Help Stop Horse Slaughter
Horses feel pain, Horse feel fear,
Horses feel loneliness, Horses also feel love...
Eating horses in America or killing them for human consumption is ethically and morally
unacceptable. Horses in America are considered pets and sport/leisure animals; not
food animals. The foreign-owned horse slaughter industry has slaughtered and
exported for human consumption over 3 million American horses in the last two
decades. This is intolerable and we should not allow this abominable practice to
continue in our country.
Slaughter Houses
in U.S. and Canada
Since horses are not food animals, nor are they specifically bred for food or fiber, they are
medicated with potent drugs, such as de-wormers, painkillers, hormones, anti-
inflammatory, and pesticides for fly control. These antibiotics and vaccines become
resident in their flesh and are specifically labeled not for human use.
Since there is no export tariff on horsemeat, no profits from this deplorable business remain
in America. In addition, these foreign-owned companies pay no state taxes at all.
Therefore, all the profits from horse slaughter are siphoned directly to Belgium and France,
the home countries of these corporations. Economically, it is point proven that horses
are more valuable for the economy alive than dead. While the live horse industry
creates millions of dollars each year and provides jobs for thousands of people, the
horse slaughter industry only creates profit for these corporations. Horses are
taxed as a non-food and recreational animal (although classified as 'livestock'), and as
such are not exempt from state and local sales taxes, as are animals that are
traditionally raised for food. If horses become part of the 'food chain', each state will
lose millions of dollars annually in sales tax revenue alone.
Approved Livestock Auctions
most accept horses
Horses slaughtered by these foreign-owned industries in the United States have often been
hauled several thousand miles over several days, contrary to acceptable non-slaughter
standards for water, food, and rest. Horses sent to slaughter are often
shipped on crowded double-decker trucks designed for shorter necked species such as
pigs, cattle and sheep, and are forced to travel in a bent position which can result in
suffering, injury and death.
Callous and extremely inhumane treatment at the slaughterhouse results in prolonged
suffering. Horses endure repeated blows to the head with stunning equipment that often
does not render the animals unconscious and many horses remain conscious
during their own slaughter, including having their throats slit.
Horse slaughter is a barbaric and despicable business. A vast majority of Americans (over
85% according to recent polls) are opposed to it. They, together with the horse
industry's professionals and numerous equine welfare and other humanitarian
organizations, are currently working to get the American Horse Slaughter Prevention
Act, (whose House Version has already 205 Co-sponsors) enacted in order to ban it
entirely from this country.
Claims saying that a ban on horse slaughter will lead to an increase on abuse cases and
horses abandoned on streets and fields are false and ridiculous. Since California passed
legislation banning horse slaughter and its transport for slaughter 6 years ago, horse
abuse and starvation cases decreased. Also, during the last years the number of
horses slaughtered decreased dramatically (from over 300,000 in the 90's to less than
43,000 in 2003) and the extra number of horses that were not slaughtered each year
did not cause any increase on abuse or neglected cases.
Americans do not eat horses nor do we raise our horses for food. The only reason horse
slaughter exists is to satisfy the palates of foreigners who consider horseflesh a
delicacy along with the greed of the corporations which provide it. 'Killer buyers' who
travel from one auction to the next filling up their trucks provide the horses for this
industry. Others are stolen; even our federally protected wild horse population can end
up there. In addition, horse slaughter promotes horse theft. Since California banned
the slaughter of horses in 1998, horse theft has decreased over 34%, while the
welfare of horses has significantly improved. May I also point out that in Texas where
two of the three operating horse slaughterhouses remaining in the US, horse theft and
abuse is rampant?
In spite of contrary claims, the great majority of the horses slaughtered are not old, sick,
crippled or unwanted, but instead, are young, healthy, fat American horses, including
federally protected wild horses. Pregnant mares and mares with very young foals at
their side; purchased at auction where the slaughterhouses’ middlemen, dubbed 'killer
buyers', which outbid families and farmers looking for pets, riding and working horses.
Horses have played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States. As a
non-food and recreational animal, horses should be protected from slaughter. Again, I
urge you to support S.2352, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.
