Quit being a buzzkill for the rest of us.
Slaughtering and eating our National Treasure, the wild horse, is Un-American.
No, telling people what they and can't do for emotional reasons is un-American. Remember that thing called, freedom?
You mean the kind of freedom that these mustangs enjoyed? Well it was freedom until they were stampeded, forced into pens and slaughtered...
If i want to eat a horse, eat a dog, and drink raw milk there is no reason the government should have any say over what I can or can't eat.
I agree with you,those that think its ok to slaughter our beautiful wild hoses or domestic horses are disgusting and very very unamerican.These horses represent this country's heritage and our History.There are enough animals that are raised just for eating and it definitely is not the wild horses.you have my vote on this completely.wild horses need to be left alone and able to roam free and raise their families as God so intended them to.
PETA needs moar carnivores.
Maybe I go join!
I've had a lot of horse meat and I love it.Especially good on a sandwich.
I mean what's the difference, cow or horse. It's meat. Eat it.
Why add another animal to the list of those raised for food. What is the point?
Is tasty
Its not the issue of eating horse meat that is worrisome, its the issue that just as we slaughtered buffalo to the brink of extinction and beyond, we will do the same with our last populations of Wild Mustangs. If we need to control Mustang population, it should be done through humane practices such as selectively gelding/culling the stallions and/or mares, not through inhumane roundups and placing these majestic animals on our "delicacy" list. Shame, shame, shame...
Gina, I know this is a strange concept but just how do you think you can cull or geld the stallions or provide birth control of some sort for the mares WITHOUT rounding them up first? Have you seen the country these horses live in? I have a herd of 47 of them in two small and one fairly large band living within 4-5 miles of me. I live at 4000 feet elevation. The mountain range maybe a mile to my east goes to 9000 feet in less than a half mile of horizontal distance....that's 5000 feet UP. It has some impressive canyons in it and the ONLY way up there is walking, riding on horseback or helicopter. Using horses to round up horses doesn't work well....the ridden horse has more to balance and can't keep up well. Please state the roundup in which "thousands" of mustangs died. There have been some losses....some injuries that could not be treated in a wild animal, some that could not tolerate the change in diet from dried cheat grass to good hay, some with diseases (most recent were several deaths from the streptococcal infection known as strangles....sometimes not serious and other times fatal to both wild and domestic horses).
We often ate dried horse meat on rye or pumpernickel bread as a child. It is not available here in the US and that is a shame. Horse as meat is no different in practice than cow or sheep or pig. They are all animals. At different times I have raised goats, pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys and it is all food at the end of the day. I would buy horse meat from my local butcher if it was available.
The last real frontier. Magestic. Horses took up almost half of my life for good reason. They look so healthy and vibrant –until the helicopters run them down - and they are herded into tight bunches with hot steam rising from their backs. Please let them the Earth.
to sustain human life than an animal that just mopes around eating my plants!
And what do you do that is so amazing??? Sitting at your window getting pissed off at the animals that are eating??
Ok. I'm seeing that some people on here are ok with the meal of horse meat and some are not. Some have already ate horse meat and like it. I havent seen anyone say they ate it and didnt like it. The govt is trying to find a way to slaughter the wild horses and have our blessing. I understand those horses out there on the fed. land are poplulating and eating the grasses meant for cattle. But, I'm telling you... it'll be a sad day when we see that horse meat has become a normal choice of meat along with cattle or hogs. I got a feeling this – will – come at some point. I hope I'm long gone by then. It will only be a matter or more time when dog will be added and cats..how 'bout some cockatoos and gerbils while we're at it, its all meat right? It will all probably taste like chicken. puke... I'm still not eating a horse !
sorry, I don't care what the ' pro' people say. If you people say... " who am I to say -no- to people that want to eat horse meat?" you'll be part of the people that will not stand up and say "no... no way..."
The slaughterhouse method is not pretty- but eating horses isnt pretty either... in my book.
When that plate comes from the kitchen with a hot, steaming, browned steak on it surrounded by a baked potato and steamed vegetables, you would never know where or how it was treated. Horse Steak is actually quite tasty and I ate mine in Massachusetts. It was better than the Monkey in Panama or the Dog in Korea and as good as the Buffalo Steak in Montana or the Elephant Steak in S. Africa. I didn't really like the Ostrich in Australia but that was just me. And the Alligator in Louisiana was as good as the fish that came with it.
Hello peeeople, what do you think hotdogs are made of!? Duh!
Dogs ... Duh...
Many people have horses as pets, just as people have dogs and cats as pets. They are no longer solely a ranch necessity. Few people want to eat their trusted friend, "Fido" or "Morris." I certainly wouldn't want to eat the horse who was just as much as a friend – if not more – than any dog or cat.
As one who doesn't eat dead animals, I think you meat eaters should eat horse everyday. Anything that gives you colon cancer quicker means more social security benefits for us vegetarians.
You are an idiot. SSI will be history within your lifetime. Chew on that.
Go eat a fig.
In the Russian sense.
Or, actually, in the literal sense. That works too.
How about if I do it on the beach, so it would be in the littoral sense...
Meant that as a reply to ATLdoogie, not you.
Heeeeere we go.
It's vegetarians/vegans like you that give us rational/sensible ones a bad name. You chastize people for electing to eat "dead animals" yet in the next sentence are wishing death upon your fellow humans. Next time you wish to contribute to a conversation get off your high horse (like the pun?) and show other humans, who are animals, the same level of compassion you want all creatures to be treated with.
As for me, I don't like the taste of most red meat so I doubt I would enjoy horse meat. However I have been wrong about likes/dislikes before (octopus, who knew?!?) so I would probably try it once and go from there.
...and good day to you also, glad to see you are someone who is not overly judgmental and is tolerant of opposing viewpoints. :)
Spoken like a true Democratic Liberal. Social Security Benefits! Get real and stop breeding, please.
nope. not gonna do it. i have no issue with going out and shooting a deer for some venison, or ordering a bison burger, but i think eating horse would be a bit much. i just dont 'see' horses as food. i see them as pets, modes of transport, beautiful majestic beings. i've worked on a dairy farm...love cows, they're so cute, especially the calves. but beef, that i can eat. horses...just plain 'no'. they dont fit into my class of food. to each his own.
Our wild horses are sacred and represent freedom and are our National Treasure.
Wild horse body parts and flesh do not belong on a dinner table.
Whilst a small group of Pro Horse Slaughter gathered yesterday in LV, Europe took a step forward, in removing horse flesh from store shelves, after seeing the truth of what happens to horses through the extremely cruel and gruesome process of slaughter.
"The most violent weapon on earth is the table fork." ~Mahatma Gandhion
Yeah, not sympathetic at all to this point of view.
Cows are tasty, chickens are tasty, fish are tasty, mollusks & other seafood are tasty, lamb is tasty (mmm, gimme the YOUNG ones :D), etc.
Horses are tasty too (though a little gamey), and I look forward to seeing them on my table in the near future!
So where is the document proclaiming horses to be a sacred national treasure? I want to see it. OH, you meant that was just your personal view, well ok then, I guess you are entitled to one. Seemed though as if you are trying to pass it off as an established fact that represented the whole nation. You might want to clarify that a bit next time.
There are no wild horses in the New World, only feral domestic horses. They are an introduced species, sometimes invasive and destructive. Processing them for food is preferable to shooting them and burying them, or letting them die of starvation and disease.
" but is a not uncommon element of French, Belgian, Swiss, Japanese, Chinese and even Canadian cuisine..."
Horse meat not uncommon in Canadian cuisine? Pardon? Canada does export horse meat for human consumption, and to my knowledge has no issue with its people eating horse meat, but I have never in my life seen anyone eat it, been offered it, seen it on a menu, seen in in a grocery store or even heard it mentioned as a consumable in this country. Might a specialty butcher off it? Sure, but to suggest it is not uncommon in Canadian cuisine is ridiculous reporting. The involvement of the CFIA would certainly be from a regulatory standpoint for EXPORTING purposes, not to encourage domestic consumption. We eat some crazy stuff, but to suggest any of it is common is just wrong. Plus, much like many Canadian cultural debates, we really aren't sure what "Canadian Cuisine" is. We're great at Pizza and Shawarma, but I think there might be some ownership issues there.
More to the point of Westerns eating horse. Simple fact: introducing something like horse meat to the American market would be about as successful as introducing dog meat. If it isn't on your plate today, pushing something else off to make room for it would be incredibly difficult. New flavours of Doritos have a hard enough time succeeding, try telling an American to give up a hamburger for a horse steak. It just isn't reasonable. Repackaging turkey to expand its season (turkey burgers for instance) is viable, you eat it all the time, you have positive experiences with it, but suddenly suggesting a horse instead of a cow is plain silly. American's are simply to rich to eat "other" meats. There is no necessity to expand the meat wheel.
I would suspect that America's motives would be similar to Canada, export the stuff to people who can't afford beef. Canadian and American beef exports are by and large destined for foreign luxury consumers, horse would be something to throw at the other ends of the specturm. As adventurous as most western consumers are, replacing a protien source with a well known and largely beloved work animal won't work on any useful scale.
As a life horse trainer and riding instructor (and while I personally strongly oppose adding horse meat to our diet) I can say that another issue is that horses are given substances both internally and topically that will make the meat unsafe for human consumption. Equine fly sprays, hoof dressings, medications, wormers, etc. are all different than the cattle, hog, or poultry industry and could be very damaging to our bodies.
I just don't understand the comments that rank animals in order of eating acceptability, the horses are worse than cows, cats and dogs are worse than horses, etc. Personally, I feel a little guilty eating any meat, and I've tried to become a vegetarian a few times. But also, I realize that human beings are naturally omnivourous, it's just part of life. I don't see why one animal's life is worth more than another's. And eating horse is NOT a slippery slope to eating other humans, come on people, seriously?
mmmm barbeque black beauty....
IF someone wants to eat horsemeat, please go ahead. I don't see a difference in eating horse, dog, guinea pig, or any creature. What I do have an issue with is the treatment of those animals prior to and during slaughter. The main issue with horse slaughter in the US, and most likely anywhere, is that the government office for BLM uses extremely harsh and disastrous methods to capture the wild mustangs, often killing thousands during a roundup. Then they hold them in pens and such for a year or better before selling them at minimum costs. Not really a profitable business but then they are moving those animals out of government (public) land and then leasing it to private ranchers to graze their cattle on it. That is how the BLM continues to make their money but at the expense of the wild horses. The slughterhouses that were operational in the US a few years ago would take any animal regardless of condition and the people buyting horses to slaughter would stuff them into trailers with no room to move, drive across the country, and show up with horses in the worst condition before they were killed. Just a little bit of decency for an animal if it is no longer wanted on this earth please.
Another issue with the slaughter of horses for meat in this country is the large amount of drugs and things put into the animals during their life. Does anyone want to eat tainted meat like that. Be careful what you do, it will affect you in the future.
BTW, I do own horses myself and would never eat one or think about sending them to be slaughtered. They are not livestock like cows or sheep. They should be considered a different type of farm animal and not considered as meat creatures. They have a higher purpose in life. They are intelligent creatures with their own personality, unique from the other horses.
Why in the world is a horse better than a cow? Why does a cow deserve less respect? I LOVE horses, but find that rather offensive. Cows can be extremely affectionate and wonderful creatures. Just because society looks at them as food here doesn't make them lesser than a horse.
I see horse meat for human consumption from various viewpoints. I grew up on a ranch riding horses most of my summers. I am still on the ranch and still own horses. While eating horse meat would probably not be real high on my list of things to do I also don't see much difference in eating one of the horses I own or one of the cows I own. Granted the human species has had a closer working relationship with horses than they have had with cows and that puts a slant on it. For me the biggest concern in this is the humane treatment of the horses and if the average citizen thinks that the Restore our Mustangs Act that prohibited the processing of horses has made life easier and better for horses in general, they have no clue as to what is going on. That act has created more needless suffereing by horses than they ever would have encountered in a processing plant. Since horses could no longer by processed the market on "slaughter horses" dropped to zero and eliminated the best way of dealing with and disposing of unwanted horses. Since the enaction of that act there have been untold numbers of horses suffer from neglect, hunger and abandondment simpley because the owners can't afford to keep them anymore or to pay a vet to have them put down either. So thousands of horses have been left to die on their own, cruely dragging out their decreasing condition for months till they finally give up and die. That same animal could have been taken to a processing plant and turned into something that would benefit somebody somewhere. To me that would seen like a more noble death than to have their starved and emaciated carcass finally picked over by coyotes and vultures. Horses, just like everything else on this planet are a resource and should not be wasted. As humans it is fine for us to raise, ride and enjoy the individual horses who have ability to do the things that bring a sense of pleasure to us. But when a horse is no longer wanted because of age, temperment, serious injury or for whatever reason, they deserve something better than neglect, coyotes and vultures, which is just what the Restore our Mustangs Act accomplished. So yes, process them, if they are useable for human consumption and someone wants to eat them then fine, if they are not fit for human consumption then let them become food for the cats and dogs that no one seems to want to eat (native americans ate dog frequently 100 years ago). Would I ever eat horse meat? ...I would not be opposed to giving it a try.
