New Mexico governor asks feds to stop horse slaughterhouse

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

New Mexico governor asks feds to stop horse slaughterhouse
2:46 PM, Apr. 13, 2012

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez said Friday she is asking federal officials not to allow a southeastern New Mexico company to open the nation’s first slaughterhouse for horses since 2007.

Martinez plans to send a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking it deny a Roswell meat company’s request for inspections that would allow it to operate.

“Despite the federal government’s decision to legalize horse slaughter for human consumption, I believe creating a horse slaughtering industry in New Mexico is wrong and I am strongly opposed,” Martinez said in a statement.

Valley Meat Co. has filed an application with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its 7,300-square-foot plant outside of town. Documents obtained by the Humane Society of the United States and Front Range Equine Rescue show that horses would be “custom slaughtered” and processed for human consumption at the plant, the Albuquerque Journal reported (http://bit.ly/IlnrcB ).


Read more: http://www.rgj.com/article/20120413/NEWS13/304130097/New-Mexico-governor-asks-feds-stop-horse-slaughterhouse?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CLocal

[DallasNE]

1. Obviously Valley Meat Co. Sees A Market

For horse meat for human consumption. When I was growing up there was a section in the meat market for horse meat. Since the Republicans want to go back to the good old days this just seems like a logical step. I know Romney would want market forces to determine whether horse meat should be sold for human consumption so how can the Governor have a problem with this? Didn't she get the memo?

[Major Nikon]

6. There has been a market for some time

US horses are already being shipped to Mexico for slaughter and many face harsh conditions during the trip and don't survive.

Makes a lot more sense to slaughter them here, even from an animal welfare perspective. Plus it's pretty silly to say that some type of ungulates can be slaughtered for their meat while others can't.

[kurtzapril4]

18. Here here, Major Nikon

The hypocrisy of some horse owners is just stunning.

[Major Nikon]

20. I grew up on a farm, and had chickens as pets when I was 5

My dad never slaughtered the two I kept as pets and they died of old age. Even back then I understood that some chickens were for eating and some weren't. We had horses too and I've been all over the world and saw horse meat for sale at the town market. It never bothered me. Even in societies where they eat dog meat they don't butcher the family pet.

[PatrynXX]

2. The way the meat companies are going eventually I'll be

eating more green

frankly if Republicans wanna force women into looking at the fetus. should have no problem forcing consumers to watch the animals slaughtered just before they eat it....

[OmahaBlueDog]

7. That logic assumes that many consumers have not seen their animals slaughtered

As a practical matter, many do. If you hunt, for example, you've probably field dressed a deer, elk, pheasant, or feral hog. Some farmers still slaughter their own meat, although most will pay a locker to do it for them. I've witnessed the industrial slaughter of cattle, hogs, and buffalo, as well as the butchering process in country lockers. I've also seen the parts that get sent on to become dog food.

What bothers me are bad slaughter facilities (like Agriprocessors, a few years back). Those who can't /won't find a rescue, or who simply want some value returned on an unwanted/unneeded animal currently subject the horses to long rides to slaughterhouses in Mexico or Canada. Standards and oversight are simply lower. The fact that it is so difficult to dispose of a horse has accelerated the replacement of horses with 4-wheelers. As demand drops, more horses can't be sold, and aren't needed, and the cycle repeats itself. It'd be nice if every horse could be treated like a beloved family pet, or sent to a rescue. That's simply not reality. If New Mexico won't allow horse slaughter, then owners will continue to ship outside the country, or they'll look to open a facility in a Native Reservation as a means to circumvent the law. It's like drugs: I don't like 'em, but I'd rather see them legal and controlled.

[Voice for Peace]

3. good.

good for her.

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. There is only so much capacity in rescues, and demand/need for horses is plummeting

Most ranchers I meet use 4-wheelers to do the things they once did with horses. If it's your horse and you have the funds to keep it as a pet from cradle to grave, that's fine. For those that view the horses as livestock, there should be a USDA inspected facility for slaughter so the meat can be harvested and exported to nations where there is still a demand.

[alp227]

8. or the wild.

[DRoseDARs]

11. Part of the problem is they starve to death... in the wild.

Horses don't have natural predators per se in North America (I imagine mountain lions take one down on occasion) and they are an invasive species introduced to the continent like pigs (another destructive invasive species) only a few centuries ago. They've not found their natural balance with the environment here and thus, go through boom-and-bust cycles in their populations, never mind the harm they do putting pressures on native species or open range ranching, all relying on the same sometimes meager vegetation of the western states. It's a similar principle as when ranchers and states cull wolves: They upset a balance and allow the populations the wolves were controlling to become unstable. People who like to romanticize feral horses are flirting with hypocrisy because they won't give the same fawning consideration to feral cats (yet another even more destructive invasive species). Exterminating wild horses is a completely unpalatable option. Leaving them to their own devices only results in their suffering and the suffering of native species and of Humans who rely on the vegetation the wild horses consume in copious amounts leading to... starvation. Controlling their numbers is the only acceptable and humane option. What is done with the meat afterwards is not my concern. I don't eat horses, I don't eat dogs, I don't eats bugs, I don't eat squid, I don't eat a lot of things that other people do. Who am I to tell them they can't? And who are you?

[kurtzapril4]

19. +12,000! n/t

[therealsuzn]

23. simply put:

The equine species: horse, WAS here & is NOT an "invasive species!" They died out, for some unanswered reasons, likely due to predators and were re-introduced later on. Cattle ranchers are behind the wholesale murder of wild horses & making "meat" out of 'em is the fastest, most efficient way of disposing of their bodies! Wild Horses are supposed to be "protected," but wealthy Cattlemen have bought & paid for the government agency that was given that responsibility. WE do not eat "horse meat" here in the USA (not yet, anyway!), so the MEAT would be exported OR be made into Dog Food?! Sorry. I wouldn't feed HORSE to my dog. Period.

[DRoseDARs]

24. The native populations died out over 12,000 years ago; were separate from their Eurasian cousins...

With the flooding of the Barring Land Bridge, there was no way for their Eurasian cousins to fill the void when the native population died out alongside other North American megafauna (a continent-wide extinction level event) due to circumstances that are still being investigated and debated in the scientific community. At that time horses had natural predators to keep their numbers in check, and big ones at that, but they don't have them now so that leaves Humans to fill that niche. Moreover, North America was wetter and cooler at that time, so more vegetation to support them then than there is now, even without Human activities.

[harmonicon]

13. I don't think the wild needs imported horse meat. nt.

[Seedersandleechers]

5. Do the right thing.

No slaughtering of horses.

[Odin2005]

9. Why? people eat horse.

[ZombieHorde]

10. I hope we have cloned meat soon. nt

[Gibby]

12. ....yes, to serve up with the Android Vegetables, Inc.

[ZombieHorde]

21. Funny. Though I think cloned meat would eventually be cheaper

than birthed meat, and more humane.

[madrchsod]

14. one woman was the leader in shutting down the last one in the usa

she and a anti slaughter group of horse owners fought a two year war with a company in northern illinois.

there was a rather interesting comments here at that time.

[Snake Alchemist]

17. As I remember it the production was moved to Mexico where conditions for the animals were much worse

nt

[duhneece]

16. Is this Repub Gov going for national exposure?

Is she still hoping for a VP offer? Is she trying to appear compassionate?
Am I paranoid?

[PlanetBev]

22. Join the club

I'm paranoid that Romney is going to pick a women or a Hispanic, or in the case of the NM gov, both.