Pro Horse-Life Article Part 1
This article was rejected by Idaho Farm Bureau Quarterly as too long. Instead of letting it go to waste I decided to break it up into 2 parts and post it here.
Mankind’s relationship with the horse has changed dramatically in the last century. No longer a necessity in agriculture and transportation, horses have become entertainers, exciting crowds at the track, the rodeo arena, and the circus. They have also become companion and recreation animals to the lucky few with the space and the budget to support such pricey pets.
Sadly, one aspect of the man-horse relationship has not changed. The slaughter of American horses for human consumption continues, even though Americans do not eat horse meat. This situation is not merely a danger to American horses, but also to the very people consuming their meat.
Horses are routinely treated with wormers and other medications that are specifically labeled not for use in food animals. The problem is that every American horse can find it’s way in to the food chain, because it is still legal for any American horse to be slaughtered in Canada and Mexico.
According to John Holland, the EU(European Union) has strict guidelines on what drugs are not allowed in imported horse meat, including phenylbutazone, or “bute”. Bute is considered aspirin for horses, and is frequently prescribed for pain control in injured performance animals, as well as family pets. According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service, in the past several years horse carcasses have tested positive for phenylbutazone during random testing.
An FDA order dated May 29,2003 states “ Phenylbutazone is known to induce blood dyscrasias, including aplastic anemia, leukopenia, agranulocytosis, thrombocytopenia and deaths. Hypersensitivity reactions of the serum-sickness type have also been reported. In addition, phenylbutazone is a carcinogen, as determined by the National Toxicology Program. For animals, phenylbutazone is currently approved only for oral and injectable use in dogs and horses. Use in horses is limited to horses not intended for food. There are currently no approved uses of phenylbutazone in food-producing animals.”
Problems also extend to the way horses are slaughtered. In Canada, many horses are shot with a captive bolt pistol, which fires a bolt into the horses’ brain, rendering it unconscious and unaware while being hung head down and bled out. The American Veterinary Medical Association states the captive bolt is only humane when the horse’s head is restrained. Slaughterhouses do not restrain the head, sometimes causing a horse pain and terror before being stunned. Video of this practice can be found across the internet, including on the website of Veterinarians for Equine Welfare (www.vetsforequinewelfare.com).
In Mexican slaughterhouses, the horses are forced into a chute and stabbed in the withers until the spinal cord is severed. They lay on the ground until they are hoisted into the air by one rear leg. Their throats are cut while they are still awake and aware, only paralyzed.
Please continue to Pro Horse-Life Article Part 2
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