We at St. Francis Horse Rescue & Retirement Farm, Inc. are opposed to horse slaughter. It might surprise you to know that even though the last three remaining horse slaughter plants in the United States have been shut down, thousands of animals are being shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter every day.
There are pro slaughter people who feel that it would be much more humane to kill the horses here in the United States rather than shipping them for days without food or water in horribly cramped conditions.
We say there is nothing humane about horse slaughter at all and that the answer lies in one area alone. Responsibility. The people who are creating these horses whether they are big name breeders or the back yard variety need to take responsibility for what they bring into this world.
There was a time when a person could breed a few mares and make a few dollars on the foals. Suddenly it seemed that everyone who had a mare had to breed their mare and try to make a buck. You can see where I am going with this. Supply and demand. Any time that over breeding of any type of animal occurs there will be consequences.
There was always that “easy” way out for the breeders. Ship them if they were not moving. Take them to auction and let the meat buyers take their pick. Horse slaughter is America’s dirty little secret and our aim is to get it out in the open and let the American people have their say. They have already spoken and the slaughter houses were closed. Now we need to close those borders and stop this horrible torture of our animals.
Of course, the “over” breeding must stop. Where are these horses coming from? They don’t mass produce on their own except in cases where people foolishly let studs run with mares. People are still breeding horses. The economy is down and the horse market is very very poor. People still breed. Right now, in most cases, there is no money to be made this way. Yet they continue breeding. Responsible (and most of the larger) breeders have backed way off. They follow the market and they know that now is not the time to bring more mouths to feed into their barns.
There is always the group that thinks they will just breed their mare one time and keep the foal for themselves. When that does not work out for whatever reason and no one wants that baby, off to auction to get what they can. And that is where the slaughter horses come from. If you picture them as sick or rank or the undesirable horses of the world, think again. They are the meaty and big, the tender and young, the old and the young and everything in between. They are America’s horses - just like the mustangs.
We are working with several groups to help end the shipping of horses to foreign countries for human consumption, pet foods or anything else for that matter. There are lots of places on the internet to read up on horse slaughter, see graphic videos and a few hopeful signs that progress is being made to protect America’s horses. We hope that you will do your homework and then ask yourself this question:
What have these horses done to deserve an ending to their lives like this?
