NM man films horse killing to send message to activists
Source: KOB 4
A video posted on YouTube has sparked outrage among animal activists and left death threats against a Roswell meat company.
In the video, an employee at the Valley Meat Company out of Roswell, NM - which is working with the USDA to get a horse slaughter plant in the area - brings a horse out of its pen, swears at activists and then kills the horse with a single gunshot.
“To all you animal activists, f**k you,” Tim Sappington, a maintenance contractor with Valley Meat Company, said in the video.
He then shoots the horse point blank in the head. The horse falls to the ground and dies.
Sappington has received several death threats for the video. People who operate the plant, who contend they had nothing to do with the video, are also receiving threats.
Now, the FBI is involved.
Read more: http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2971822.shtml?cat=500
News report at the link.
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Aristus
(72,085 posts)
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)I have yet to see one of these fuckadoos NOT crying for it all to stop after about 72 nonstop hours of The Gaze Of The Internet.
PB
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)Sic 'em, boys!
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)...tend to eat assholes like this alive.
PB
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)
Tunkamerica
(4,444 posts)OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)Tunkamerica
(4,444 posts)sorry, it's a common response to people posting pet projects on 4chan
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)anyone contact them to take action on this.
I expected Anonymous to take up this cause on their own.
A corrective force to the asshole behavior that people willfully choose to display on the Internets.
Tunkamerica
(4,444 posts)got it
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)the horse-killer eats horses. So legally he can kill a horse and consume it. Which he does. SICK!
Deep13
(39,157 posts)This may be a surprise to a lot of people, but it actually is not a crime to kill one's own horse. Now, I would not have done it and I generally share society's taboo on eating horse, but conceptually it's no different than eating any other animal.
As far as the video: 1st Amendment protected speech.
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)Oh, I think there may be a little more going on here. Just throwing out the concept of "Fighting Words" and by entwinig the execution of the horse as part of his speech, has changed it from a mere utterance into something potentially a lot more serious.
Just sayin'
PB
mbperrin
(7,672 posts)Threats, credible threats, are not protected speech. He's credible - he's got a gun, and he killed with it right there on his own media.
This is why I'm an atheist. A god would have made his gun misfire and kill him, not the innocent animal.
Flying Squirrel
(3,041 posts)micromanaging your life, and the lives of everyone else? Why bother giving us free will in that case. Why bother even creating beings of advanced intelligence? This is not to say that I believe in God - just food for thought. We are the only animal capable of evil, mainly because we are intelligent enough that we should know better. If it were part of God's purpose to prevent evil (assuming there were a God), She could have done so quite easily by just not allowing (or causing, your choice) the development of intelligent beings beyond a certain level.
Neoma
(10,039 posts)
You don't know that.Cal33
(7,018 posts)them, and take away only one for food. Would you call
this evil? And how about a cat" playing" with a mouse
until the mouse dies? ...........
Neoma
(10,039 posts)Separate from animals in our high and mighty intellectual throne is hogwash.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)Yet, they still have free will, if free will exists.
The Stranger
(11,297 posts)The question is how he went about killing this horse and whether he followed proper procedures.
No one is talking about making a video of it as a crime.
But he sure gave me all the evidence I would need.
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)Which you can read HERE (required PDF reader).
Valley Meat Co. does confirm that Mr. Sappington does work doing maintenance for Valley. We have seen the video showing Mr. Sappington euthanizing a horse for slaughter which we understood he did as was his legal right for his own consumption and in which he did complete the processing for consumption. We agree that his comments were regrettably crass, not contributing anything to this dialogue so we do not condone his statements, but he was within his lawful rights to slaughter and butcher a horse
and he was not acting as an employee of the company in that action. The emotion of the situation is what is most troubling especially since the opposition is now resorting to terrorist tactics by calling in bomb threats and death threats against our families. And while Mr. Sappington's personal comments are inappropriate they palein comparison to threatening to bomb people and kill their families. We respectfully request that the media and the public remember that we are discussing the processing of horses as livestock and no animal is worth threatening or ending a person's life.
Don't ever pay a lawyer to write a statement for your company to distance itself from an employee doing something on their own time, especially a heinous symbolic execution such as this, and have them run cover for your shit employee.
Valley Meat does not want to be giving anybody the impression they support anything that dude did.
They shoulda just left that part out.
PB
tblue
(16,350 posts)And to whom?
Egad. SO GLAD I'm vegetarian. If I wasn't already, I'd become one now.
TheBlackAdder
(29,981 posts)Contractor or not...
