Opinionated Mail
I am afraid that the letter had quite the opposite effect the sender had hoped. It was an earnest plea and on another soul it may have sparked outrage and caused it to rally to the cause. On paper I am a promising target. Horse owner, subscribed to several horse magazines, and occasional donor to the HSUS. Young and female may also kick into it too.
But no. Instead of being enraged I was slightly relieved.
Apparently there are a handful of slaughter plants looking to open up in the next year to process horses. One of them is next door in New Mexico. Why am I okay with this? Because it is 100 times better than what is happening with unwanted horses now: a one-way trip south of the boader and an abysmally unregulated slaughter industry with no standards for humane treatment from transport to slaughter. Or, and I'm not sure if this is better, worse, or what, slow starvation because the owners can't afford them anymore.
Yes, it would be really nice if every horse had a home that woukd care for and love it forever. If every horse had the training it needed to ensure a useful life and owners knowledgeable enough to ensure that it was long and happy. But this is not the case. There are 10 year old horses that have never seen a halter. There are young ones run into the ground by poor training. There are countless others made aggressive or otherwise dangerous due to bad handling, intentional or not.
Not to say that every horse that ends up in an auction yard is a lost cause, but most people do not have the funds, skills, or time (much less all three) to make these horses safe, productive members of society.
I would personally not take a horse to auction. I know I have other options. If I knew the horse would be properly treated from auction floor to being processed I wouldn't have much of an issue with it. I would happily take a horse to Out of Africa, a local big cat rescue/park that accepts donations of horses to help feed their cats (or at least last I heard).
No, slaughter is not the best solutionn nor a favorite solution to the unwanted horse problem, but it beats out what we've been dealing with since the plants closed on US soil. Instead of trying to fix the problem people pretended it didn't exist and causes more heartache, pain, and suffering.
But no. Instead of being enraged I was slightly relieved.
Apparently there are a handful of slaughter plants looking to open up in the next year to process horses. One of them is next door in New Mexico. Why am I okay with this? Because it is 100 times better than what is happening with unwanted horses now: a one-way trip south of the boader and an abysmally unregulated slaughter industry with no standards for humane treatment from transport to slaughter. Or, and I'm not sure if this is better, worse, or what, slow starvation because the owners can't afford them anymore.
Yes, it would be really nice if every horse had a home that woukd care for and love it forever. If every horse had the training it needed to ensure a useful life and owners knowledgeable enough to ensure that it was long and happy. But this is not the case. There are 10 year old horses that have never seen a halter. There are young ones run into the ground by poor training. There are countless others made aggressive or otherwise dangerous due to bad handling, intentional or not.
Not to say that every horse that ends up in an auction yard is a lost cause, but most people do not have the funds, skills, or time (much less all three) to make these horses safe, productive members of society.
I would personally not take a horse to auction. I know I have other options. If I knew the horse would be properly treated from auction floor to being processed I wouldn't have much of an issue with it. I would happily take a horse to Out of Africa, a local big cat rescue/park that accepts donations of horses to help feed their cats (or at least last I heard).
No, slaughter is not the best solutionn nor a favorite solution to the unwanted horse problem, but it beats out what we've been dealing with since the plants closed on US soil. Instead of trying to fix the problem people pretended it didn't exist and causes more heartache, pain, and suffering.