We watch them running…tails held high...gentle manes floating weightlessly on air.
We marvel at the sight of freedom bringing us closer to their whispers. I can hear them
now...
In the book 'Slaughterhouse' by Gail A, Eisnitz, 1997 a worker quoted, “You move so fast,
you don't have time to wait till a horse bleeds out. You skin him as he bleeds.
Sometimes a horse's nose is down in the blood, blowing bubbles and he
suffocates." “One woman expressed her encounter as she was driving past Cavel “The
screams of terror coming from the horses; I have been a professional horse
woman for 30 years, and never have I heard such horrific sounds come from a
horses body in all my life as I had, just passing by Cavel one day last week while the
rear unloading door to the plant happened to be open,” sadly explained Gail Vacca,
American Horse Protection Coalition and a resident of DeKalb, Illinois.
"The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other
creatures.
The fact that he does wrong to these creatures proves his moral inferiority".
- Mark Twain
We are appalled by the violence of the world today, and political figures speak every day of
bringing peace to the world. Might it be just the right time to clean up our own
backyards?
Please know that we are not saying that no horse must die. A qualified medical expert
should, humanely euthanized animals that become crippled, sickly and incapable of living a
quality life. A marksman with one bullet can end agony for horse whose time has
come.
Slaughter is NEVER the answer, but death is sometimes the only option left for the brave
souls that need to be put out of their misery. Let death come with peace not
more agony.
So what can you do? What can anyone do? With thousands of horses being slaughtered
every year you may be saying, it is hopeless. There are too many. I can't do anything.
But you are doing something. You are here today. You are reading this story and that
brings hope!
Make a donation, get the word out or volunteer. Animal rescue is an enormous undertaking.
It takes days, years and countless hours; there are never enough funds to save them
all but with the help of many that can change. There are hard times and there are good
times. Some horses have been lost because they were too sick and medical supplies
were unavailable, funds were not available to purchase horses in danger of the
slaughterhouse. It is heart wrenching when there are 10 and you only have the funds
for 5, those eyes looking at you begging for their life, the mothers and foals wondering
why they are being ripped apart when their life together has just begun. As
the mares are hauled away, their hearts broken, their bodies flailing in despair at
the loss of their baby and there they are in the back of a truck without food or water
on their way to the slaughterhouse unaware that as horrible as their life seems
right now….it is about to get worse. The foals stay behind, crying for their mothers,
wondering who will take care of them, who will love them, how will they
live….they won’t, their fate is soon to come …..Their death at the hands of a human
who will skin them for their hide or fatten them of for a tortuous death to come….and
one day they will be Cheval Tartar served as a delicacy in a foreign country. The 'kill
buyers' care for the cash that is all. If they do not get it from us they will get it from the
slaughterhouse. The most painful part is going to the auction and seeing the
dozens of horses tagged for slaughter. We look in their eyes and it breaks our hearts.
We save who we can and as many as possible, but it boils down to supply and demand
and as long as there are slaughterhouses in this country there is a demand for
our horses and a price for them dead. It is sad when every auction we go to we are
bidding against 'meat' prices. The end of the slaughterhouses will bring the end of
the demand for these precious animals dead. The 'kill buyers' will have no longer had
the red blood of the American Horse on their hands or the green currency lining their
pocket because of it.
You ask how we can do it. What keeps us going? We look around us and see all the horses
happily grazing and munching and realize NONE of them would be alive if we had
not rescued them, taken them in. There you have it. One by one we are bringing
them home. Someone gave you this package so there is another person that
cares. You are taking the time to read it….you care. There will be more because
you will tell others. You are reading this because you want to save these
wonderful creatures that have been a part of our heritage from the beginning and have
paved the way for our today. You care and so do others…that are what is
needed.
They can’t speak but look deeply into their eyes…they thank you for caring and they thank
you for sparing their lives and for helping the others that will soon face the same
doom that they so narrowly missed.
Listen...can you hear them whispering? We are answering their pleas!
Thank You,
All the people of
Pure Thoughts, Inc.
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