They say this is a "cheap" food source for hungry americans....but in reality it will just end up being promoted as some exotic food that is over priced at your nearest up scale restaurant.
This is a joke.
maybe if i didn't know it was horse meat...
If you slaughter horses, what will that say to children when they ask what is this mommy or daddy? Oh son or daughter that is horsy meat. Common, horses are the back bone of the west it is how we once traveled how can we be so cruel as to slaughter them for human consumption. If we as americans slaughter these animal, we will have crossed a line, that we should have not crossed. Please please think about what we are considering doing.
Those same people that forged a new country didn't have a problem eating horse meat. It was economics. Why buy a steak when ol paint has plowed his last row.
Does anyone know why in the US we do not eat horse meat in the first place?
Of course. It's the horse racing industry. Do you realize how many "race"horces are sent to slaughter every year just because they're not fast enough? Why continue to feed and house an animal that has no value in the industry in which it was bred for?
God help us! So it has come to this? The West would not have been settled had it not been for the back-breaking work of horses – wars have been fought on the backs of horses – money has been made (albeit in an ugly way) at the racetrack – and now we want to eat these noble – yes, I said – noble creatures. No way in hell !!!
Yes the horse helped settle the west but when it was old and wore out, or if there was not any other food, then the horse became supper. Our American Indians ate the horse, settlers moving west ate horse, the US Cavalry ate their horses when other food was not available. So this argument is just based on personal feelings and not fact.
Yes, horses did much of the work of getting people and materials to settle this and other countries....and were eaten all along the way. Horse meat supported our troops through two world wars ("bully beef") and was openly available in butcher shops (including in Portland, Ore where I bought it) up into the 70's.
This symposium is about much more than whether or not horse's can/should be slaughtered for meat (or any other use)... it is about the owners of animals having options in how they make use of their animals. In some areas of the country chemical euthanasia is more expensive than the horse itself. In some areas a chemically euthanized horse can't be buried due to ground water contamination issues. Some vets, due to the "do no harm" concept of medical care, will not euthanize a healthy horse just because an owner can no longer support or care for it (for whatever reason), can't sell it (no market for many horses partly due to economy and partly due to surplus of horses so only those well bred, well trained and fairly low priced are moving..and sometimes they don't move either), can't give it away (mostly economy). Horses are being left tied to trailers, dumped in the desert (owners afraid to sell as they are fearful that all auction sales mean a killer buyer/slaughter.....stories from the AR people...just scare tactics) and abandoned around the country. No one at the symposium is saying anyone would be forced to sell to slaughter...just that having it as an option for those owners wishing to use it should be possible. Are there surplus horses? Yes. Horses live 20-30 years so the surplus seen now is those bred over the last 20-30 years, long before our economy tanked (but from about the same time as the wild horse and burro protection act came to be). We will continue to have a surplus for years to come. Approx 900,000 to 1 million horses a year die in this country (American Horse Council figures)....100,000 of them are slaughtered in slaughter facilities. Owners must have some options about what to do with them. AR people, in attempting and succeeding in shutting the US slaughter houses down, said that there would be plenty of homes for the excess....hasn't happened. They said horses would become available by adoption for anyone wanting one....that did happen but lots of the owners had no experience and now, with the economy problems as well, they aer dropping their animals (the average lifetime involvment in horses is 5 years ...also Am. Horse Council figures). Now the rescues are full and are in turn being shut down for neglect and abuse.....some "rescuers" are actually hoarders. Experienced horse people warned of this but were poo-poo'ed as being negative and obstructionist and against the good of the horses and then accused of saying that this wouldn't work just because we were breeders. Truth came home to roost... and now there needs to be a way to deal with the results.
Regarding mustangs...they are not native, are doubling herd sizes about every 4-5 years and are on the range all year long. There are 47 in three groups within 4-5 miles of my place in northern NV....BLM denies that they even exist. They raid my haystacks, challenge my stallions, try to steal my mares and make it nearly impossible to ride out onto the desert or up into the canyons in the mt range near me....it is highly dangerous to be trying to ride a mare and have a wild stallion trying to breed her or drive her to his herd; riding one of my stallions out is even more hairy as there are "fight" challenges. I've assisted some neighbors 4 times this summer in getting a young bachelor stud out of their place (15 acres, all fenced...he takes the fence down). There are several horse x car/truck accidents every year on one of the main roads from eastern NV to Carson City(state capital)...the horses almost always die and in most cases so do the people. BLM has depended for 30 years or so on adoptions to take the extra horses produced in the herds....changing demographics (baby boomers are aging and have been the backbone of the horse adoptions as well as the horse industry) and a crappy economy (hard to want to adopt if you lost your job and home and can't support one...even the most naive of potential novice horse owners can figure this out) have made adoptions no longer attractive. BLM has done an abysmal job of managing the herds ....they haven't until just recently even considered other ways of reducing the herd growth.
Ranchers with grazing leases move cattle on/off grazing so as not to destroy it. They also build/maintain access roads and provide water hole structures (tap into springs, put in water tanks, haul water when springs dry up....all wildlife in the area benefits), haul hay at times when range is unable to support wildlife due to fire (cattle help graze down fuel loads, esp cheat grass). Without the grazing leases the price of beef would probably be clear out of sight. Ranchers HAVE to take care of the range....it is their livelihood.
Options that have come up are the establishment of slaughter procedures and regs that would be appropriate for horses; formation of a "do not slaughter" registry (probably by use of micro chips which auction houses already have scanners for) to protect horses of owners that don't want them to go to slaughter; a tiered system of evaluations for the animals with those that are potentially rehabable to go to training/rehoming and slaughter being the last option. 7 states have indicated an interest in establishing facilities.....doing so would eliminate or seriously reduce the length of time animals would be in transportation. Owners could personally deliver their animal if they chose to do so. Meat would be possibly sold to states to use for programs such as prisons, school lunch programs etc. Inspections would be done and third party monitoring for abuse/regulation violations.
I am a horse breeder and have been for over 30 years. I'm proud of my business (yep, a business, not a hobby, not pets although I dearly love every horse here...there are 22 BTW). I have some of the best performance bloodlines in the Paint world. I spent a lot of time learning about bloodlines and performance records and color genetics and potential genetic problems. I spent a huge amount of money (could have had a really nice house with what I've spent buying my breeding stock). I spend around $10,000 a year just on hay...that goes into my local economy. I don't breed to produce culls to send to slaughter at pennies a pound. I do produce foals that aren't as good as I had hoped....and sell them reasonably priced (and well handled, with vaccinations, worming, some training, and their registration papers...all of which costs time and/or money) to kids for 4-H or to someone wanting a ranch horse to train or to someone wanting a trail riding horse for instance. With changes in the market it appears that the horses that are going to be selling are 2-4 years old and started nicely under saddle. Even if I do most of the training work myself I will have 3-5 years of feed (their mothers have to be fed while they're pregnant with them) at a minimum of about $500/year/horse, some farrier and vet care, and my training time....so selling for less than about $3K is loosing money....something that a business doesn't do for long and stay in business. Am I flooding the market....hardly....I have 10 mares and have produced 5 foals in the last 3 years...one died of rattlesnake bite, two sold and two are here. Most of the breeders I know are in the same spot...cutting back so far they are almost out of business and at risk of loosing valued bloodlines.....and being castigated for being a breeder and accused of selling foals for "profit" for slaughter.
Be very careful what you wish for.....if the slaughter process isn't ideal, fix it, but don't ban it. Banning it because some bleeding heart living in an office and thinking that Saturday morning cartoons (with a collie that sounds suspiciously like Sean Connery) reflect how horses really function finds it objectionable just doesn't make sense. If slaughter is determined to be cruel or inhumane and slaughter is not allowed what will be next? Will using a dog for hunting birds be cruel (to dogs)? Will that be banned then? or keeping a cockatiel in a cage...is that cruel? If so your grandmother might have to give up her pet. Wayne Pacelle, current head of the Humane Society of the US (HSUS) is a former PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals....an organization listed by the FBI as a domestic terrorist group) executive and has stated that curtailing breeding of any pet animals or any livestock animals for ONE generation would eliminate all of them...and you know what? he's right. Guess what the goal is?
Best comment I've seen so far. I absolutely agree.
I would never eat horse. What a sad statement on our society if people did eat horse meat. But
There are people who will eat anything and how many news stories have we read about cannibalism.
Used to be millions of tasty passenger pigeons for those with a liking for squab...
People all over Europe eat horses and Europe is more advanced than the United States.
Is that supposed to be some sort of logical argument? If it is, a) prove that Europe is "more advanced" than the United States, and b) show, logically, how any action committed by an entity that is considered "more advanced" than another should necessarily be adopted by the other.
If it wasn't for us "less advanced" Americans, everyone in Europe would be speaking German- and by the way, genious, there would be no Internet for you to post your moronic comments.
As I read the comments above it brings one thing to mind!! We as homo sapians are not much better then animals! What a bunch of sickening animals we are. And what we have sunk to!!! Whats next? People? Because they are poor or weak?
I'm going to repost a section of a reply I made to an earlier post because it was a similar argument...
"...is meerly an attempt at reductio ad absurdum (stretching an argument to the point of absurdity to disprove it). The "would you eat humans" defense works only if you are attempting to prove that one should not eat all meat, or all mamals, or all primates. The fact is we do eat cow, pig, elk, deer, wile boar, etc, and unless you can make a similar delineation between horses and the animals we already do eat, then your point is moot."
As a species, humans are much WORSE than any other animal. We have zero consideration for any other species, for one another or anything but ourselves. I hope the Earth gets rid of humans soon. Unfortunately, that will likely kill most other animals too, but such extinction has happened many times before.
How do we know they're not serving horse already? If Americans are going to eat cows, pigs, chickens, fish, bison, alligator, rattlesnake, etc... why not eat horse, dog, cat, or anything else? It's just meat, right? I'll continue to steer clear of the stuff. Enjoy! NAY!
So much meat going to waste ......everyday thousands of humans die, don't waste this protein ,cook it!
.No need for slaughter-men , just yummy new recipes !
Meat is meat whatever the animal (two legs or four!).
The truth is if McDonald's sold it we would eat it.
sure would! especially if it were on the dollar menu...WHAT A BARGAIN!
Speak for yourself.
The way that I see it, as long as whatever meat is desired is safe, I see no problem in it being sold and consumed. Would I want to eat every possible thing, probably not, but if someone else wants to, why stop them. God gave us dominion over the animals, and as long as the blood is not still in the animal, I have no problem eating it. As long as it is cooked/prepared right, almost all meats are safe.
I'll try anything once when it comes to food. Most of the time the experience is fantastic.
Meat is meat. I donate my body to hungry children in Africa when I'm gone.
What about hungry children in AMERICA! Of course not dead humans but beef, etc.
I don't see why it can't be offered as an alternative.
No one would be forced to eat it. If you don't want it, don't buy it.
I really don't see the big deal.
I always thought it was crazy that people put horses in fenced in areas and call it a pet. Id still eat horse meat though
I don't own horses, but I work and volunteer time with horses every week. I have bonded with the people I help train and this topic has come up in conversation over and over. Horses are meat animals in some countries, but when they become pets and family, the owners can not view them as a slaughterable animal. I have, however, asked if they would be opposed to donating the meat to a needy family if the animal died of trauma or a none-infectious illness (such as brain cancer) and everyone has said yes, they would if there was a way.
So I guess I am saying, I don't have a problem with the eating of the meat so much as I have a problem with killing a faithful animal that I view as a working partner and a friend.
I do want to point out that I am one of those crazy people that could not fathom eating dog or cat because they are like children to me, but I have eaten rabbit, duck, patridge, kangaroo, elk, buffalo, emu, ostrich, venison and various other wildlife. I don't have a problem with meat eaters, I just have a problem with slaughtering animals that we raised to be dependent on us and work beside us.
What about eating rat meat instead? There are plenty of those to go around. Horses should not be eaten. The US government is just trying to find a way to justify slaughtering wild mustangs who interfere with grazing on public lands.
