Slaughterhouse shutdown cause of abandonment?
March 5th, 2009, 2:37 pm · 5 Comments · posted by sjohnson
A website has been created to spotlight the plight of abandoned horses in the wake of U.S. slaughterhouse closures in 2007.
The site blames those closures for an increase in abandonment and abuse of horses because it left owners of aged or ill horses left with no options.
“The well-intended legislation enacted to help horses has backfired. An essential outlet that once kept the equine population in check has all but disappeared. Because of plant closures, the market for aged, infirmed, over-bred, mean or dangerous horses has plummeted. The cost of keeping a horse has not.
Horse owners are facing a costly burden; unfortunate horses are facing less-than-humane treatment. It is difficult, if not impossible, for people to sell animals they no longer want, need, or can afford.”
The site is seeking photos and documentation of abandonment and abuse of horses nationwide and appears to be in its early days with only a few images posted from Utah and Oregon.
I’d be interested to hear opinions on the issue. I can’t help but wonder why animal owners faced with disposal issues can’t just humanely euthanize and dispose of those animals that would have otherwise gone to the slaughterhouses.
A veterinarian recently told me a well-placed bullet is considered by experts and the law to be a humane form of euthanasia for large animals and I’m sure for those who can’t bring themselves to go that route, a veterinarian could come and administer euthanasia.
So why would lack of slaughterhouses impact the situation at all? Is it a transportation issue where people just like the convenience of being able to load them on trucks and forget about it?
I get that there are abandoned horses out there but I’m not sure I understand how that’s a result of closed slaughterhouses, so perhaps someone can enlighten me…
I have posted a press release from Baxter Black below if you are interested. Black is a syndicated columnist and one of the founders of www.abandonedhorses.com
Press release:
FROM BAXTER BLACK, COYOTE COWBOY COMPANY, www.baxterblack.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NATIONAL ABANDONED HORSES WEBSITE ESTABLISHED!
A webpage has been established to serve as a site to collect and
document cases of equine abuse, abandonment and neglect. It is called
www.abandonedhorses.com. Photographs of affected horses along with city
and state of origin and person submitting can be e-mailed to:
sendphotos@amillionhorses.com.
According to Baxter Black, DVM, one of the founders, “We are
establishing a ‘gallery of abandoned horses.’ This unintended problem
has come as a direct result of the closing of all the horse slaughter
plants in the U.S.
“Several states are considering the building a new plant. There will
undoubtedly be objections to their construction.
www.abandonedhorses.com will serve as a stark visual reminder to
politicians and voters of the need for a practical humane alternative to
starving or dumping them.
“The day the first new plant in the United States is finished, this man
made abandoned horse tragedy will begin to disappear.”
5 Comments
Leave a Reply
- Advertising Info
- Media Kit
- Request a Sponsorship
- Yellow Pages
- Archives
- Obituary Archive
- Photos
- Story Archive
- Subscriber Services
- e-Paper Login
- e-Paper Sign Up
- e-Paper Help
- Report a Problem
- Subscribe
The fact that horse slaughter houses are closed in the States is not the reason for the abandonment. The reason I say this is because over 100,000 horses were sent for slaughter to Canada and Mexico in 2008. Slaughter is still available to horse owners in the U.S. I too wonder why these abandoned/neglected horses are on the rise? In addition to slaughter there is sale, donation, rescues and euthanasia by bullet or injection available. I can only surmise that these people don’t want to risk having their horses slaughtered and that is why they are not bringing them to the sales. I can only imagine if I was in their position… maybe a job loss and you can’t get yourself to betray your equine friend by sending it to slaughter. Would I be able to have a horse put down… or would I hang on as long as I could hoping things turn around? A very difficult position to be in. Then of course there are some people who really just don’t care. I recently read an article that 30 horses at a couple of auctions were not bid on at all, and they were using that as justification to return slaughter to the States. When I saw thought I immediately thought that the horse meat market must be on the decline, if even kill buyers aren’t buying these horses. I think people forget that the slaughter houses are there to meet a demand for horse meat, not to dispose of ‘unwanted’ horses. If there’s no demand, they don’t purchase your animal. Period. We ALL need to work on alternatives. Nor Cal has the right idea… low cost euthanasia. There is one State that is working on alternatives.. I think it is Maryland, but can’t remember and can’t find the link! If I locate it, I will post it.
