Eating your pets - All the Creatures

I simply find it amazing that some horse owners in the USA condone the slaughter of horses for human consumption as a way of controlling the horse population. They justify this by sighting the many horses that are showing up at "horse rescues" all over the USA. This to me is no better than the idea of taking all the dogs and cats in animal shelters and conducting experiments on them or using their skins for human fur coats – both of which has been done in the past until laws were passed to stop such practices.

Where did I find such facts that horse owners are mostly for this practice? On the horse message boards across the USA. Only a handful were openly against the wholesale slaughter of horses. I am sure, or at least hopeful that there were many others that were against horse slaughter but simply remained silent on the issue.

The noble horse has helped man with farming, transport, sports and companionship throughout the centuries. Only in times of extreme famine has man normally resorted to eating this animal. Nowadays horse flesh is a delicacy and as such is in demand in certain countries throughout the world. Why are we supplying them? Simple – money.

I hang my head in shame that as a horse owner I am surrounded by pro horse slaughter horse owners. I will always remain dead set against horse slaughter of any type – enough said.

bakinbit says:

2007 at

That’s terrible! I can’t believe a horse owner would be for that. I was horrified when my sister and her husband bought a calf, raised it, named it, treated it as a pet, it had a personality…..then they slaughtered it. I mean I know we eat beef…sure..but don’t treat it like you love it then eat it!

jolynna says:

When my brother and I were children, my parents bought two baby pigs. Naturally we fell in love with them, named them, they came when called and were pets.

One of my most traumatic memories is when the people from the butcher came and loaded the pigs for slaughter. I never ate a single bite of pork from my parent’s freezer for years.

I am not ok with slaughtering horses for food, either. Our horses know their names and have personalities. They know us from other people and love us. No way, would I let anything happen to them.

trstarranch says:

I personally ride and train horses and i agree with the slaughter, because i would rather have them put down some what humanely by being shot then seeing them on the side of the road starving to death for months becasue people cant afford to feed them, lets get it straight… if they are going to BAN slaughter, well then they need to also pass a bill to fund the extra feeding of some 80,000! horses that are unwanted for various reasons, in order for that to work, each person would have to have 100 horses each, and it costs me over $1500 a month just for my 2, i have rescued horses before that have been neglected so bad that they would probably be happier dead and there internal organs are so messed up from eating themselves that they wont live long, because people cant afford to feed them!!! that is more cruel than slaughter anyday!!

JJ says:

– trstarranch,
I guess you are unaware that horses going to slaughter are NOT shot. They are being stabbed repeatedly in the back until they fall down and then they are strung up and throut slashed until they bleed out – still alive and kicking. They have to remain alive while the blood is pumped out of their bodies in order to pass food inspection of the foreign countries. Incidently it is the same method used for cattle going to slaughter except a bolt is fired through the skull to render them unconcious but alive. They are bled out the same way.

As to costing money. I have 6 horses and none of them are going to slaughter EVER. I have made provisions for them to cover every aspect of their future. 3 are rescues – yes I too have rescued animals, horse, cats and dogs so you are not the only one doing it. I was also a professional riding instructor and horse trainer for many years and I have seen it all when it comes to the horse world.

My stand on being anti slaughter is because it is people over breed and use slaughter as a way to make more money from their stupid breeding program that didn’t work out.

As to seeing starving horses – euthinasia would be a better option than slaughter any day of the week. It is just that some horse owners are too damn cheap to have a vet put a starving horse down. They want the money that the killer will pay for the poor animal.

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