Yes, it's a huge conspiracy by our democratic president to get government oversight over horse slaughter and packaging. We can call it the Bureau of Equine Slaughter and Transport, or BEST. We'll fund it with taxpayer money and it will create millions of jobs – Jobs that we would not have had without the current administration. Why heck, it could turn the whole economy around... What a bunch of horse poo.
Eating horse meat was as much a part of the old west as drinking . Most of the horse meat processed now goes to Europe where eating it is a common practice. The way it is now ranchers are burdened with horses that can no longer work, effectively stealing income for them by denying them the right sell to meat processors.
While I haven't tried and won't try horse meat, I don't think it is my place to tell someone else what they can and can't eat. However, I do think that we already have in place a poor system of regulating the treatment of all animals bred and raised solely as a foodsource for humans, and I'd hate to see another species thrown into that often cruel and inhumane process.
I'd especially hate to see what might happen should young horses' meat be deemed a delicacy, a la veal, and they be subjected to the same treatment as baby cows.
no way
My wife has a horse which I love almost as much as she does. That being said I would have no problem eating horse meat. How is a horse any different from a cow, deer, buffalo, etc.? As long as they are treated humanely (unlike most meat in this country) then I see no problem eating horse whatsoever.
This doesn't make any sense. You love your wifes horse and I'm assuming you both have become attached to it yet you'd slaughter and eat it???
You don't slaughter your companion individual to consume. You consume different individuals. There is a big difference in that. There will always be companion animals and consumption animals. I really want a pet cow. And a pig. Both animals are incredible. I would not stop consuming beef or pork, but I would not kill those individuals.
I also would love to be able to raise my own animals for consumption. I would know then how they were treated in life and death. But they would be raised for consumption, not to be companions.
It looks to me like the only demographic that really feels strongly about not eating horses are female horse lovers. Oh, and vegetarians, but they don't really care about the horse part of the equation.
That seems to be a perfectly valid observation. :)
I am proudly a female horse lover, but I would try horse meat.
I love all animals. If I can go and spend time with cattle, and see how beautiful and smart they are, feel their wet muzzles on my cheek, their strong muscles and still consume beef or milk, then there is no difference between them and any other animal I love.
We serve only the finest horse meat.
Lived in Iceland for a year and ate a great deal of horse meat and worked near a horse farm. It's pretty good but took some getting used to. Since we don't eat it much here, it was more of a cultural road block than anything else. Just hope they have the same treatment standards as they do in European countries, mainly Iceland. They rock over there.
If they only used wild mustangs, the meat would certainly be more healthy than cow meat from a farm. They haven't been purposefully injected with antibiotics and steroids. On that note, depending on how it is marketed, it could possibly be more expensive. Similar to how free range chicken meat and eggs are more expensive than their regularly processed counterparts. Though because of the general idea that you don't eat horses, I could see it being cheaper than regular cow meat.
Personally, I would try horse meat. I'm generally open to trying new things, and if it turns out to be tasty and cheaper, well hey, a poor college girl has to eat some how right?
!!!!
I like you
I LOVE HORSE MEAT@@@@ NOMNOMNOM EAT IT I LOVE HORSE MEAT@@@@ NOMNOMNOM EAT IT I LOVE HORSE MEAT@@@@ NOMNOMNOM EAT IT I LOVE HORSE MEAT@@@@ NOMNOMNOM EAT IT I LOVE HORSE MEAT@@@@ NOMNOMNOM
Now why the he ll was this necessary?
i second that!
Where is the Report button?
And that answers the question of how long a comment can be.
Were the minions playing on the computer again?
@Truth Hah. They wish. They know if they were to do something like this, it would mean severe punishment. No bedtime stories for either one!
Azz Hat!
Horse Meet You're a=== sick individual !
I think they let you out of the ward too soon.
ONLY FREAKS, DESPERATE LOSERS EAT HORSES !!!!!
Im so hungry I can eat a horse!
is just a part of the life cycle. So what, we assume dinosaurs had similar eating creatures as we do today (herbivores, carnivores and whatever the middle is). I doubt they had council meetings on what could and couldn't be eaten. Seriously, this whole "will" and "ethical" thing can't be part of evolution, since all we do is keep alive those that should have died a long time ago.
americans are too closed minded to ever fully accept eating something like horses, cats, and dogs. Keep on shoveling deer, cow, pig, and chicken in your mouths because that's acceptable. Right? ;)
Ben....... closed minded? Thank goodness I'm closed minded then. Really?! closed minded? How do you decide people are closed minded about eating horse meat? I've tried several things that I never thought I'd try.... snake, for one.... I think I'm pretty open minded. Its just that I have an emotional attachment to horses, dogs, cats, people.... I don't for snakes... I hate snakes. Maybe people like me need to be more open minded to eating things we 'hate'... Uh..no.... I don't support that either!!
Some people do have an emotional attachment to snakes. I have several friends that keep them as pets and companions. How is it ok to eat an animal that some people consider as pets, and then say you can't eat horses BECAUSE some people consider them pets?
horse lover,
yes, closed minded. Animals like cats, dogs, and horses can be the friends and companions of people and so can any animal for that matter but that's not the point. Every horse, cat, or dog isn't someone's friend or companion. Much in the same way every human isn't an individual's friend. It's closed minded to not consider horses as an option on the menu though, and to be honest you have a very biased opinion being a "horselover" if your name was "snakelover" and this article was about snakes i'm sure you'd be upset about that.
What's next , our dogs and cats ? I don't care what other country's eat, I would starve before I'd eat an animal that helped make this Great United States what it is today.."Remember" before automobiles and trains , they were our pets , transportation and companions..Now you sick people want to eat them.. If you do eat one , be sure to look that animal in the eyes and say I'm sorry...
Also remember that when times got hard, they ate horses too. Meat is meat when you are starving.
As should you, the next time you eat a steak.
I sincerely doubt the truth in that. Many breeds of cattle helped to shape North America as well. They worked the farms with the farmers.
Besides, any animal native to North America helped to shape North America.
I can't eat anything that was cute while it was alive...probably why I'm a vegetarian.
i know....a lot of these fatsos need to learn how to say NO to meat
Simmer down, my friend. Not all meat eaters are fat and not all vegetarians, or even vegans, are thin. If you cannot eat meat, that is the right decision for you. No need to be insulting of anyone else.
look better than virtually all animals, how dare you eat them?!
The idea of using horses for meat is disgusting and offensive. The way we treat livestock in this country is horrible enough as it is and now they want to round up and slaughter wild horses ? God forbid. People need to be more aware of how we treat animals and where our food comes from. Watch Food Inc. Open your eyes.
agree
So you have watched a video and think you know everything there is to know about how domestic animals are treated in this country? Are you open-minded enough, and have guts enough, to come spend a year with me and participate in everything I do to care for my herd of cows? You can help dig through snow banks to get hay to the herd every day with me. You can help put in 14 hour days 6 and maybe 7 days a week in the sujmer so that we have the hay to carry through the winter snow banks. You can also skip Dr. appointmens, church, kids activities, etc. because there is a heifer calving that might need some assistance with delivering her calf.
Angie.....you haven't the slightest clue what in the hell you are talking about other than what you saw on some edited and manipulated video clip somewhere. Come spend a year in my boots and THEN if you want to critize how I care for my animals I will listen to what you have to say.
I truly wish I could work with you, Alan. I have been looking for a place to volunteer.
Thank you for your work, Alan!
After the major contributions horses have made to civilization – be it through war, transportation or communication – surely we can think of something better to do with them than stuff them in our mouths. How about a little gratitude?
So then it's ok to eat Democrats?
Yes- please eat the Democrats before they enslave us all.
Never, never, no way! One of my best friends is a horse. He gives me hugs and kisses and pouts in the corner when I scold him.
I've been given hugs and kisses by cows, horses, dogs, goats... I do not understand why it is that so many people think a cow is less than a horse. I ride regularly, I do not have a horse of my own yet, but I do love them, I see them all the time. But cattle have personalities too... so do pigs...
I don't see a problem with allowing horse meat for consumption in our diets. It will have the same recognition that elk, venison, ostrich, and bison have in our diets now. Many people eat these meats and enjoy them, and many people do not. It's not that big of a deal. I'm not sure that I would be the first in line to try a Mustang Burger or Stallion Fillet, but one day I'll give it a try. Another exotic meat to try is kangaroo. Again, not for everyone or everyday, but quite good and very lean.
I encourage everyone here to please watch a video of how they slaughter horses and then explain to me why you think we'll do it any differently here. Horse slaughter is inhumane and very cruel. The only reason this panel exists is they want a legal means to slaughter their culls and make room fo rmore foals in their own breeding programs. Instead of focusing on horse slaughter perhaps these people should focus on reducing the number of horses through ethical means such as sterilzation or through educating the public on responsible horse ownership. For those of you who have been taught the slaughter industry is dead it is alive and well. We ship hundreds upon thousands of horses over the borders every year so a few irresponsible breeders or people who feel "Spots" has outlived her usefulness can make a quick $50. Please do research on this subject before jumping on the bandwagon of slaughter. Cows, ducks and sheep dont break their hearts trying to please you or carry your overweight behind over miles of trails so the least we can do is show compassion and respect for horses. To me they are no different from a dog and you wouldn't want to eat fido would you?
i totally agree with you! horses are my life as is my dogs. if not for horses (just like dogs) we would not be were we are today a strong,stubborn specie that thinks nothing but itself unless it effects them then they'll care
Bottom line? is this all about money ?????? my opinion: that would be so sad knowing we have stooped that low.
If you have never owned a horse, you will never understand. Most people keep them as a domesticated animal, like a dog. The thought of consuming either is revolting and disrepectful to say the least. Cows have been bread as a livestock for cosumption, rather than a 'pet'.
I hope anyone that dare eats it gets severly sickened.
So since cows were bred with the purpose of being turned into food, somehow that makes their lives worth less than a horse's? Sorry, that makes no sense. If you hope people that eat horse get sick, you should hope everyone that eats beef does as well, which, I'm guessing, includes yourself.
Horses were domesticated as working animals. As were cattle. I know people who have cows as pets. And pigs.
Seriously, why is a horse's life worth more?
One other thing, I've had horse sashimi before. It wasn't very good, but if people want to eat it I don't care.
Of course overly sensitive Americans will take an issue with it. Any animal the public deems as too cute and cuddly is off limits. Yet they don't care about any of the other animals that are slaughtered though.
In the past these same ranchers and farmers have pushed for the slaughter of wild horses simply because wild horses graze on public land whereas the rancher's cattle cannot. It's just an evil jealousy thing out of the thirst for money. There's a history of western farmers hiring out private "mercenaries" to go on public lands and slaughter wild horses end masses just out of spite.
These official titles and names are just there to hide the evil interests of scumbag ranchers. Do not allow horses to be ever subjected to slaughter for human consumption.
i support that 100%
Never, ever would I ever do that and I think the majority of the America people would not.
Instead of going after Horses as a food product why not White Tailed Deer?? They are extremely high in Protien and are plentifull across the United States. Venison is also tasty when prepared correctly. Other animals to consider would be Elk. Elk meat is VERY good and they are a large animal that could feed plenty of people.
Venison is on the menu at a lot of snotty restaurants. No problem there.
As a life-long horse lover and horse owner, I couldn't eat horse meat, nor would I run the risk of selling any of my 'kids' through a venue that might put them at risk of ending up in the slaughter plants... Generally I can eat the flesh of creatures specifically bred and raised to be slaughtered for their meat. Horses are most definitely NOT, though the byproduct foals from PMU farms come close. I'm amused at the comment 'aside from primates' – meat is meat, isn't it? even you draw the line somewhere.
Having had some exposure to livestock as a child ; all stock animals{ cows & pigs} have personality & affection & will become pets if it is encouraged. Using typical logic,killing ANY animal for food is wrong.
*like*
once you own a HORSE as a Pet ....THEN talk to me about "eating horses" ok!
and dont get me started about those who eat "dogs" is horrifying
this is 2011 already, there are many many ways to survive and eat well in this country, we dont live in the jungle where is understandable why they do it there.
what are you? a living dead type to start eating anything that moves? jeez
eat veggetables, grow ur own plants.... there is enough sources in this planet to survive, live the animals alone!
I'm a plant lover, quit eating my plants you pompous imbisile.
wow, great answer.
*like*
Yoganut and Carol..... I'm with you guys.. Why is this even part of that meeting- to decide of horse meat should become a food source for people here in the US. I don't want to see that ! See labels on meat pkgs in the meat market- 100 % horse meat- uggghhhh... its bad enough to know that horse meat goes in some dog food!
