They shoot horses, don't they? Now Montana wants to build a horse slaughterhouse!

[KamaAina]

Just when we finally got through closing the last one in the U.S., in Illinois! :grr:

http://www.slate.com/id/2212233

The Montana state legislature endorsed a bill Tuesday that would allow the construction of a horse slaughterhouse. It would be the only such plant in the country—the last three, two in Texas, one in Illinois, were shut down in 2007. How do horse slaughterhouses work?...

The main difference between horse slaughterhouses and cattle plants is that horses are more difficult to herd, often getting into fights en route to the holding pen. That's partly because they're raised for racing or riding, not consumption, and thus aren't accustomed to cramped quarters. (Federal transportation regulations for horses don't have a space requirement, so buyers tend to pack them in tight.) Horses also tend to be more excitable than cows—hence the blinders—and the smell of blood makes them nervous. Like other "flight animals," when they're scared, they try to run.

The biggest challenge for slaughterhouse employees is getting horses to hold still in the "kill room." Horses don't like things near their heads, so when a worker reaches over the railing with a bolt gun, they often swing their heads around, causing the gun to fire in the wrong place. The American Veterinary Medical Association calls the penetrating captive bolt a humane method but emphasizes that "dequate restraint is important to ensure proper placement of the captive bolt." The Australian Veterinary Association, meanwhile, has dubbed the bolt "not satisfactory for horses since firm pressure on the forehead is essential for its effective use and this tends to be resisted by the horse."

:cry:

[Goblinmonger]

1. OK, I know this is a hot-button issue for a lot of people,

but where's the outrage for the cattle slaughterhouses? The pig slaughterhouses? The various poultry slaughterhouses? I know we are a culture that doesn't generally like to kill our pets, but to focus just on horses is kind of silly. Oh, they don't herd well and they aren't "raised" for consumption. Well, too bad. We are a culture that eats meat. Personally, I've been a vegetarian for 20 years, but I have a hard time with the lines that some people draw.

[KamaAina]

4. Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand was eventually slaughtered for meat

which kind of puts this in a different category, except maybe for "Zuckerman's Famous Pig".

From his Wiki: (DU software gags on the parens in the link)

Ferdinand (1983-2002) was a Thoroughbred racehorse racehorse who won the 1986 Kentucky Derby and 1987 Breeders' Cup Classic. He was voted the 1987 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.

He entered stud in 1989 and was later sold to a breeding farm in Japan in 1994.

Much to the outrage of many horse racing enthusiasts, reports indicate that in 2002 Ferdinand was sent to slaughter in Japan with no fanfare or notice to previous owners. Ferdinand's death was the catalyst for the Ferdinand Fee, an optional donation program to fund keeping old racehorses alive.

In September 2006, the United States House of Representatives approved H.R. 503, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which would ban the slaughter of horses in the United States. The bill did not make it out of committee in the Senate, however. In January 2007 the bill was re-introduced.

edit: header, link

[L. Coyote]

2. Horse meat is healtier than beef, and horses are not methane producers like cows, plus

there is less environmental damage from horses because they free range the winters. And, they taste really good. Where can I get some of the meat, and how soon?

[KamaAina]

3. France or Belgium, supposedly

Bon appetit! :sarcasm:

[jmowreader]

5. As the economy gets worse, this will happen more and more

The paper millionaires not only spent their paper millions on oversized homes, they bought a lot of horses--which now, thanks to GeeDubya's stewardship of the economy, they can't afford to feed anymore.

Rescues can't take these horses--there aren't enough rescues for them all, nor are there enough charity dollars, with all the OTHER needs for said dollars, to maintain unwanted horses for the rest of their very long lives. People on the verge of bankruptcy can't afford to have them euthanized, and euthanizing a horse with drugs means you have a 1200-pound hazmat problem: a dose of barbiturates large enough to kill a horse is also large enough to kill anything that eats the dead horse.

I think the answer is mobile slaughtering facilities. These operators will come to your farm, shoot your horse with a gun, draw and quarter it, and remove it from your land. There's no more worry about horses being packed in trailers on the way to Mexican abattoirs--with mobile slaughter, it leaves your land already dead.