A contractor hired by a company becomes a de facto representative of that firm.
He was hired as a maintenance worker, but decides to fire off a weapon to kill an animal on their property and all is fine?
What happens if that bullet ricocheted off the horse's skull and hit a bystander?
===
That contractor should be fired by the firm.
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)PB
TheBlackAdder
(29,981 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)I can understand why they get death threats, even I wished the gun would have misfired and killed the man.
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)Animal abuse/human abuse.
He gets what he deserves, fuck him and the slaughter house.
mbperrin
(7,672 posts)And soon. (Yeah, that populist streak of mine comes out on things like this).
Lithos
(26,626 posts)I am crying...
It would be like shooting one of my cats for fun.
Psychopath
L-
DonCoquixote
(13,954 posts)"a white man with money can do whatever he wants, to whoever we wants, however he want t' do it, especially if it involves shooting something with a gun, YEEEEEHAAAAWWWWW!"
lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)
alittlelark
(19,131 posts)
freshwest
(53,661 posts)
"Loose" or "way up" horses, most of which were sold so they could be sent to Canada to be slaughtered, wait to be ushered into the auction ring.
Tim Sappington is ready to buy horses for Valley Meat Co., which is seeking to open the first U.S. horse slaughterhouse since 2007. Right now he’s the only paid employee, and he puts his money where his mouth is.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/horse-slaughter-jobs-embraced-in-state-where-cowboys-roam.html
LeftInTX
(34,179 posts)Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)The incident resulting in the suspension occurred on Feb. 24, 2012 when both an employee using a .40 caliber pistol and a backup .410 shotgun failed to humanely kill an animal. None of the first four shots penetrated the skull. The USDA inspector on site immediately took regulatory action by tagging the knocking area, shutting down further slaughter operations.
Roswell, NM-based Valley Meat Co. was informed on Feb. 29 that the suspension was being held in abeyance after USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) was provided written assurances on how the company would make sure that there would be no further occurrences of inhumane handling.
Fucking sick.
PB
defacto7
(14,162 posts)That's what hate does.
caseymoz
(5,763 posts)Like killing the horse is going to do anything about the rage that's raising his blood pressure and tearing him up inside.
Poor horse, but it's not suffering. He still is, and anybody who shoots him will just be doing him a service, and one he doesn't deserve.
msongs
(73,615 posts)bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)I don't eat cows or their bodily fluids. Or any other animal for that matter.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Not to mention the completely idiotic and inflammatory nature of the video.
Bay Boy
(1,689 posts)then by people in Europe, or maybe by USA dogs.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)
Scout
(8,625 posts)have been treated with drugs that make the meat not safe for human consumption.
and many people who are horse lovers are also against cow slaughter.
opening of horse slaughter plants also increases the rate of THEFT of peoples horses which are then sold by the thieves to slaughter ... it gives those who are lazy and neglect/abuse their animals an out, an excuse, and then they profit from the slaughter of their animal rather than treating it right in the first place, or surrendering it to a humane organization.
also there have been articles written about the what happens to the towns where the slaughterhouses are located ... it ain't all hunky dory, oh look there's some good jobs! when the slaughter houses open.
2ndAmForComputers
(3,527 posts)As is anyone who thinks what he did is reasonable.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)When you're around these kind of people, it's an evil you can feel. They are devoid of empathy for animal or human. They seem to gravitate to the 'careers' like kill buyer of broken suffering dairy cows and batcher/kill buyer of low priced or free horses. Sociopaths love to be the Overlord of their personal death camps.
It will make one religious because you can feel the devil still walks the earth around these people.
6000eliot
(5,643 posts)bubbayugga
(222 posts)truthisfreedom
(23,526 posts)Piece of shit.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)who grew up pulling the wings off flies and entertaining himself torturing small animals. Now he's an empowered and righteous defender of his rights, letting others know he's willing to kill to defend them. Did someone expect him to be something else?
lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)Jim.Rob58
(25 posts)bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)Not sure why you feel the need to point this out.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)moral equivalency thing. I suppose.
bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)I euthanize the sick dog to end its suffering. You shoot the healthy horse to shock and offend me. Both animals are dead. I don't eat the dog though, so I may be more or less humane depending on how you see it.
Exultant Democracy
(6,597 posts)but pigs are smarter. I don't eat anything that had a pulse but that is just me. Overall this guy offends me a lot less then any parent who poisons their children on fast food mystery meat. In my opinion all meat eaters should take part in animal slaughter if only to appreciate the fullness of their actions.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)any of your own killing? All the normal people I know feel bad about killing things, even to eat. The lunatic who shot that horse likes to kill. He's as big a danger to you as to horses. Please stop with the I admire people more who do their own killing canticle. There's nothing to admire about killing.