I understand a part of it... But... geez..... do we really need to start adding horse meat to our dinner selection here in the US.... are we really at this point? like I said before- its horses, then dogs , cats... how long before people reach the choices? Like Jeff said.."People don't really care that much what they put in their mouths, so yes". Americans wolf down fast food every day like there's no tomorrow, and the vast majority have no idea what's in that fast food. Throw some horse meat in a bun, add some chemicals, call it a hamburger, and no one would know the difference !!!
eeeekkk!! I'm getting sick to my stomach !! excuse me while I heave !!
agree with you
This meeting has nothing to do with horses becoming a food source in the United States. It's all about making money. There's no market for horse meat here in the US. It was mostly shipped overseas before and I'm sure it would be again if the pro-slaughter folks got their way.
Guess who supports re-opening horse slaughter? Cattlemen who want cheap grazing for their cattle on public lands that are currently occupied by mustangs.
Who else? Horse breeders who mass produce and want an easy place to dump their culls. Out of sight, out of mind.
The list goes on. For info check out the Straight from the Horse's Heart blog: http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/
Here's an excerpt from this blog:
A question never raised at the Summit was whether the U.S. would move to a meat animal passport system if horse processing were again made legal. In some European countries, horses are required to have a passport that follows them for life showing them to be chemical free. Such is the case for all European horses bound for slaughter. Virtually all domestic American horses would fail the test for dangerous chemical contamination because of the routine administration of bute, wormers, banamine, and other substances which remain in the carcass of an animal for life. Under current FDA rules, bute is strictly prohibited in food animals and there are no provisions under FDA rules for a decontamination period as was repeatedly suggested by speakers at the summit.
Even the once protected Mustangs under the management of the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are not chemical free. Mares returned the range are administered birth control and the horses moved to holding are wormed and treated with bute for their injuries. In addition, the European Union prohibits all wild equidae meat except zebra. BLM’s director, Bob Abbey was a keynote speaker at the summit which stated its primary purpose was to make horse slaughter for human consumption legal in the United States. Abbey stated in no uncertain terms that the slaughter of wild horses is off the table, a direct slap in the face to summit organizers.
Own a cow as a pet. Or a pig.
Respecting one life over another is awfully ignorant and sad.
Humans, like certain animals, are omnivores and are meant to eat meat.
Do you mean to tell me that you feed your cat and dog 100% vegetarian diets? Is it better for a chicken to die to feed your child or your dog?
100% of the answers to the poll should have been "People don't really care that much what they put in their mouths, so yes". Americans wolf down fast food every day like there's no tomorrow, and the vast majority have no idea what's in that fast food. Throw some horse meat in a bun, add some chemicals, call it a hamburger, and no one would know the difference
Wow...pompous and arrogant much?
I don't have the slightest idea how that comment was pompous or arrogant. Just pointing out a fact. Keep trying to start fights through your computer. Quite a life you must lead.
He wasn't being "pompous" or "arrogant" at all. He's completely correct. I've always thought that if some shady company harvested human bodies from some foreign country, processed the meat and sold it as some generic burgers at restaurants, people would eat it without a thought. Most people don't know or care where their food comes from, allowing for all sorts of inhumanities in the food industry. If slaughterhouses had glass walls, etc...
I once ate a rump roast from a donkey. It was called "Pompous Ass".
Jeff...It was nice of you to point out how meaningless your life is. I think majority would rule that you were picking a fight and not stating a fact, because it is a fact that not ALL Americans eat fast food. I being one of them. Also, by looking at the other comments here, the majority of these people will not eat anything that is put in front of them....and some of those people have to be American.
Not all Americans eat fast food, but enough do to make your comment SO TRUE, Jeff! It made me smile.
"French, Belgian, Swiss, Japanese, Chinese and even Canadian" – If they are doing it, we certainly should NOT be.
i am canadian buddy n let me tell you.... MANY will be offended by your statement.
Let me tell you and the rest of your offended posse, that just because you are doing it, isn't a good enough reason for We The People to do it. But hey, I love poutine, so thanks for that.
Meh, I'm Canadian too and I say let them be offended. Also, let the Spanish be offended that many people don't think they should be parading bulls around in rings jabbing them with spears and knvies until they slowly bleed to death.
Legally, a horse should be treated no differently than any other livestock. All should be treated as humanely as possible in whatever purpose they are used for.
That being said, I could never consume horse meat. My horse has enriched my life in ways I could never explain and I just couldn't do it without thinking of him.
If you had a cow or a pig as a companion, wouldn't you then be unable to consume those animals? Pigs are brilliant, sociable and funny. Cows have the most beautiful eyes and are so sweet, putting their wet muzzles to your face and demanding attention.
I love animals of all kinds. I have dogs, cats and I love horse back riding though am unable to care for a horse of my own at this time. I have a snake I must feed rats to, but I long for rats as pets just the same. Obviously the pets would not be snake food.
A horse is no better than a cow or a dog or a pig or a cat or a monkey or a chicken or a shark or a fish or anything else. No better and no worse.
Every animal deserves respect and love. But we are omnivores. We require meat and vegetation.
CC, if I had a pig as a pet, I doubt I could eat pork. I agree with your premise but for me there are emotions involved, and, with other alternatives, I see no reason to. Should someone else choose to, that is their right. As I said, legally a horse should be no different.
Oh Nooooo! People please don't start eating horses... next will be the dogs, especially Pit Bulls.... then the cats... then the people!! beware of Solent Green day!!!! waaaahhhh haaaaaaaa
thats exactly what i am saying!! thank you!!!!
to all you fat canivals out there....got eat your veggies!
Wild Mustangs are a classic part of the American landscape. They are sure to be over processed until extinction if we let the average obese American develop a taste for them. I say we just eat those 'hungry americans', they are the real invasive species, always asking for a dollar whenever I run into them. I'm absolutely serious.
Some how, there is something wrong here. Maybe it's that horses aren't native to the West?
I said 'classic' not 'native'.
Gotchya.
Or perhaps the fact that he was advocating canibalism??? Lol.
Actually there is now archealogical evidence through fossils that wild horses are indeed indigenous to North America.
The fault in your logic is that we would "eat them into extinction". Eating buffalo meat is the only thing that saved that species from extinction. People who raise animals for slaughter don't exactly have an interest in producing less animals, they have incentives to produce as much as they can sell. So the more popular horse meat becomes, the more horses there will be.
Right, because this country really suffers from a cow, pig, or chicken shortage. It has been said that if you want to get an animal off of the endangered species list then eat it.
As for horses, it doesn't interest me to eat one. I have personal boundaries when it comes to the kind of meat I am willing to eat. It doesn't have to be rational to you, just me.
People don't eat what they think of as "cute".
I found out this past weekend (while on holiday) that the reason Belgian fries are so amazing is because they are fried once in horse fat and once in beef fat. I'd start eating horse just so we had horse fat laying around to fry our fries in. They were delicious.
I don't think it will ever move beyond a delicacy in the United States. The average American consumer would refuse to ever try horse.
Belgian Fries? You should try the Clydesdale Tots!
It. But I've yet to try aligator, snake, dove, etc. Beef though is always good!
You should try dove, it is awesome.
I'm not big on dove. My dad used to cook it when he dove hunted, but I never really liked it.
Gator is rather tough but still good. I went to a chili cook off down south many years ago and one of the offerings was a Gator Chili. They also had a rattlesnake Chili (good), an Ostrich chili (boring), and a Nnutria chili (totally foul IMO). I also had a bit of a friend's Gator Gumbo and that was also rather nice, not something I would order again but something that was worth experiencing once.
Well this explains that steak I got in Paris...I have never seen a cut of beef like that in my life.
If it was in a restaurant, it can not be horse meat, horse meat is forbidden interdite in french restaurants. It is also forbidden in schools, hospitals etc. All french people don't eat de la viande de horse. No, no, no. Lots of anti ad campaigns here about it. Market going down, it is WWII crazyness that brought that meat.
Gives new meaning to the phrase "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse"...
Lol... True that.
I don't have a problem with any kind of meat really. The problem lies is the attachment to horses as pets and worker animals. This is why people have so much trouble eating cat and dog meat, because they see their companions rather than an animal like a cow or chicken.
What I think, though, is that if wild horse meat were to become a more popular food item, it would not be for the hungry. It would become a delicacy or the next exotic meat choice, and again would cater to those who can already afford food. And they would have to be careful not to just go out and harvest more horses than the population can sustain.
I suppose I don't fall on either side of this fence. I don't have a problem with eating horse meat, but I don't see the point in putting the effort in making it a popular meat choice unless it will be able to be used as intended and give hungry families a cheaper and more available option.
Just want to point out: it hasn't been widely reported, but for several years now pet horses have been turning up missing in southern areas of the US (mostly in part of Florida or Texas), where someone's horse is left out in their pasture for the night, but when the owner goes out to feed it in the morning, they only find bones and some hide left. Apparently, there is a market for it for parts of our population at this time (although what little I've heard about it has centered on immigrants to the US wanting to consume meat more common to their native culture).
The US has not had slaughter facilities for about four years now, so all the surplus horses are being shipped to Canada or Mexico for slaughter, including animals that have had multiple forms of chemicals pumped into them over the years. It simply is not possible to get a domesticated horse without some kind of chemical in them (fly spray, antibiotics, wormers, supplements, etc). The wild ones that are presently under consideration for slaughter is not because we are short on food: it is because ranchers with other domesticated livestock consider the wild horse a menace, taking away the land that they could be using for their animals. It's more "food politics" from big business.
No one should eat horses it's the wrong thing to do for humans. Horses are loving and caring animals so why should we eat meat when that animal is loving? We should NEVER EVER be mean when a animal or a human is nice to us! We should take care of them not be mean!
I couldn't do it... :(
I concur with you little one! Trigger hangs his head in shame!
Yup ain't doin' that, or buffalo.
Hey, buffalo is pretty good. It's a lot leaner than beef and it tastes better in my opinion.
I don't think that I would have an issue with it. I say that now without ever having been presented the opportunity to eat it, but it's similar to wild game, so why not?
On the other hand, I know I would never be able to eat cat/dog meat. EVER. I would just see my pets on my dish. It's a personal thing.
I understand why you would not want to eat cat or dog, particularly if you have one as a pet.
What frustrates me is when people try to dictate what other people can and cannot do based on their opinions on a matter (I'm not accusing you of doing this). What gives someone the right to eat a cow, and then tell me I cannot eat a cat (or horse)? (I'm not saying I would eat a cat, but I shouldn't be restricted from doing it)
Because of the nature of their physiology slaughter on horses begins before death. The torture begins before reaching the slaughter house with eyes being shot out in double-decker transports meant for cattle. Horse slaughtering is exactly like eating your dog or cat. Unfortunately many horses, who have lived in close companion ship with man, are trained against their natural predisposition to not trust man end up in slaughterhouses rivaling a Nazi Camp. Furthermore cultures for hundreds of years have not eaten horse meat and only most recently in the last few decades it has become a delicacy of overindulgent diners.
I absolutely 100% agree with you. As with the vegan/vegetarian/omnivore (exhausted) debate, no one should be able to say what another individual can or cannot eat. Some are offended by the consumption of cows. Americans are disgusted by Asian consumption of cat and dog meat. As long as it's not people eating other people (hey have to draw the line somewhere!), the issue should be an individual choice. I think a lot of the "uproar" is a byproduct of the so-called Nanny State, and the government telling us what we can and cannot do on such a minute level causes us to attempt to control the behavior of others. Just my two cents!
"no one should be able to say what another individual can or cannot eat... As long as it's not people eating other people (hey have to draw the line somewhere!)"
Do you really (have to draw a line)? Why not eat humans? Does it make you uncomfortable? There have been various tribal groups who have been fine eating human body parts in the past. I could invoke an argument of cultural relativism (if only for the sake of argument; in reality, I find cultural relativism to be largely a poor and dangerous standpoint).
From an ethical standpoint, I think one should be willing to accept the production, processing and consumption of any kind of meat, or none at all. Personally I choose the latter, as it allows me to be (ie live in a way that is) far more consistent with my views on ethics, environmentalism and economics.
@Greg Aside from any ethic arguments you can make, eating people is bad for you. It's been linked to diseases specific to peoples who have practiced cannibalism.
And really, eating human is much different than eating animal meat in just about every way. Again it's one of those arguments people throw in to try to prove how their opponent is so evil, even though it doesn't relate in the slightest. Along the lines of comparing food processing factories to Nazis. They don't have anything to do with each other. All it is is a scare tactic, meant soley to equate the image of your opponent with something abhorrent so that the listener will take your side.
