Post by fancyherd@gala's on Aug 14, 2006 16:34:39 GMT -5
Slaughtering our dignity
www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20060813/OPINION/208130337/1183/OPINION01
Slaughtering our dignity
Inhumane practice is more than a matter of property
BY WAYNE PACELLE
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BANNER
Photo on page with article:
Enlarge | Purchase
Hundreds of horses stand in pens at the Bar S Livestock foodlot in
Shelby to be exported to Alberta for slaughter and export to Europe
for
human consumption.
ROBIN LOZNAK/GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE
It was heartbreaking news to Americans some months ago when Barbaro,
the
Kentucky Derby winner, suffered a life-threatening injury at the
Preakness. The sympathetic public reaction to his plight was typical
of
a nation that has always reserved a special respect and affection
for
horses.
At the very same time Barbaro was receiving emergency care, as it
happens, the U.S. House was passing an amendment to halt, at least
temporarily, the slaughter of wild horses in America destined for
foreign markets for human consumption. The prior year the House,
including two-thirds of Florida's congressional delegation, voted to
stop any slaughter of horses for export, as did the Senate (with
both
Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez voting to protect horses).
Yet, the work of Congress was undone by our own U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Working with the horse slaughter plants and their hired
lobbyists, USDA devised a legal theory allowing them to sidestep
Congress and keep the plants open.
Under a devious arrangement, the slaughterhouses would pay the
salaries
of the federal inspectors that certify the meat is not adulterated.
This
bureaucratic maneuver was good news for the three foreign-owned
slaughterhouses that operate in the United States, but grim news for
the
100,000 American horses gathered up at auctions and sales and sent
off
to the kill floors.
The only upside is that the USDA's collusion with the slaughter
lobby
has only renewed efforts in Congress to pass the Horse Slaughter
Prevention Act. This bill, HR 503 - set for a House vote on Sept. 7 -
would establish a permanent ban on horse slaughter.
By design, horses choose flight as a response to danger, and so
confront
the pandemonium of the slaughterhouse with fear in their eyes and
resist
the prodding that leads them onto the cutting floor.
Once inside - with the odor of blood and entrails in the air - they
are
shot in the head with a captive-bolt gun, hoisted up by a rear leg,
and
then exsanguinated with a sharp cut to the throat.
They are disassembled, and their flesh is then frozen, packed and
loaded
onto commercial airplanes and sent on its way for consumers in
foreign
markets. The likely destinations are Belgium, France or Japan, which
has
the ignominious distinction of slaughtering Ferdinand, the 1986
Kentucky
Derby champion, and selling off the meat for human consumption.
Advocates of the slaughter ban recognize that horses have a place
all
their own in the American experience. There was a time in our
history
when nearly everybody knew how to ride a horse.
Long before we had Federal Express, we had the Pony Express. Long
before
the automobile, it was by horseback that the West was explored and
settled, that goods were transported, and that people made their way.
The armies led by Washington, Grant and Pershing rode on horseback,
and
our fallen leaders like Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy were honored
with
a riderless horse.
But not everyone is touched by such feelings of respect and
gratitude
for the American horse. As the horse slaughter industry sees it,
these
living creatures are mere property, and Congress has no business
telling
the owners they cannot send a horse to slaughter.
Unfortunately, the Star-Banner has sided with the pro-slaughter
interest
groups.
Of course, if you accept the slaughter industry's line of argument,
we
would have no laws against any form of cruelty whatever. The felon
who
stages dogfights or cockfights could just as readily invoke this
principle in defense of his own depravities. The argument further
unravels when you realize that there are already good federal laws -
including the Horse Protection Act - that forbid the harming of
horses
for profit. In fact, historically, it was rank cruelty to horses
that
first inspired our state laws against cruelty.
The foreign slaughterhouses attempt to argue they slaughter our
horses
"for their own good," claiming that we'd have "a flood of horses on
the
streets" if the slaughter plants shut down. This is a foolish
argument,
and that's why every reputable humane and equine rescue organization
rejects this prediction. They recognize it's much better for
unwanted
horses to be killed humanely where they live, rather than to ship
the
animal 1,000 miles to a slaughterhouse.
Horse slaughter is not a question property rights, but a matter of
personal responsibility and public standards in the care of animals.
Polls indicate that more than 80 percent of Americans want the horse
slaughterhouses shuttered. As Laura Hillenbrand, the author of
"Seabiscuit," has written, "Here are these exquisite, immensely
powerful
creatures who willingly give us their labor in return for our
stewardship . . . We owe them more than we can ever repay. To send
these
trusting creatures to slaughter is beneath their dignity and ours."