Exultant Democracy
(6,597 posts)As a life long vegetarian not only do I admire carnivores who do their own killing more. I also think that in the balance they are far less revolting then the people who shovel fast food into their families with no contextual understanding of the cost in life for their meals.
Bay Boy
(1,689 posts)...oh not the same thing? Sorry.
whopis01
(3,916 posts)It is difficult to understand what point you are trying to make when you leave such a brief statement.
I imagine that it is intended to show that PETA kills animals so they are either hypocrites or that they don't have a problem with animals being killed. Or something similar.
Well the organizations name stands for "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals". It isn't "People Against Killing Animals".
They are dealing with animals that are in some of the worst straights possible. The vast majority of which will never recover and will be suffering and in pain for the remainder of their lives. That is why they decide to euthanize so many of them. It is the ethical thing to do.
Perhaps you think this is comparable to shooting a horse in the head to make a point to activists in a video. Was that the point of your statement?
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Jim Rob(as in the owner of FR, Jim Robinson) sounds familiar. IDK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Republic
OTOH, maybe feels PETA should get all those animals homes. The people in this country certainly come from all walks of life.
Jim.Rob58
(25 posts)I think his actions were dumb. I do find PETA's actions to be hypocritical. While the method used by PETA may be more humane than this man's (I don't know), they did kill most of the animals they had in 2012. Please provide a reference to your statement that PETA was "dealing with animals that are in some of the worst straights possible....the vast majority of which will never recover and will be suffering and in pain for the rest of their lives" Where did you get that info from?
2ndAmForComputers
(3,527 posts)koiwoman53
(22 posts)I have a horse and he's like a member of our family. I've had him since he was seven and he's now 32 years old, human years he'd be 90 something. If he gets to the point his life is more suffering than living, he is going to be euthanized and buried in my back yard. He's my responsibility and I just can't see sending him off to be disposed of at a slaughter house.
Just as a thought, replace that horse with a golden retriever a yorkshire terrier, etc. How would most people react if they saw a dog disposed of in this manner or a cat. What if they opened slaughter houses for unwanted pets? The meat could be sent overseas and who knows some fancy chef might started serving dog meat here in the United States and it become a trendy thing.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)that properly done, a bullet at the right point and angle is the surest euthanasia. It sounds like this asshole did it the "right" way.
That poor horse never knew what hit him...just alive one moment and gone the next, with no consciousness or awareness or pain. Which is better than what some horses are going through right now, as some irresponsible people simply abandon them to starve during tough economies.
After 22+ years of love, I had to euthanize my 27 year old gelding last February. He was ready to go and although it broke my heart, for him I'm sure it was a relief. He spent 4 days waiting at his burial site in the back pasture, while I made his arrangements.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)
SpartanDem
(4,533 posts)horse is featured in some way. It's also used in some Asian and South American cuisines. I've had friends who tried in France, it's basically a very lean beef.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)The very height of sanctimonious hypocrisy. If you're truly concerned with the lives of animals, then be a vegan -- it isn't hard, I've managed for nearly 25 years in complete happiness.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)My body doesn't agree.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)I hear that a lot. It's balderdash.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)"Dude, without meat you'll DIE!"
I don't think so.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)It's more of a change over than my body can take at this moment.
I can do without meat.
However my hunger pains don't always agree.
^^^ This sucks!
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)but those are the same people who eat shelled slugs and call it a delicacy.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Why is it fine to kill a pig (a tremendously intelligent and sensitive animal, probably more intelligent than most dogs) but not a horse? You may have been raised to feel some animals are food while others are special, but that's nothing more than a function of your geography and your era.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)Not a bad idea.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)What are you trying to say?
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)Peter cotton
(380 posts)It was yummy.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)Seriously. pass. no horse meat on my plate.
Peter cotton
(380 posts)You're missing out, though...it was similar to lean beef.
I'm assuming you're not going to be persuaded by my account of how good the puffin, reindeer, and whale I had were, either?
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)
WilliamPitt
(58,179 posts)and people are ready to riot.
The "What about the cows?" people upthread have a point, I suppose...but dogs and horses, man. Messing with dogs and horses will always call down the thunder.