Really, that's a bit over the top. I'm not even going to bother arguing your logic.
I'm with Evil Grin and Tazer here, that argument is in no way valid and is meerly an attempt at reductio ad absurdum (stretching an argument to the point of absurdity to disprove it). The "would you eat humans" defense works only if you are attempting to prove that one should not eat all meat, or all mamals, or all primates. The fact is we do eat cow, pig, elk, deer, wile boar, etc, and unless you can make a similar delineation between horses and the animals we already do eat, then your point is moot.
It is not about what you can eat, but the barbaric, inhumane transport, and slaughter, of the horses in Mexico and Canada. They die in the truck, trampled, packed in, sensitive, alive creatures that have given so much to humans, then they are terrified if still alive, lifted, cut up, while alive, crying, kicking, if you approve of this, you would have no soul or care for animals. It is not great for cows either, but it is somewhat more regulated, and they don't realize until the last minutes, even though they also have feelings. It would be a better world if we were more humane to all our animals.
YOU ARE A SICK SOB
I don't see horse meat as a huge deal. What makes it different from eating a cow, deer, or elk? They are all mamals of a similar type, and it can be said that moose, elk, or deer are as intelligent as a horse, and many cow lovers would talk about how intelligent they are.
I don't understand why people see some meet as being wrong, and others as being normal (primates aside), and cultural bias aside I'd like to hear a valid argument against eating horse meat (or cat/dog for that matter).
Agreed. We're just used to certain acceptable meats and proteins and so we don't see other meats and proteins as potential food, even though there's really little difference in the animals.
This is why animal become extinct, because humans feel as though everything is a meal. Think about it, God gave us certain animals for food and others to used a service to us. Just because we no longer need horses as much does not mean we suddenly enjoy them as a meal. When will the day come when humans decide to eat each other?
I wont eat dog cats or horse. The rest of you savages can eat what you like. I'm American, BEEF its what's for dinner.
@JCJ
Seriously? Categorizing animals as 'servants' is ok, but eating them is not? You are treating them just as poorly by calling them servants as considering them food. I imagine you are a vegetarian (if not vegan) who is uninformed about the food process, and believes that we live to make other animals suffer. We are at the top of the food chain for a reason, and though it may suck for other animals, that's the circle of life. If you don't agree with it, let us choose what we eat, and you can go eat some grass. (As long as the grass is animal product free.)
@JCJ
I don't know which part of your comment is the most asinine. That is all.
JCJ, you are an idiot. Are cows extinct? Pigs, chickens? And who says we can't eat and use an animal species at the same time (see cows (milk) and chicken (eggs) and in the same way horses (ride them))
I grew up in a country where eating horse meat was more or less normal (although a lot of horse-lovers would never touch it). Why do Americans think cows, pigs and chickens are the only way to eat meat? What about reindeer (perfectly edible), kangaroo, ostrich, rabbit?
Your statement that eating animals makes them go extinct is false. There are more chickens on earth then any other bird species.
@JCJ, where can I find this list of animals that god gave us to eat and to serve as servants? He must have given different lists to the Muslims and the Jews. Eating horse is just as arbitrary as eating beef or pork. Which animals you believe are ok to eat and which are not is just a matter of your upbringing .
@JCJ
Are you sure it was God? And are you sure He gave them to us to use for these purposes or was that man's idea to get ahead in this world?
@W, Raising an animal in a disgusting slaughter house torturing it throughout it's poor pathetic existence only to kill it for food which isn't even healthy for a human is a little different than 'calling' it or considering it a servant, 'servant' isn't a synonym for torture, are you kidding? Go educate yourself please...good lord.
With all the medication etc. that goes into horses – horse meat is not even allowed for the pet food indistry, why would I risk cancers etc. to eat it. Yes – the wild horses get it too, the BLM does give them medication to render them sterile. Would you like to eat meat that makes you sterile? I
There are more chickens on Earth than people. Support P.E.T.A. (People Eating Tasty Animals).
@Alex First, I have educated myself, thank you. I have seen the movie Food Inc., read the book The Omnivore's Dilemma, and worked on a farm. Second, I don't see where you are making the connection where I said servant is a synonym for torture. I understand they are two completely different words. I never stated that "Raising an animal in a disgusting slaughter house torturing it throughout it's poor pathetic existence only to kill it for food which isn't even healthy for a human" is anything like slavery, and I don't believe it is. I was simply stating that having animals as 'servants,' which JCJ had earlier spoken of, is just as objectifying of an animal as calling it food.
I think you may need to be the one to educate yourself, and read my statements and replies closely before you incorrectly attack me based on erroneous information.
I would never eat horse meat ,even in a dire situation,I would rather die first than eat my best friend a horse of coarse.
I haven't tried it and I never would it is against the laws of nature and against gods will.I am a horse loving person and always will even after my death and my ashes are spread out I will always belong with the horses,I was born on the New Years Eve at Midnight when the ball falls I was born and came in this world spoiled and I will be going out of this world with love,friends and most of all the horses.And NO HORSE MEAT WILL TOUCH MY LIPS!!!! I SAY HELL NO TO HORSE MEAT IT IS CRUIDE AND RUDE AND SLEEZY AND SICK AND HOW CAN PEOPLE DO THIS TO GODS GREATEST CREATURES!!!!!!!!!!
I dont see a problem with it. We eat everything else. Birds, Swine, Lamb, Goat, Fish, Plants.... Heck they all taste like chicken right?
People like you are why birth control is so important! you are so very inbreed!
With all the drugs, etc. and birth control (which appears to render many horses unable to reproduce), why would you want to eat the meat? Domesticated horses are given many drugs which have numerous side effects that have side affects. If these horses are shipped for slaughter, the drugs are not mentioned. That also affects the wild horses too.
An animal that has served humanity, should not be reduced to slaughter. The cruelty that goes on in many slaughter plants is not warranted when this animal reaches the end of its life. I believe if you carry this idea far enough, almost everything is there for consumption. Where do you draw the line?
Of course if you take this argument further, what is wrong with eating humans. They are mammals and fit the description of food. Perhaps we as humans need to reconsider what the value of any life is ..... be it human or animal.
Many farmers do not name the livestock they will be slaughtering for food. This must speak to something in the human that does not want to eat what is his friend and fellow traveler.
Specter, eating beef makes you no less of a savage than the rest of the meateaters
According to the BIBLE, God created animals before 'meat' was on the menu, they were obviously created for reasons other than to give us food. I wish the people who use this excuse would read even the first few pages before they decide to tell us what animals 'are for'
Ok, Evil Grin, where did you get your animal science degree? You have no idea the difference between a horse or cow.
It's psychological, I think. I struggle sometimes with what's the difference between my dog and a cow. Animals we've been trained to view as pets tend to not be socially acceptable as food. I have to admit, the thought of horse meat turns my stomach – but I know there's no rational reason why it should if I also eat beef, pork & chicken.
Whenever my dog gets out of line, I turn on the oven. He gets the picture.
It's not really palatable to eat dog, or other small carnivores. The fact that we don't eat horses though, is just kind of a weirdness in this culture. Just an anomoly. And I have 3 horses I love dearly. It is ruining the industry though, having nothing to do with excess animals.
I agree with Susan. I could *probably* never eat horse (never say never,) but there are waaaaaay too many of them. I constantly see ads on Craigslist for horses, good horses but grade animals, for only a couple hundred bucks or even free. As an herbivore it would make sense to slaughter them for meat.
Repulsive, Unconscionable!
Well anyone of you who figure eating dogs cats and horses is or can be acceptable as a food source; can pack up and move over to them countries that eat them animals .. Just leave our animals alone and we will decide if any cloved hoof that chews it's cud is unacceptable or not; but first,go read you bilble (if it's the same one as the one most of us read) and you will see on them pages that any other meat was declared unclean.. Then while you are reading them pages maybe pay attention to what else is written there....I figure there is a whole bunch of things in them readings; you will find as a better way to live your life as well... But I'm commenting on something I believe in; so you could be horse,dog or cat eaters can jump on the first boat back to the East and start learning to live in them countries as your own and leave ours alone..The excess,unwanted or homeless abused horses are strictly the result of uncaring breeders and irresponsible owners...Sadly with todays econimy there are lots of people who, twisted as it sounds and is, will let the horse starve before sending it to the meat plant...And the other twisted sadness is; is the lying meat buyers who will take that free horse or buy it for a hundred dollars and promptly ship it for meat.. In my opinion drugs in horses can be a good thing for those of you think that horse meat is a good thing.. Bute one of the most common drugs; is highly cancerous so it will only clear up the gene pool a little faster EH???
HORSES are an American icon! Hoofprints were by mankind when we came out of barbarism, are we really out
? I wonder about people, wheres our loyalty? is anything off limits? people make me sick!
You are on the right path of compassionate thought. Perhaps you should view 2 things.. 1. a horse slaughter video on You Tube. 2. Farm Animal Sanctuary video, and visit, of you are in California. The answers for you will become apparent.. and the support of compassionate eating, is vastly available.
Anything should be fair game. Cows, horses, primates. I mean it's all just meat, right? Hm, but primates hit a bit too close to home, don't they, making people uncomfortable with the slaughter and consumption of them. I guess it's just ok to commit such acts against beings that are "sufficiently different" from us. Interesting mentality, that. Responsible for the darkest aspects of human history...
Actually, Dave, many countries eat primates. In fact the consumption of monkey meat in parts of Africa has been looked at in connection with some animal-to-human emergent diseases, such as ebola. In some places, buying monkey meat on the side of the road serves as a common, cheap meal.
Evil Grin, that has little, if anything, to do with Dave's point. His comment was obviously intended for an American audience where eating primates would be considered far worse than even eating horses.
You could see it that way, but he didn't direct his comment to specific people, therefore my comment is valid and to the point. By making his statement in the way he did, it appeared he was as limited in his viewpoint as the people he was addressing. I merely pointed out that some places eat the very animal he was trying to shock us with.
The obese people in this country could be next, after all, lots of people like whale meat
Great Apes were recently 'upgraded' into the "homo" genus, making consuming them akin to cannibalism. However, my only real objection to eating Great Apes is that they are so close to being extinct.
I would try anything, unless the animal is endangered. This includes cat, dog or horse. Absolutely there are odd emotions that go through my head about it, but in the end, viable meat sources are viable meat sources.
In North America, we think eating cow is pretty much the norm, however in India, this is beyond barbaric, even blasphemous. It's all culture and people, as a rule (sadly), close themselves off to what is unfamiliar.
Ah.. and then there was 'To Serve Man'..... which was a cook book.
Probably not all that bad an idea – it's plentiful (to excess) and as a species has found it far too easy to see others as sufficiently different.
CC Croft. Wow are you off. There is only 1 extant species of Homo - us. No other extant great ape is included in our genus. For example, chimps - our closest cousin - are still Pan troglodytes, and gorillas still in the genus Gorilla. But I agree with your sentiment that consuming these animals is abhorrent.
EvoDevo – You're wrong. Great Apes were upgraded last year. It wasn't widely announced but it was in scientific magazines and I celebrated like you wouldn't believe.
@CC Croft
No you must be mistaken, Homo Sapiens Sapiens are the only surviving members of the genus Homo.
Humans and great apes are not closely enough related to be in the same genus however we are members of the same sub-family which is Homininae.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homininae
People are nuts. Humans have been on the menu since the beginning of time maybe they should go mainstream again.
@Tyler, obviously you've never spent time around horses or you would realize they are at least as smart as dogs and cats. Would you find eating Fido acceptable? They form strong relationships with their human partners, learn fast, and are beautiful creatures. I doubt it will ever happen in the US, thankfully.
Horses are not as intelligent as dogs and cats. Pigs are more intelligent than all of these, and we eat them.
I HAVE spent a lot of time around horses. I was raised around them and I ran a horse ranch for over a year that included Arabians, Anglo, Thoroughbreds, Quarter and Appaloosa and they are smart and maybe as smart as a dog, but I doubt it. LOLNO is right, pigs are smarter. Pigs have a 3rd cortex in their brain...like primates and dolphins and are extremely intelligent. I know this because I spent years in FFA tending pigs. So if you you are saying that intelligence is your yard-stick...No Bacon For You!!!
If you read my reply to Tazer's comments then you'll see that I have no moral issue with eating a cat or dog, as I don't see how someone can justify a delineation between them or any other animal that we do already commonly eat. Just because some humans tend to associate with certain animals in different ways should not restrict what one should be allowed to consume.
I've eaten dog, cat, monkey, kangaroo, racoon, and, I think if it propagates, I've probably eaten it. All except horse, which I am dying to try. It should make a good chicken-fried horse steak. Hoo nose, if I win the lotto, I may open up a horse specific steak house, "Mustang Sally's".