Here’s an interesting database to look at. This is horse abandonment/neglect cases from 2006 (which the abandonedhorses.com website conveniently didn’t publish). This was happening when the slaughterhouses were open. Click on cruelty database on the left and you can filter animal/country/abuse/year, etc.
http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/cruelty_database/results.php?us_state=ALL&ca_state=&uk_state=&nz_state=&au_state=&es_state=&type_id=1&animal_id=3&status=&month=&year=2006&gender=&keyword=&search=search
Here is the link to the State that is actually trying to help owners…. and it’s New Mexico. I wasn’t even close with Maryland was I !
http://www.apvnm.org/legislation/2009/Final-EquineProtectionFundFacts.pdf
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/a-legislative-proposal-to-help-horses-rescues
First as to euthanasia: If a family is in dire financial straits, and they have, let’s say, 4 horses out back- it costs 300.00 to have a vet euthanize each horse, and 200.00 to have the renderer pick up each body- and the family cannot afford the $2000.00. The rescues in our state are now all full and taking no more. So, the horses starve, or are turned loose out on the roads…. maybe your loved one will hit one of them with their car.
Formerly, the family would have received $1600.00 for the meat cost of the same 4 horses. An asset has been turnied into a liability.
The slaughter market has always served as the “bottom” of the horse market, at 400.00 to 500.00 per average sized horse. Other prices went up from there. Horses are also an industry. If a owner has a young horse, it costs 500.00 per month to train that horse by a decent trainer. It requires 2-3 months to get the job done. So, even a horse bought for nearly nothing is a significant investment. A mixture of the poor economy, retiring baby boomers, and slaughter closure has made training unprofitable even to break even, so no one is even bothering to invest in the 2-3 year old horses any more.
You cannot even give a nice young horse away these days.
Horses are expensive livestock animals. I have been an owner for 30+ years and currently have 20 head, most of which are rescues (you don’t have to go far to find them these days. ) I cannot sell them, (The value of a horse is down more than 200%) and I certainly have no space to take more in. I certainly hope that those who propose to tell me how horses should be managed have similar experience. I also hope that if they want to treat horses like puppies and kitties, they are ready for their tax dollars to fund horse “pounds” for the enormous expense that will entail.
I would have preferred that the slaughter plants remained, but were made more humane.
As a College Senior doing research through both Science and Agriculture Departments, I have found most all of the information first posted close to right on the money.
I’m not aiming to point fingers or boo hoo to anyone but please read fully before you close your mind and the window.
In response I have to agree with Freddy, as a young rancher and growing up on a family ranch with 300 pair sets (we call them “pairs”)of mother cows and their young calves, we use horses for a bulk of our work. Due to high cost of fuel, we can’t use vehicles or 4-wheelers because the amount of work that we could get done using horses in a day costs us 2-3 tankfuls of gas per 4-wheeler that is used. This being said, in order to get the work done that we have to do in order to care for the cows, their calves, and the bulls that are needed to reproduce with the cows, we need at least 3-5 people riding a horse at a given time working on the same project. In order to be humane and take care of our horses we ride them in 3 hour shifts because it gets hot where we live or the strain on their bodies is too much…so we have and use up to 12-15 horses.
Now for horses taht aren’t able to take the strain of running/jogging up to 20 miles in 90+ degree heat for the 3 hours that we need them or unable to pull and hold a 1500 lb. steer (sometimes they’re bigger) we have no need or use for them. We might like them, might even love them, but it’s like having a prized ‘76 mustang sitting in your front yard with hood open and windows down with flat tires and no cover on it…(basically if you only have it to have it and it won’t run and is getting in worse condition by the day it’s not really a benefit to have it).
The only thing that is different is that you can sell the body and other rusty parts of that car that can be fixed up and you can get a lot of money because it’s a cool old car…you can’t sell an injured or weak horse because nobody wants an injured or weak horse and nobody has the money or desire to feed an injured or weak horse that can’t be ridden or used and is only good to look at in the front yard.
Now Chris, I have to agree in one place with you, the presence or lack of presence of slaughter plants might not have made a difference in those years, but now the lack of those very plants is hurting us. I think I’ve used good enough examples for you to understand that. If not and you feel that you want to support and rescue a horse I’ll give one to you…then you can pay the price of stabling (cheap local stabling costs is $30 a day, feed and water and care not included) Feed, a bag of horse feed in 50 lb. bags goes for app. $80 and that will last about a week, depending on amount of work the horse does and the nutrition requirements that it needs individually. Also corn and oats aren’t enough. Horses like other grazing animals need ruffage (think of it as fiber for us), if you buy the 3′ square horse bales, a horse will require about a third of a bale a day, taking into consideration again the amount of work and exercise the animal gets. Those bales cost at the extreme low end about $3.00 a bale. But now add the cost of the hay that is used as bedding in the stall, maybe another 2-3 bales to comfortably cover the floor (are you finally getting where people go out of their mind and can’t afford to stable a horse, and how expensive it is and why though they love their animals they have to part with them?) all total that’s approx. $300 a week to keep this animal alive (not counting labor, electricity, or water costs). Personally, $300 is enough to pay minimum payments on 2 bills and have enough left over for enough food to last me and one other person a week…not gourmet but I can survive. When it comes to live, survive, or beg, an animal can do it better than a person anyday, so when it comes to surviving my monetary means, an animal doesn’t need money but we as people in this messed up world have to have it or we will be imprisoned for not paying.