Rebuttal to ROBYN SCHERES'S ARTICLE - CLICK HERE to read it....
Your article was forwarded to me by some of our readers so I figured I would address your article in a public forum. You have been GRAVELY misinformed about horse slaughter.
There is NO such thing as humane horse slaughter. Horse slaughter is a horrific, brutal practice and you have your facts incorrect.
Canadian horse slaughter is NOT better than Mexico, as you note in your article. Visit the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition's website, read this article and watch the videos for yourself - when a horse is in the middle of being slaughtered and is able to kick its murderer I DARE you to tell me it's humane.
Your note about the Unwanted Horse Coalition - try getting your information from MORE than one source before writing - you should have checked with pro slaughter, anti-slaughter and made a few calls to folks that are actually involved in the horse world. Did you personally interview ANYONE for your article?
Unwanted horse is a pro slaughter term - there are NO unwanted horses in this country. ALL horses were bred with human intervention with the exception of wild horses and possibly an unlatched gate. That makes them Homeless Horses NOT unwanted; they simply have outgrown the reason or did not meet the criteria for which they were bred.
You say in your article, "Repealing the ban on horse processing in the United States will help curb this problem." What ban?! There is NO federal ban on horse slaughter in the United States. It is illegal in ONLY CA, IL, and TX and that's IT. Just ask ole Senator Larson of NE...
Horse slaughter plants are not operating due to LOCAL laws and problems with the specific plants. There is NO federal ban against horse slaughter. And it's NOT horse processing - it's SLAUGHTER - call it what it is.
You think that opening a plant back up will help with homeless horses, huh? Have you seen the horses that are abandoned in Mexico? Guess what, as you note in your article, they have horse slaughter plants in Mexico - what's your argument for that?
As for horse meat being a delicacy? Have you read THIS ARTICLE that accurately details just one of the drugs that horses are administered routinely? "Bute" (since you are supposed to be a horse person you must know what that is) is given to horses for pain and I personally do not know of a single horse that's never been given bute.
Bute causes aplastic anemia in humans; the FDA recognizes NO withdrawal period for bute in animals to be used for human consumption. Yet, you think its just hunky dory for people to eat it - you call it a delicacy for the Japanese. I wonder if they know they are eating tainted meat?
I cannot even believe the Rocky Mountain Collegiate allowed your article to go live. If I were the person that allowed your article to be printed / posted I would be issuing an apology immediately and remove your pro slaughter, inaccuracy filled, faux educational article from my site. Try having the facts straight before you post...you just make it harder for us trying to help horses in need.
Jo Deibel