RE: Mustang Sally's Steak House.
A specialty would be Horses's Ass Rump Roast with a cold mug of Clydesdale Beer.
RE: Mustang Sally's Steak House
Who would have the balz to ask the waitress if she had pig's feet, cow tongue, frog legs, chicken breasts, and a horse's ass?
Apparently Jessica hasn't spent too much time around horses. They are dumb, dumb, dumb.
TO EAT A HORSE IS DISGUSTING!!! I AM A HORSE OWNER AND WOULD NEVER EVEN THINK ABOUT EATING ONE. IF THIS COUNTRY REVERTS TO EATING OUR COMPANIONS THEN FUCK THIS COUNTRY!!!! IT WOULD BE LIKE EATING YOUR DOG THAT YOU HAVE HAD FOR 10 YEARS. NO WAY IN HELL COULD I EVEN THINK OF DOING THAT. IRELAND HERE I COME IF THIS COUNTRY SINKS THAT LOW!!! HORSES HELPED BUILD THIS COUNTRY AND IT WOULD BE A DISGRACE TO EAT THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Rabbs: LOL. I bet there are quite a bunch of restaurants in Ireland where you can buy a horse steak. It's really good by the way. trust me, I've had it plenty of times.
Funny how pig owners or chicken owners never get so angry at other people that eat those species...
@Rabbs; who cares if you will try the horse meat or not, others are willing to try it. I bet it makes it to some menus, it may not be a top seller right away but I'm sure it'll stay on the menus and then after awhile it'll be just like ordering a hamburger. Get off your high horse LOL!
BOYCOTT HORSE MEAT!!!
If they can not make a profit selling it they will stop.
It is all about supply and demand and PROFIT!
Jessica.... Since an animal being smart is what eliminates it as a possible food source for you, I assume you would not dream of consuming pork... and by comparison that you would have no problem at all eating about half of the humans on the face of this earth...
I'll offer one argument from a purely scientific perspective: a carcass is a carcass... and equine carcasses may carry the residues of any number of chemicals which are very dangerous to human beings. There are very few domesticated horses who have not been administered 'bute' at some time in their life – and there is NO withdrawal from 'bute'. Identifiable residues are retained in the body for life... It's probable that true mustangs (as opposed to ferals) have never been exposed to bute or many of the long list of prohibited chemicals, but once in the slaughter chain it's difficult to tell the wild from the unwanted (or at least unaffordable).
Now there's a valid, scientific point, as opposed to a don't-eat-the-cute-animals argument. Thank you. I would like to know more about how they would handle this problem.
This is a good point! I would assume that this "discussion" would address that as these are professionals, buuuut then again they are mighty close to polititians.
That is a valid point. Religion also takes a part in this. A large part of the world starves with pigs being sacred. Another starves with cows being sacred. Chickens don't stand a chance.
I don't agree that this is a valid scientific argument against eating horses. It is however a valid argument for proper regulation of horse meat if it does enter the market place; similar to how cow, pig, or chickens are regulated in what can and cannot be injected/used as medication in those animals. What you speak of is used to create horses that are better for working, while horses to be eaten or wild horses would not have these chemicals in them.
I don't see how this brings to light any significant information. Obviously horses raised for consumption by humans would be subject to different breading programs that would be void of chemicals proven to leave residue dangerous to humans.
Not to mention all the other chemicals we pump into our equines (dewormers, fly sprays, antibiotics, etc), all of which are clearly marked NOT FOR USE IN ANIMALS INTENDED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. I wonder if the Europeans and Asians who are eating US horse meat have any idea how many toxic chemicals they are ingesting?
I wouldn't have a problem with horses being used for food IF there was a humane slaughter method. The captive bolt method used for cattle is NOT a humane way to kill a horse. I'd encourage anyone who thinks that it is, to google it, watch the videos, and then decide for themselves how humane that method is.
I could never eat a horse–not when I know that it was killed by a bolt shot into it's head, it's throat slit and hung on a hook to bleed out while still alive. That is not humane.
@D:
My understanding is that they would be taking wild mustangs for food, NOT raising them for consumption. At least, that was the original matter on the table. I've read a couple articles about this today. Therefore, controlling what goes into them etc would not be such an easy matter. They are looking at different ways to thin out the wild mustang herds.
D, do you know how many chemicals are in that beef you're eating?
Christine, how many chemicals are in that food you're eating that was made in China?
Actually, Radtech, I read labels. Anything that says "made in China" doesn't go into my mouth. As far as beef, I buy grass-fed from a local farmer.
So wipe that smug smile off your face.
I agree it is not just morally wrong it is chemically wrong.
First Mad Cow Disease then Tainted Horse Syndrome???
I have owned and loved horses I could never eat them or my dogs either.
Half facts and emotions...bad combination. The truth is "FDA does not allow
any use of PBZ in horses destined for human consumption and neither
does the United Kingdom (UK) or the European Union (EU)
regardless of withdrawal time." [Dodman, N., et al. Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk. Food
Chem. Toxicol. (2010), doi:10.1016/j.fct.2010.02.021]. By the way, we already have processed horse meat for human consumption, though now we just export it for processing, which is the same thing, really, just others who are eating the meat.
All civilizations currently on this planet owe a huge debt of gratitude to the horse. Horses have died by the billions in man's wars, and being worked to death on man's farms and roads. Is this the gratitude we show to this extremely intelligent animal? Also, I have never heard that anyone considers cows to be as intelligent as horses – where did you hear that?
The truth is that eventually everyone on the planet is going to become vegetarian because we refuse to practice population control. Without population control there are simply not enough resources to feed everyone meat of any kind.
Even if this was a legitimate argument, which it's not, I seriously doubt as many horses have lived and died for human use in the last thousand years as cows have been raised as slaughtered for human consumption in the last hundred.
I believe this is QUITE a legitimate argument. That is my opinion. Your opinion is that it is not. Your opinion does not change the legitimacy of the posters argument.
Imagine that someone suggested putting your human best friend on the menu. Would you agree to it? I know not everyone views certain animals as friends, but there alot of people who do. And those people would agree that eating cat, dog, horse, goat, etc. is wrong. I would never eat an animal that humans use as companions or work animals. Yes cows could be considered either, but it is less likely than say a dog or horse. Hopefully that argument meets your requirements.
Thanks for responding directly to my comment Nikki.
However, your response does not constitute a valid argument to me because it is based on cultural bias, as it is based around the idea that certain animals are pets/work animals and others are not. In another region of the world they may not be viewed the same way, and some animals that we do eat may be viewed in reverence.
This argument doesn't really resolve anything, but it does point out one of the main dilemma's at hand. Once people befriend a certain species then we feel guilty about eating it. So the question is, does our relationship with an animal determine the morality surrounding consumption of that animal? Why should it go from right to wrong to eat an animal just because the relationship has changed? What about people who don't have horses for pets? Is it okay for them to do it? Is feeling guilty about something really what makes it right or wrong? Who knows. I guess you could argue that right and wrong are human concepts so we can change the rules as we go. In fact, that's probably closer to what actually happens over time with humans than anything else. Slavery, womens' rights, homosexuality are all things that we have flipped flopped on in terms of morality in the last hundred years or so.
I see an uncontrolled equine population – a problem that could be solved by slaugher/consumption. I also see that we use way too many chemicals in/on our horses for domestic horses to be consumed. I think controlling the mustangs (feral horses) and burros is somewhat ridiculous – there aren't that many of them and there is, what, 90 million acres for the less than 30,000 mustangs/burros. In most of the publications I read, it is said that 2 acres are required to sustain a horse in reasonable health. That said, 90 million acres equates to 45 million mustangs/burros.
That said, the BLM land on which the mustangs roam is also grazed by domestic beef and sheep (maybe even goats, but I never heard that) as well as other wildlife, i.e., buffalo, elk, moose, deer, etc. I'm good with natural selection here.
What we really need is more control on the domestic horse population so that there isn't so much breeding. Of course, it's not like dogs where a female gets caught by a male and has a litter of puppies – production of domestic horses is a deliberate thing. We need more geldings and fewer foals each year.
I've been invovled with horses for nearly 50 years and I, myself, will never eat anything from the genus equus – I'll become a vegetarian first! We own one at this time and she is a pasture ornament – we'll bury her or she'll bury us, i.e., she's not really for sale!!! :~)
I agree. One of the most intelligent and personable farm animals is the pig, yet their brains and personalities have never saved them. Why? Because people like ham and bacon. I tried horsemeat as a teenager during the last recession in the seventies. I remember the raw meat being dark red and beef like. Cooked it was like beef, in a stew. I think the texture was a little chewier than beef. My mom bought it to try, but it was never a regular part of our diet or anything. The thing that is worrisome about trying to sell horsemeat commerically is, are there really enough wild mustangs to make their meat part of the commercial food processing industry? I'm not trying to tell people what to eat or anything, I agree it's hypocritical to say yes to eating cows but no to eating horses. I'm just not into wiping out a species just to have a cheesy horseburger.
We ate it in france in 1958 and it was good. Ate dog in Alaska. It was good, too.
Yikes! How about a cat?? Wondering ..
My apologies, Tyler. I am not commenting on your post, but for some reason I am not able to leave a post of my own, so this is the only way I can. Anyhow, I am American and live in Los Angeles and have for most of my life. A few years ago while I was in Japan, I was offered horse meat sashimi. I took a minute to reflect on wether I wanted to eat it or not and thought about the fact that I was culturally preprogrammed to not want to eat horse meat and decided to give it a try. It was absolutely delicious. I ate it several more times in different locations in Japan, and loved it each time. Oh, and I never got sick, even though I was eating it raw. I don't think there is any argument, scientific or otherwise to justify banning the use of horse meat as food. The only argument against it is an emotional one, period. I say, lets put it on the menu.
"The only argument against it is an emotional one, period."
Very well summarized. That is the point I was hoping to make, it just took me a few more words.
Just because the argument to not eat horse meat might be an emotional one, that doesn't make it irrelevant. If we were purely rational beings we'd be doing a lot of things differently than we do (And I for one wouldn't want to live in such a world).
The argument against it isn't just an emotional one.
Currently, there are no humane slaughter methods for use on horses. The current slaughter methods were developed for use on cattle, which behave and think in a vastly different way from horses.
I think many people (who aren't vegetarians) wouldn't have a problem with eating horse if it was killed without causing the animal to suffer.
Side note: the Summit of the Horse is supported by groups that want to re-open equine slaughter in the US. It does not have representatives from both sides of the argument.
Opening up US slaughter houses would do nothing to lower the unwanted horse population in the US. Currently, US horses are still being slaughtered; they are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. It would just save them a trip, not lower the "throw-away" horse population.
Well.. other than the sad fact that Ferdinand was slaughtered in Japan and processed for pet food, you might have had the incredible good fortune to have eaten a Kentucky Derby winner.....
I see far too much of this as blatant, selfish, it's-mine-and-I'll-do-whatever-i want-with-it. i deal with it constantly within the breeding community, the various discipline communities, racing, etc... the money is made by breed-em-break-em-burn-em-out-butcher-em... with a constant demand for young stock without accepting a corresponding responsibility for those you've replaced with that younger stock. We do it because there's money to be made in the doing... And one 'nice' thing about butchering the mustangs is that the people involved have only the cost of the round-up and transport involved. All other expenses are born by the nation as a whole....
Sometimes I wonder what can most people be able to eat as far as it tastes delicious. Starvation can do a lot of stuff but not pleasure. Congratulations for all that had eaten Mr. ED
The difference is humans have a social contract with horses, much the same way we do with cats and dogs. Horses serve a purpose in our lives: they are companions and provide transportation. Implicit in that social contract is to not eat them. In other words: we do not eat our friends. It breaks down the bond that exists between human and pet. We rely on these animals for work and companionship. How can we ask so much of them and then slaughter them for food? Obviously this is cultural. Many cultures either do not feel this bod or don't consider it taboo to (in my mind) disrespect this bond.
You can be friends with a beef steer up until it is time to eat it. Nothing wrong with that and it is not uncommon for children to treat cattle as pets before eating them on small farms.
It would be like eating your dog. Can't share your feelings, dude. YUCK!
As is the case Americans are fatter and obese than ever before. What we don’t need is more FOOD! Specially using horse meat as an excuse. If anything Americans need to eat less and exercise more.
You're right, it really isn't that big of deal in comparison with other meats we eat. However there is absolutely no reason to open up another animal to the inhumane practices of the meat industry. If we make horse processing for human consumption legal I believe we can say goodbye to wild horses. Instead of opening up a new market we need to make some vast improvements to the current meat industry.
