# Why is it so important to ban horse slughter in the US?



## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

Yup, another one. But a different take on it.

This isn't intended to be one of those threads about why slaughter is bad or good in general. I'm not looking for responses like "It's important because horses have rights" or "because they're killing all the pretty ponies". 

If horse slaughter is okay in Canada and Mexico, why is it important to not have it in the US? Has anyone that is fighting against it being restarted tried to stop it in Canada or Mexico or anywhere else it's allowed in the world? Unless you are involved in horse slaughter in Canada or Mexico, why would it make a difference to you if you didn't live in the US?

I know this was brought up on one of the other threads but never got addressed as far as I know.


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## Ray MacDonald (Dec 27, 2009)

I just figured that US people put up such a stink about "Killing the pretty ponies" That they thought it was in the best interest of the people to make it illegal.

Some plants have closed in Canada because enough people signed a petition.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Ray MacDonald said:


> I just figured that US people put up such a stink about "Killing the pretty ponies" That they thought it was in the best interest of the people to make it illegal.


Equine slaughter is _not_ illegal in the US. There has _never_ been a federal ban on it here in the States. There are several states who have made it illegal, but that's _state_ law, not federal.


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## Ray MacDonald (Dec 27, 2009)

Didn't say it was either or... I live in Canada, why should I care what is going on in the US? And I wasn't completely wrong...


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

'Not completely wrong' doesn't make you right, either. 

Unless you know what's going on here in the States and how our laws work, you won't have a good grasp of the situation.

States can and do make illegal/legalize things that the federal government doesn't get into. Gay marriage is one. That's always been a state issue, as well.

States' rights are part of the cornerstone of our government. The original idea was that the federal government was only supposed to be a way to bring all the states together and loosely watch over them; not to be the main governing power of the country. Sadly, that has changed, but states still hold powers within their own borders to make certain decisions.


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

Ray, 

In a classic American political move, slaughter was effectively ended in the US because the funding for inspectors from the plants was removed. 

Recently, an unrelated bill was passed that had a rider tacked onto it that restored the funding for the inspectors. 

Whether someone will seize the business opportunity to begin processing horsemeat in the US again now that federal inspection has been restored is an open question, particularly with a lot of public sentiment against it. 

I've never understood the position of banning horse slaughter in the US; it just moved the business to Mexico and Canada. Banning in throughout North America is not likely to happen.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

They were pushing for that, though. I know there was some kind of petition/bill/act that was trying to make it illegal to transport horses out of the country for the purpose of slaughter. The point being that we can't exactly regulate what Canada and Mexico does, but at least we can try to prevent American horses from dying there. I don't know if that's still stewing somewhere or if it fizzled out....


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

I want just one person to tell me this:

If transport for slaughter becomes illegal and horses can no longer be bought at American sales for the purpose of taking them to Mexico or Canada to be processed,

*What do YOU think will become of all of the horses that are now going through sales with NO ONE bidding on them except the slaughter buyers? Where do YOU think these horses will go and what do YOU think will happen to them? 

Please, anti-slaughter folks, step up and tell me what will happen to all of the thousands of horses that will be "SAVED"?

Celeste?
*


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## loveduffy (Dec 22, 2011)

I have read and been told of what happens to horses that go to Mexico they are put to a fight together so bets can be placed then after they beat each other to death then they are slaughter


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

You have been told wrong. When the American plant was closed in Illinois, the Belgian Company that owned it was already building a plant in Mexico. It is run according to EU standards (which are very strict). The horses are at no time handled or messed with by local Mexicans. Trucks go straight from here to feed lots or to the plant. They are stunned with a bolt gun and they are processed by very strict rules. 

I hate to pop everyone's bubble, but the videos coming out of Mexico are old and are showing little local Mexican slaughter facilities where local horses are brought in and the meat is marketed locally in the little towns where these plants are located. They are filthy, the horses can be sick or maimed and they are just one of the reasons you do not eat food or drink water in small Mexican towns.

The AAEP sent representatives (Licensed Veterinarians) to the Belgian owned plant in Mexico and they reported back that the horses were properly handled and the plant was set up to better standards than the ones that were closed here. 

But, we would still be much better off with several plants located here in the US so that horses did not have to travel so far and so their 'value' could come back up high enough to give people more reason to feed and care for low-end horses better than they do now.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

And I assume there are no transport regulations in Mexico, getting them to the plants?


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## Gremmy (Feb 17, 2009)

Cherie said:


> I want just one person to tell me this:
> 
> If transport for slaughter becomes illegal and horses can no longer be bought at American sales for the purpose of taking them to Mexico or Canada to be processed,
> 
> ...


A very good point. On my side of the border, it's reported that the horse slaughter industry has grown as much as 75% since the U.S. slaughterhouses closed down. Often in the many anti-slaughter arguments I read they argue that it didn't grow at all. 0% - 75% is a pretty big margin of error. What the U.S. wants to do with their own horses is up to them, but if Americans want a _realistic_ view of the impact horse slaughter has on their horse industry, put some more effort into keeping slaughter-bound horses within U.S. borders next time. 75% is a huge amount of growth - especially in a recession. That's a LOT of horses coming into Canada, and a LOT of horses that would have no outlet. Good luck with that :?

To answer the original question, we've got PLENTY of opposition towards Canadian horse slaughter. We get a lot of American media, and once the slaughterhouses closed in the U.S., the same battle exploded in Canada. Google "Canadian horse slaughter" and you'll see what I mean - the potential re-opening of U.S. slaughterhouses isn't the only hot topic these days; the anti-slaughter movement is alive and well up here. I could care less what the U.S. decides to do with their own excess equine population; when I voice my opinion about horse slaughter it applies to the anti-slaughter movement going on up here in Canada. It was never a U.S. issue - it's a North American issue, if not an international one.


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

Thank you Gremmy. I did not know that about the anti-slaughter goings on up in Canada. It seems like all we hear and see is about in the US

Thank you Cherie. Like me, I'm sure many did not know that about the plants in Mexico. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Ray MacDonald (Dec 27, 2009)

loveduffy - Your thinking of stallion fights. They take two very agressive stallions and pit them against each other until the other one gives up or dies. People place bets on which horse they think will win. Pretty sure it's illegal.

And what didn't you know about mexico slaughter houses?


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