_____
www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20060813/OPINION/208130337/1183/OPINION01
Slaughtering our dignity
Inhumane practice is more than a matter of property
BY WAYNE PACELLE
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BANNER
Photo on page with article:
Enlarge | Purchase
Hundreds of horses stand in pens at the Bar S Livestock foodlot in
Shelby to be exported to Alberta for slaughter and export to Europe
for
human consumption.
ROBIN LOZNAK/GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE
It was heartbreaking news to Americans some months ago when Barbaro,
the
Kentucky Derby winner, suffered a life-threatening injury at the
Preakness. The sympathetic public reaction to his plight was typical
of
a nation that has always reserved a special respect and affection
for
horses.
At the very same time Barbaro was receiving emergency care, as it
happens, the U.S. House was passing an amendment to halt, at least
temporarily, the slaughter of wild horses in America destined for
foreign markets for human consumption. The prior year the House,
including two-thirds of Florida's congressional delegation, voted to
stop any slaughter of horses for export, as did the Senate (with
both
Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez voting to protect horses).
Yet, the work of Congress was undone by our own U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Working with the horse slaughter plants and their hired
lobbyists, USDA devised a legal theory allowing them to sidestep
Congress and keep the plants open.
Under a devious arrangement, the slaughterhouses would pay the
salaries
of the federal inspectors that certify the meat is not adulterated.
This
bureaucratic maneuver was good news for the three foreign-owned
slaughterhouses that operate in the United States, but grim news for
the
100,000 American horses gathered up at auctions and sales and sent
off
to the kill floors.
The only upside is that the USDA's collusion with the slaughter
lobby
has only renewed efforts in Congress to pass the Horse Slaughter
Prevention Act. This bill, HR 503 - set for a House vote on Sept. 7 -
would establish a permanent ban on horse slaughter.
By design, horses choose flight as a response to danger, and so
confront
the pandemonium of the slaughterhouse with fear in their eyes and
resist
the prodding that leads them onto the cutting floor.
Once inside - with the odor of blood and entrails in the air - they
are
shot in the head with a captive-bolt gun, hoisted up by a rear leg,
and
then exsanguinated with a sharp cut to the throat.
They are disassembled, and their flesh is then frozen, packed and
loaded
onto commercial airplanes and sent on its way for consumers in
foreign
markets. The likely destinations are Belgium, France or Japan, which
has
the ignominious distinction of slaughtering Ferdinand, the 1986
Kentucky
Derby champion, and selling off the meat for human consumption.
Advocates of the slaughter ban recognize that horses have a place
all
their own in the American experience. There was a time in our
history
when nearly everybody knew how to ride a horse.
Long before we had Federal Express, we had the Pony Express. Long
before
the automobile, it was by horseback that the West was explored and
settled, that goods were transported, and that people made their way.
The armies led by Washington, Grant and Pershing rode on horseback,
and
our fallen leaders like Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy were honored
with
a riderless horse.
But not everyone is touched by such feelings of respect and
gratitude
for the American horse. As the horse slaughter industry sees it,
these
living creatures are mere property, and Congress has no business
telling
the owners they cannot send a horse to slaughter.
Unfortunately, the Star-Banner has sided with the pro-slaughter
interest
groups.
Of course, if you accept the slaughter industry's line of argument,
we
would have no laws against any form of cruelty whatever. The felon
who
stages dogfights or cockfights could just as readily invoke this
principle in defense of his own depravities. The argument further
unravels when you realize that there are already good federal laws -
including the Horse Protection Act - that forbid the harming of
horses
for profit. In fact, historically, it was rank cruelty to horses
that
first inspired our state laws against cruelty.
The foreign slaughterhouses attempt to argue they slaughter our
horses
"for their own good," claiming that we'd have "a flood of horses on
the
streets" if the slaughter plants shut down. This is a foolish
argument,
and that's why every reputable humane and equine rescue organization
rejects this prediction. They recognize it's much better for
unwanted
horses to be killed humanely where they live, rather than to ship
the
animal 1,000 miles to a slaughterhouse.
Horse slaughter is not a question property rights, but a matter of
personal responsibility and public standards in the care of animals.
Polls indicate that more than 80 percent of Americans want the horse
slaughterhouses shuttered. As Laura Hillenbrand, the author of
"Seabiscuit," has written, "Here are these exquisite, immensely
powerful
creatures who willingly give us their labor in return for our
stewardship . . . We owe them more than we can ever repay. To send
these
trusting creatures to slaughter is beneath their dignity and ours."
_____