I also think it has a lot to do with the foods people ate when they were growing up and into young adulthood. When I was growing up, I was introduced to the foods that were common to both my cultures. From the Czech side, I was encouraged to try offal of both cows and pigs. Brains, Liver, and kidneys were not necessarily a strange sight; not usually what I wanted to eat, but having been around them, they don't "freak me out." Plus, I was firm believer in don't knock it until you try it. Brains and liver are very good delicacies, if you are up to it. It was usually served on a special occasion. On my Lebanese side, raw lamb tartar, grape leaves, and other Middle Eastern foods were always common at dinner.
So, if you grow up with more exotic foods, like venison, elk, and horse, I'm sure that the taboo of eating them has little or a lesser effect than if you have never tried them or were introduced to them. If people choose to not eat horse meat or any other type of meat, that is their choice. The same is true for those who do choose to eat that meat. We can respect each others' food choices even if we disagree with them.
I have a modest proposal...perhaps, in these tough economic times, we could sell the offspring of the poor to more fortunate Americans, such as the Sarah and Bristol Palins and the Anderson Coopers, thus reducing the number of mouths to feed AND providing delicious, tender meals for the more advantaged..something to consider....
I wish I had a like button.
So you read Ted Turner's proposal to initiate a "one child" policy here in the U.S. and to allow poor couples to sell their fertility right to have a single child to wealthy couples that could afford to raise that one child more properly and allowing wealthy couples to have more than one child? I think it was a brilliant idea.
Sorry, but you are a Moron....simply a moron
Many of us simply have (totally natural) psychological issues with eating animals whose species naturally have the ability to join in relationships with humans, or to be domesticated. Horses, dogs, dolphins, there are many examples. Unless we are having a shortage of meat, it is really a non-issue
Horse meat is toxic Tyler. The chemicals that we use on horses, whether its for pain, dewormer, even fly spray, strictly states that it is not to be used on animals intended for human consumption aka horse. The toxins stay in the meat of the horse forever. Horses are also not livestock. And I certainly wouldn't want to eat a wild horse, they belong on our land to roam free. They are only interested in making their pockets bigger. Greed, Greed Greed...
Wild horses do NOT belong in the United States.
@Schop You realize those horses were there before America was established? That means WE are the invasive species, not them, so be glad that they don't have the power to kick us out.
@ WOW: I'm sure you do realize that the Spanish explorers / colonists reintroduced the horse to the Americas. The horses had naturally died out hundreds of thousands of years before on the North and South American continents. Scientists do speculate that the genus did originate in the Americas, then spread to other continents. Apparently, during one evolutionary stage, they did not react well to the environment in the Americas and died out. Humans were the ones who brought them here.
So, you wouldn't see anything wrong with the general population eating human flesh?
So.... you think they dont?
"I don't understand why people see some meet as being wrong, and others as being normal (primates aside), and cultural bias aside I'd like to hear a valid argument against eating horse meat (or cat/dog for that matter)."
If we put aside cultural basis, opinion and reglious values in EVERY argument, the World would be a safer and simpler place wouldn't it. That would be too easy.
There are no words to respond to the utter stupidity of your comments.
Agreed. Meat = meat. There should be no difference between eating cows, pigs or horses. Or lamb, kitties or puppies. I don't eat any meat, because I don't find it necessary to end another creature's life for my meals.
Do you always talk out of your asshole?
I grew up in South America were is normal to eat horse meat, then my family moved to Canada across the Border a town called Port Huron, my family crossed to buy groceries (Americans crossed to Canada , and Canadians crossed to the US depending on the exchange), one day I crossed to the US and bought two huge steaks to feed my family (wife and two daughters) the meat looked funny, but the price was OK, the label said “”BEEF”” so I bought it, once back at home I opened with the intension of BBQ the meat, once I opened the packages label “”BEEF”” I noticed the yellow fat, hummm I thought it looks like horse meat.. Later on in the morning my brother showed up, ask me for a sandwich, and opened the fridge where the meat was resting with some spices, he look at it, looked at me and asked me “”where did you buy the horse meat?”” I reached to the garbage pail and I pulled the packages labeled “”BEEF”” we both agreed It was “”HORSE MEAT””. So I cooked the meat (BBQ the meat) and never told my wife and daughters they had “”Horse Meat””
Moral of the long story… “”Americans eat Horse Meat”, they just don’t know it..!!
Why not you ask? Because we are civilized and don't eat our domesticated companion animals that serve us in other ways. Because historically horses have worked beside us in war and peace, have provided solace, sport , transportation and beauty in the lives of countless millions over centuries. They have carried us into battle , they helped to develop the West. They deserve our respect and protection- as every human being with a brain and a heart can plainly see.
If my pet animals, that use a litter box, act intelligently (for example hide the top of the treat box) as a cat or dog, and receive excellent care, are in the grocer's freezers and on restaurant menus, why should horses, which are generally work animals not pets, not there too?
We don't eat mice or rats, but we eat rabbits. We don't eat cats or dogs, but we eat rabbits. At some point, we have to let ALL animals be on the menu, perhaps short of primates just because of disease potential, or have NONE on the menu. "Pet" is a relative term.
Do you live in Korea or China? I haven't seen dog or cat meat in my grocer's freezer. I think you and others that believe as you do are living in the wrong culture.
Susan,
I believe the orignial poster was referring to pet rabbits – not dogs or cats. And rabbit meat is certainly available in the United States.
Obviously you have never owned or know a horse personally.
There is a huge difference between horses and elk etc. !!!
Horses are smart,loyal,loving animals. They have also been known to protect humans from wolves and coyotes. I never heard of other animals doing that which you could ride.
In the Angels On Earth Magazine Jan/Feb/2011 issue A Guideposts Publication. Page 6 An article called Protected by Bob Bennington he tells how he was saved from an attack of a pack of hungry coyotes by 5 horses.
I have never heard of anyone being saved by any elk,deer, or moose.
If you think eating horses is acceptable you are greatly misinformed and mistaken!
With all the food sources we have readily available there is no excuse for anyone to EVER eat a horse!!!!!!
It is a disgusting habit that was started in Europe in probably extreme circumstances and it should be abolished!!!
It is as disgusting as people who eat dogs! Both are unneeded and unacceptable!
what bullshit, you devalue the other animals according to your arbitrary emotionality
First of all, the picture displayed above is a picture of Icelandic horses and likely from Iceland! and not mustangs of the west.
Nonetheless, why not eat horse meat? Compared to a dirty filthy pig, raised in an Iowa pig farm with 1000 to 4000 pigs per barn, chewing on each other and eating each others excrements, eating horsemeat from mustangs of the wilds of the west seems like a much better choice...
we don't need to open another animal industry where they can all be crammed into small filthy spaces where inspectors are bought off, we have enough of that going on. the REAL issue is that corporate interests are behind this all pushing for our land uses, taking away our land they are not all american people/corporations,
WAKE the HELL UP!
@horse lovers: good for you in protecting your animals but why aren't you at the "summit" in Las Vegas?!
@ the uncaring: I respect your remarks and those are what keeps the emotions flowing and that is what makes America!!!
@horse owners who care: stop the backyard breeding of your steeds
@horse owners who don't care what they are doing: You shouldn't own a horse and what's the difference between you and a puppy mill operator ?? umm, NOTHING
BOTTOMLINE: YOU ARE LOSING YOUR LAND, YOU WILL STILL PAY MORE FOR THEIR GAS WHILE WE HAVE OUR OWN AND STILL YOU CANNOT SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES...
If it wasn't for the horse then civilization would not even be close to where it is today. The horse was crucial in winning wars and conquering countries (new and old). The horse is a noble and intelligent beast that deserves our respect, not be on our dinner plates!
Horses should not be slaughtered for meat, You can throuw all the cultural BS out there but bottom line horse slaughering is not for the US except as an export. The transport and slaughter of horses is cruelty because of the nature of the creature and their relationship with man. May I also mention that the FDA would not approve of horsemeat due to the diet and supplements most horses have. Horse are not economical to raise. There is not a purpose to slaughering horses.
And no need to eat horsemeat! There are plenty of cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, etc. to go around. As I understand it, they've begun to cut down on the production of beef cattle because the market has dropped so. I would much prefer to be a vegetarian to eating horsemeat!
Tyler,
Obviously you aren't an "animal" person and have not experienced the connection that people and animals have. There really is no valid reason to not eat dogs, cats, or horses the reasons are emotional and or moral.
We have plenty of meat available now, mustangs need to be well managed not killed for meat. Check out some of the video on the Canadian and Mexican equine slaughter houses and tell me you'd like to eat something with that much adrenaline in it's system. Or that you'd care to be part of creating that horror for another living creature.
@Jane, I don't know how you define an "animal person", but growing up on a farm, I have been around animals from the day they were born / hatched to the date I had to slaughter them. It is extremely difficult to butcher an animal you have helped raise and have a bond with. I love animals and value them for what they provide to humans: companionship, loyalty, labor, AND food. I don't see anything different morally from eating a horse, cow, pig, goat, sheep, chicken, duck, or rabbit, all of which we have raised. The only reason I have not eaten horse is that it was not marketable for sale or needed at our table.
As far as eating something with adrenaline in its system, most deer that are taken in the wild are full of adrenaline. The last one I took sprinted over 100 yards without the use of its right lung and a hole in its heart. It was full of adrenaline, yet was just as tasty as any other.
Tyler, I understand your point and it makes sense. However, I don't think I could bring myself to eat a horse. I grew up wanting to move to Nevada just because I read about the wild horses there and I loved them. And there is no way in h3ll I would eat a dog or cat! I also don't eat deer, moose, elk, or baby lambs. The only reason I eat cows, pigs and chickens is because I grew up eating them and developed a taste for them. I know it's technically the same as eating horses and such, but it's a mental thing.
Horse slaughter & American culture & values – We don't eat horsemeat in this country so why produce/sell it to others? The meat is toxic with drugs not approved for human or other animal consumption. Horsemeat was outlawed in pet food in the 1970s. Zoos have mostly phased it out, due to public disapproval and the toxic substances. Our domestic horses are pets/companions/friends; how could we end their lives this wretched way? If we're going to slaughter our horses for meat, then why don't we slaughter our cats and dogs for meat & sell that to Asia too? There is no way to humanely slaughter horses because of their heightened sensitivities and awareness levels and prey animal fear factor. Our wild horses & burros are protected by law & are not overpopulated as our government would have you believe. Is there any other food product produced in the U.S. and exported for human consumption that we don’t eat ourselves? Why would we do that when it is wrong on so many levels?
Here are some horse slaughter videos – all graphic displays of pure torture, in Canadian and Mexican facilities, and in U.S. facilities when the plants were still open.
To see what these poor souls endure during the transport and slaughter processes – many are injured or killed during transport – those who survive the transport are often butchered and skinned alive. Would you have that on your conscience, anyone?
http://www.sharkonline.org/?P=0000000528
http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/
No overpopulation of wild horses & burros exists in the U.S. – When is the press going to get it that there are only 20-30K wild horses & burros left in the wild in the ten Western States as opposed to 1-3M head of non-native cattle? Wild herds consume less than 2% of all forage allocated to grazing wildlife and domestic livestock on the public domain. Wild horses and burros are native to N. America by fossil evidence and are wildlife by case law (ie Colvin v. Hodel) and by Congressional designation. Habitat reductions and herd removals have threatened and endangered these species of special designation. Hundreds of individual distinct herds are now extinct on the public lands. America’s wild horses and burros deserve their fair share of their legal Western public lands.
I say we eat you and anyone who says they would eat a horse-what a bunch of knuckleheads. Go find somewhere else to live, nobody in the U.S. wants you here.
Using that thought process why would you exclude primates (including the human primate as well)? Not every thing is for human consumption or profit. we are the only species on this planet that do to our own weakness's and lack of abilities has to exploit everything else on the planet to live. You don't see Tigers, lions or bears which are much higher up the food chain then humans selling us or other creatures to each other for food. I know that thought pushes the envelope as well, but it should. We are not the most important thing on this planet we are only a part of it and its whole. Cows haven't died in war for us or worked our mines to death or been beaten to death because they wouldn't do something for us, Where does the line of respect for some other creature or plants RIGHT to live get drawn. this is the difference between enlightenment and plain old primitive capitalism. Its thinking with more then our bank accounts and stomachs. Respect isn't just for humans, we didn’t invent it as much as we would like to think so.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
–Gandhi
Animals were not put on earth to be eaten nor are they our servants. They are part of this beautiful universe and part of what makes it all work. Humans were given brains which enabled us to become the top of the current food chain. Unfortanetely we did this by exploiting humans, animals and land.