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)He heavily inflected the otherwise humdrum political speech by not just executing the animal but executing it the way he did- with a pistol, between the eyes. His meat company had their beef slaughter license suspended temporarily because an inspector was present when improper slaughter methods caused head of beef to remain living after four shots. I thought everyone had to use cattle stunners which are quite a bit more effective than .40 bullets or shotgun slugs. He appears to disregard the animal, who does not appear to have been slaughtered humanely.
Anyway, nah, it's the symbolic mingling of his speech and the slaughter that's exceptionally disturbing.
Consider equatable substitutes:
“To President Obama, f**k you,” before shooting the horse, or...
“To Gays, f**k you,”
“To Jews, f**k you,”
Etc. This one is not restricted to horse and dog lovers. I, personally, would have the same reaction if he'd slaughtered a head of beef that way.
PB
a bullet between the eyes is the commonly expected way to 'put down' cattle. Most any farmer who is going to butcher his own cattle, pig etc. is going to do it that way. I didn't watch the video.
Exultant Democracy
(6,597 posts)Horse, pig, cow, dog, all equally disgusting to me so I don't see the logic in getting up in arms just because horses are pretty.
In all honesty I respect a person who kills the animals they are eating themselves a lot more then the average American who pulls up to a drive thru and gets a mystery meat burger.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)to shock and offend, not out of any need for meat. There's nothing to respect in that. You left cats off your list of disgusting domestic pets suitable for consumption. What gives?
Exultant Democracy
(6,597 posts)I don't agree with eating meat and I think all slaughter is dreadful, however I respect a person who kills what he eats a lot more then someone who only deals with the sanitized outcome.
What this guy does is less offensive then a parent feeding their children McDonald's in my opinion.
Paladin
(32,354 posts)For someone who eschews meat consumption, you sure seem in a hurry to revert to blood-spattered, prehistoric practices. And I say that as someone who used to hunt, and as someone who gutted, skinned, chopped up and consumed quite a few deer over the years. I buy all my meat at the store now, and I suffer no guilt complex for doing so. Sorry if that disappoints you.....
Exultant Democracy
(6,597 posts)I just think everyone who eats something should have to kill one of them themselves first. My personal guess is that a lot less people would end up choosing meat when faced with the stark reality of their choice.
While I have never had meat myself I do theoretically see three ways this could come about. The first is I really decide I want to eat something ( this would probably be a lobster they do look yummy) hunt it myself (and if this is a lobster then it would be skin diving while bare handed just to keep it fair) and then kill and eat it myself. The second is if I am invited to be a judge on iron chef, nuff said. The third circumstance is if I visit a developing area and someone slaughters their prize cattle representing a huge personal cost as a show of respect.
Paladin
(32,354 posts)But whatever makes you happy is OK with me.....
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)"the only victim as it stands..."
I'd imagine that anyone who receives pleasure from killing sentient creature for no other reason than to add emphasis to the statement "fuck you" is a victim of his own hedonism also.
"What this guy does is less offensive then a parent feeding their children McDonald's in my opinion..."
Only one who is blessedly dogmatic or merely an idiot would be unable to see a specific and relevant difference between eating merely to live, and killing for fun. Though I'm quite certain you're allegedly neither dogmatic nor an idiot.
Exultant Democracy
(6,597 posts)As someone else pointed out below, most of the death that lead to the American burger could only be described as horrible torture. While the guy might have sworn to the camera he was not abusive to the horse before he killed it quickly and cleanly.
A parent that feeds their kids fast food is far more disgusting to me. In the US the first generation to have a shorter life expectancy then their parents are currently waddling their way through elementary school. One guy killing one horse he is going to eat anyway just doesn't add up to the evil of feeding someone who trust you poison that will kill them while also destroying the environment for everyone else. In the measure the use of horses for meat has far fewer negative externalities then the consumption of beef or pork. Horses are pretty so are dogs, but life is life and a horse isn't worth more then a pig to me. (In fact I consider killing a pig a great crime if only because of their dramatically greater intelligence and self awareness.)
2ndAmForComputers
(3,527 posts)Exultant Democracy
(6,597 posts)who do horrible things to their children's bodies be feeding them poison is a far greater concern to me. If you are going to be outrages be outrages about something that is actually important and not just shocking.
bunnies
(15,859 posts)Like most of the other animals people in this country eat.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Takes a certain kind of person to entertain himself by killing a sentient creature. I'm certainly glad I don't hang out with any of them... God only knows how else they get their kicks.
mbperrin
(7,672 posts)make me ill, and in fact, make me think bad thoughts.
Hoping he gets the adjustment he needs, and soon.