Humans try to justify their behavours by writings books such as the bible or by profiteering. If humans could step out of their superiority complex and put themselves in the head of any animal and understand their fears maybe they'd think differently.
I would never and will never eat an animal. I am against this completely. Every single animal has feeling, love, fear, joy... As do humans.
The greatest judge of ones character is to give them power. We are failing. Name one animal if left alone and not mass breeded by humans would cause the destruction to the earth and environment as we have. Zero.
Humans and their greed and disrespect for all nature are destroying the earth. First step in saving ourselves is saving the animals.
Have a heart.... Be vegan!
Perhaps the wild horse can only be saved if humans want to eat it, and the horses are permitted to exist because someone is making money off of them. It's too bad the high-meat "American diet" doesn't kill people off before they have a chance to reproduce... which means it will take longer for the human race to wipe itself out.
Tyler and others,
For me, it's not only for my personal belief as an Christian (read Laviticus chapter 23), but also my personal feelings as a Christian as no other animal is mentioned in the Holy Bible as often as is the Horse.
But beyond my personal reasons, there is the fact that horse meat, in todays society is not safe for human consumption, and the basic reason USDA shut downinspections of slaughter plants processing horse meat. In the USA, horses not only receive innoculations and other drugs regularily, but in most places those innoculations are required to prevent spread of certain dseases such as equine anemia, to name but just one of many. Even wild horses are receiving innoculation and PZP (cotraceptive control for mares).....when BLM does a gahther, the innoculate ALL the horses captured, and only after processin them (innoculating, health checks, freezebranding, etc) are they either offered up for adoptionj or turned lose back to their home range......so even they are not safe for human consumption.
As for myslef and my family, we shall continue to unt and eat elk, deer and pronghorn antelope.....with only occasionl beef & other livestock/poulty sold commercially...of which we eat very litte of also do to all the drugs and chemicals they receive.
To your comment Tyler, it's all perspective so you can say there is no valid reason not to eat horsemeat. If people are starving they will eat anything, but in America, we aren't starving...we are the fattest people on earth. If we not aren't happy eating cows, I guess we can start eating domestic animals. How about cat? dog? I guess if you don't know anything about a horses "soul", you would have no issue eating them, but their willingness to carry ungrateful humans into war yada yada, yada, EVEN THOUGH at 1,000 lbs they could kill us at any time, kind of make them special. YOu probably would eat dolphin? Whales? Keep eating everything that moves people.....we will have ONLY each other someday and what a horrific place that would be.
Eating meat, regardless of the source, remains a controversial issue for many. Raising meat for human consumption puts us on the food chain that uses a lot of inputs and is energy intensive and competes with foods we can use to eat directly. Nevertheless, as meat-eaters, we have many conventional options available for eating meat, if we choose. Sadly, as we have experienced,many of those need more regulation and inspections to ensure our safe and healthy consumption. Adding one more source doesn't provide us with any benefits, just more costs. Rounding up "wild horses", putting them in feed lots, and butchering, transporting the meat and selling it to consumers isn't needed. Frankly, after all these years of having the "wild horses" captured, neutered, butchered for animal food, and everything else we've done to satisfy a small percentage of those who want that land for grazing other meat for human consumption is pathetic. There are ways to take care of the "horse "problem" without being so ego-centric, inhumane, cost-intensive and disgraceful. We're more intelligent, compassionate and imaginative than taking the route of "rounding 'em up, taki g them to the butcher and sell them as meat". What's wrong with us that we still see death and destruction as solutions to our problems – whether it be "wild horses" for human or animal consumption or energy sources?
As a horse lover and rescuer, I suggest that any of you who thinks that horse meat should be legal and is necessary, please allow me to "invite" you to come to a feed lot or a slaughter house where abused, injured animals and horses are going through such horrific suffering and fear that i cannot even describe....we have enough meat that goes through slaughter every day,and not in the most decent way that life, any kind of life deserves..if you spend time with horses, you will find out that they are extremely social, loyal, loving and smart...they are also sad, scared and have feelings for the ones they love...give it a shot, you might change your mind ! please visit our rescue website at http://www.forrascal.com. If you have a stomach, you should watch the videos that we have posted. No comments, this will be my best argument...thank you.
We don't eat horses for the same reasons we don't eat dogs and cats. They are raised to work for us and as companion animals. An animal that has served as a friend, babysitter, and ribbon winner doesn't deserve to go to slaughter. Cattle, sheep, and pigs are raised as meat animals, and although intelligent at different levels (sorry, cows are sweet, but not that smart – I've owned a few), aren't usually raised as pets. I would hope that a ciivilized society doesn't condone eating our pets. Unfortunately, it's not about what is right – it's about the money. It always is.
My gosh, how stupid are you???!!! Eating horses? Are you kidding me? Horses are companions and are meant for riding, and extreme enjoyment. Some people have them as pets. Eating horses is the same thing as eating dogs or cats and anyone who condones that, is an IDIOT! Go crawl back into the hole that you came from, you stupid scum bag!
why would anyone think about eating horse meat? they are gods creature. they are not a food chain. that makes me sick even to think about eating horse meat. if anyone does eat horse meat they would eat anything . i won't even eat deer,elk,bear,any kind of wildlife meat. what is wrong with these people eating are even thinking about eating horse meat. if they do i hope to GOD it would make them deathly sick and die. they are for us to enjoy and ride and just to look at them. save all of are horses. i pray for the wild horses.
Tyler I hope you do eat horsemeat and I know all the chemicals that were placed into my body as a racehorse will surely place you in your grave sooner. Chew on that!
Tyler, do you eat cats and dogs? Horses are companions animals just like cats and dogs. They are intelligent, feeling animals, who love and bond with their humans. Slaughter is not humane, it is cruel and says less of us as a society.
Well obviously you have no intelligence yourself or you would know that meat is not spelled like meet.!!!God made certain animals for us to consume and others for companions and for transportation,. Besides the horses ass is the only part of the horse you would be able to eat, so what is the point. It's better to keep horses as companions and entertainment because they are more precious than the idotic humans like you who are torturing these animals for the fun and evil of it. Seems like you need to learn more about the slaughter (torture) of horses before you say another word.
Obviously Tyler, your not familiar with the horse world or its value to Americans.You eat whatever you want, but you won't be getting horsemeat here anytime soon if we can help it...The horse helped found America, it is as much a companion to us as a dog or cat....If your dog died would you take him to the butcher? Probably not....so don't compare hunting and wild game, and utilizing the meat harvested from one animal, hunted and properly used for consumption, its hide and the honor of working to hunt it, to SLAUGHTERING HORSES.They're two very different things.Do your research.
Tyler~
Do you have any pet's?
Horses have been serving man in many ways, travel, wars, pleasure, they are NOT for meat. They give so much to humans, and are very intelligent, sensitive animals. We should not use them up, they give so much, then send them for slaughter for profit, in the barbaric manner that is done. They cry loudly, while lifted and cut up alive in Mexico, and Canada, and you would be inhumane if you approved of what they are doing now, slaughtering for meat for Europe.
it is a big deal becuase well
1.people who love horses and help protect them would disagree like me
2. it not human
3.ok some people dont get this WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITH MUSTANGS WHICH MEANS NO CARS NO PLOWING...THAT LEADS TO EVERYONE WALKING AND NO CROPS SO IF U WANNA EAT IT GO AHEAD BUT SOMEDAY THERE WONT EVEN BE ANY LEFT TO SEE
~ from a horse owner/ protector/ and most of all lover.
When you need to ask what is wrong with eating a horse, that is what is wrong with that statement.
Animals are living things, some with better sense than most folks.....can not understand how folks eat animals they raise or know.
For everyone who says a horse is just another form of livestock and the same as a cow or sheep or pig. When last did you see even one cow sheep or pig for instance being ridden, show jumping, dressage, cutting, roping, carrying soldiers, pulling firetrucks, pulling carts, being used as therapy animals, parades, carrying people on trail rides, safaris, used in crowd control and by the mounted police? These are just a few of the things that horses can do and since we first settled this country they have been there for us. They are deeply integrated into every aspect of our lives. When we lose a President for instance, who leads the parade with the coffin? A horse, with just a pair of boots in the stirrups facing the rear. For anyone who says they are just dumb animals, you obviously have never owned, loved or been loved by a horse. They are incredibly sensitive, clever, willing parts of our families. They are always there for us and even when they have been abused terribly they have an incredible gift of forgiving. We could all learn something from these creatures. Why do we feel the need to denegrate an animal who has done nothing but serve us for generations, settled our country, carried soldiers, presidents, policemen, children and many more?? We should be honoring them, one day we may find ourselves in a position where we will need their services once again. At the rate that we are destroying our planet and depleting our energy resources, this may just happen. I pity any of you who have not experienced what it is to love or be loved by a horse.
I guess you'd have to experience the relationship a horseman has with his/her partner, I couldn't even imagine eating horse meat, I don't eat venison or veal either, and some other guilt foods. I don't enjoy eating beef either, but I guess I came to accept eating beef by tradition. If we judged whether to eat meat based on the animals intelligence, we'd find soon be eating each-other. I think we were born carnivores, we may not be built to capture and tear apart prey, but we have a mind that creates ways to accomplish it.
NATIVE AMERICANS CONSIDER OUR HORSES AS OUR FRIENDS AND THEY ARE SACRED ANIMALS, THEIR SPIRITS ARE STRONG AND FREE, THEY ARE OUR BROTHERS. TO USE THEM AS LUNCH MEAT IS LIKE DEFACING YOUR CATHOLIC GOD AND SAINTS, OR WHATEVER RELIGIONS YOU MAY BE, OR LIKE EATING YOUR FAMILY MEMEBERS. OUR WAYS SHOULD BE RESPECTED AS ARE YOURS, WITH MUCH RESPECT, MANY BLESSINGS
Is that a fact? Then tell me, why are tribes letting the BLM run horses on to their lands, then having them rounded up as a "nusiance" and sold to killers? If they are on tribal land, they are no longer protected by the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 and the Indians make mucho dinero for their booze.
Thats the trouble if we think we should eat our pets next will be humans YUKKKKKKKKKK !!!!!
I know people who have raised cattle and they will tell you they are NOT intelligent animals. Other than the wild mustangs, most horses in this country are pets. Would you eat your cat or dog? Then don't eat my horse! People who know nothing about horses are the ones that think its ok to eat their meat. You ask any real horse person, they would be against it.
Being very familiar with the raising and slaughtering of various kinds of livestock and being a lifelong horseperson, I can say that the slaughter pipeline for horses is rife with unacceptable cruelty. The transportation is really the biggest problem, although the slaughter process itself is also a protracted, terrifying ordeal for horses, due to their nature and the fact the process is designed for cattle who have very different physical characteristics. But in transport, territorial animals are crowded together on to double-decker trailers designed for much shorter species. Fighting is inevitable and loads routinely arrive at the slaughterhouses with downed/trampled animals, terrible lacerations and partial limbs ripped off. And these animals are not raised for slaughter; most have given their lives in service to humans.
So it's a moral question, really – do you endorse food production with inherently gross cruelty, or do you not care, as long as you get your fix of novelty meat?
Because horses are not a food source!! The other animals you mentioned are.. If you feel Why Not? Then why not consider you cats and dogs a food source then too? They do east them in other countrys too.....
When faced with starvation and death, the Donner's Party became cannibals! I love horses and think they are beautiful
and wonderful, but I would eat one before I would starve to death.
Look in the horse supplies–wormers, pain killers, feed through pesticides–it all says "Not for use in horses intended for human consumption"
The slaughter of horses simply cannot be made humane: Dr. Lester Friedlander, DVM & former Chief USDA Inspector, told Congress in 2008 that the captive bolt used to slaughter horses is simply not effective. Horses, in particular, are very sensitive about anything coming towards their heads and cannot be restrained as required for effective stunning. Dr. Friedlander stated, "These animals regain consciousness 30 seconds after being struck, they are fully aware they are being vivisected." The Government Accountability Office and dozens of veterinarians and other witnesses have confirmed that ineffective stunning is common and animals are conscious during slaughter.
Its not just wild horses that are on the table, it is race horses, show horses, backyard pets, stolen horses, its the old ones, pregant mares and much loved horses. Have you ever looked into the world of horses slaughter, there are so many bad things happening around this "created" industry. A horse trust people, they are born trusting people and we put them through this just because we over breed, picked up the last race check and now @ 4yrs old, no job, the horse can not carry its rider over jumps or around barrels, so off they go... its a bad, bad world....