Post by diamondindykin on Aug 31, 2006 23:00:00 GMT -5
He says slaughter is humane; opponents call it cruel
12:30 PM EDT on Wednesday, August 30, 2006
By Todd J. Gillman / The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With Congress heading for a showdown vote on whether to ban horse slaughter, the head of the Fort Worth Zoo is weighing in on behalf of the slaughterhouse industry, arguing that zoos will find it harder to keep their lions and tigers happy and healthy without access to federally inspected horse meat.
Many zoos use horse meat. Carnivores like it. It's cheaper and more abundant than zebra, giraffe or water buffalo and more nutritious than beef or chicken. But Fort Worth Zoo director Michael Fouraker's stance, in a letter to a slaughterhouse lobbyist released Tuesday, angered animal rights groups, which found it appalling for him to speak out on behalf of an industry they deem cruel.
The horse meat industry says it can't stay in business without the right to export meat for human consumption.
Agriculture groups say the industry provides a vital option for disposing of unwanted animals. Foreign-owned plants in Kaufman, Fort Worth and DeKalb, Ill., processed more than 90,000 horses last year, mostly for consumers in Europe and Japan.
"These animals are going to be abandoned and suffer. We're looking at the big picture," said Mr. Fouraker, whose zoo buys horse meat from the Dallas Crown plant in Kaufman. "People look at horses as pets. We just have to look beyond the pet emotion. ... It just provides a more humane end to many, many unwanted horses."
Lobbyists for the slaughterhouses have used the letter from Mr. Fouraker in their quest for votes against the ban. The House plans to vote Sept. 7 on whether to ban horse slaughter for human consumption.
Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, predicted a "lopsided win" next week on the outright ban and called Mr. Fouraker's arguments ridiculous.
"The fact that one zoo director holds this point of view is not persuasive," he said. "No responsible humane organization favors killing unwanted horses by shipping them to slaughterhouses. ... I don't think it's widespread.
"The zoo industry basically appeals to people who have a love of animals. And the idea of aligning themselves with an industry that slaughters an American icon for foreign consumers wanting to have a delicacy is not the sort of public relations position that they should find themselves in."
Officials at the Dallas Zoo haven't taken a formal stance on the proposed ban. But Chuck Siegel, the zoo's deputy director for animal management, said Tuesday that the zoo's big cats get horse meat almost every day.
"They like the texture of it much better than they like the texture of the cow-based products," he said. "It keeps them happy."
The House voted 269-158 last year to cut off funding for federal horse meat inspections, and many anti-slaughter lawmakers predicted that would kill off the industry. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to the industry's request for fee-for-service inspections, citing federal law that requires inspection of any meat intended for human consumption.
At Born Free USA, a wildlife conservation group whose goals include "a world in which zoos are no longer necessary," vice president Adam Roberts said he was mystified that zoos would oppose the bill.
"It's shameful that the zoos would make the same arguments that the horse slaughter industry makes for maintaining the status quo," he said. "I would hope that zoo apologists and zoo directors see that it's simply wrong to slaughter horses for human consumption in the United States."
Some zoos refuse to use horse meat. Austin's, for example, finds other ways to feed its lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, bobcats, servals and cougars.
"I don't want to be party and part to an industry that treats our gallant creatures inhumanely," said director Cindy Carroccio, taking issue with any zoo that helps the slaughterhouses. "They're enabling them."
Austin uses beef hearts and chicken leg quarters dusted with vitamins. During deer season, the zoo buys scraps from legally harvested deer.
"I do have to feed them meat. They can't eat tofu," Ms. Carroccio said, though she added that Mr. Fouraker's view is probably more prevalent among zoo officials across the country.
Without federally inspected horse meat, Mr. Fouraker said, zoos must use chemical-based nutrition supplements, and many would turn to horse meat imports from Canada or Mexico, where there is less assurance of quality control and humane treatment.
He conceded that U.S. zoo managers have "mixed feelings" about horse slaughter. He owns two horses, he said, but "I personally have rescued all the animals I can. ... It's the ones that won't be cared for that I worry about."
12:30 PM EDT on Wednesday, August 30, 2006
By Todd J. Gillman / The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With Congress heading for a showdown vote on whether to ban horse slaughter, the head of the Fort Worth Zoo is weighing in on behalf of the slaughterhouse industry, arguing that zoos will find it harder to keep their lions and tigers happy and healthy without access to federally inspected horse meat.
Many zoos use horse meat. Carnivores like it. It's cheaper and more abundant than zebra, giraffe or water buffalo and more nutritious than beef or chicken. But Fort Worth Zoo director Michael Fouraker's stance, in a letter to a slaughterhouse lobbyist released Tuesday, angered animal rights groups, which found it appalling for him to speak out on behalf of an industry they deem cruel.
The horse meat industry says it can't stay in business without the right to export meat for human consumption.
Agriculture groups say the industry provides a vital option for disposing of unwanted animals. Foreign-owned plants in Kaufman, Fort Worth and DeKalb, Ill., processed more than 90,000 horses last year, mostly for consumers in Europe and Japan.
"These animals are going to be abandoned and suffer. We're looking at the big picture," said Mr. Fouraker, whose zoo buys horse meat from the Dallas Crown plant in Kaufman. "People look at horses as pets. We just have to look beyond the pet emotion. ... It just provides a more humane end to many, many unwanted horses."
Lobbyists for the slaughterhouses have used the letter from Mr. Fouraker in their quest for votes against the ban. The House plans to vote Sept. 7 on whether to ban horse slaughter for human consumption.
Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, predicted a "lopsided win" next week on the outright ban and called Mr. Fouraker's arguments ridiculous.
"The fact that one zoo director holds this point of view is not persuasive," he said. "No responsible humane organization favors killing unwanted horses by shipping them to slaughterhouses. ... I don't think it's widespread.
"The zoo industry basically appeals to people who have a love of animals. And the idea of aligning themselves with an industry that slaughters an American icon for foreign consumers wanting to have a delicacy is not the sort of public relations position that they should find themselves in."
Officials at the Dallas Zoo haven't taken a formal stance on the proposed ban. But Chuck Siegel, the zoo's deputy director for animal management, said Tuesday that the zoo's big cats get horse meat almost every day.
"They like the texture of it much better than they like the texture of the cow-based products," he said. "It keeps them happy."
The House voted 269-158 last year to cut off funding for federal horse meat inspections, and many anti-slaughter lawmakers predicted that would kill off the industry. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to the industry's request for fee-for-service inspections, citing federal law that requires inspection of any meat intended for human consumption.
At Born Free USA, a wildlife conservation group whose goals include "a world in which zoos are no longer necessary," vice president Adam Roberts said he was mystified that zoos would oppose the bill.
"It's shameful that the zoos would make the same arguments that the horse slaughter industry makes for maintaining the status quo," he said. "I would hope that zoo apologists and zoo directors see that it's simply wrong to slaughter horses for human consumption in the United States."
Some zoos refuse to use horse meat. Austin's, for example, finds other ways to feed its lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, bobcats, servals and cougars.
"I don't want to be party and part to an industry that treats our gallant creatures inhumanely," said director Cindy Carroccio, taking issue with any zoo that helps the slaughterhouses. "They're enabling them."
Austin uses beef hearts and chicken leg quarters dusted with vitamins. During deer season, the zoo buys scraps from legally harvested deer.
"I do have to feed them meat. They can't eat tofu," Ms. Carroccio said, though she added that Mr. Fouraker's view is probably more prevalent among zoo officials across the country.
Without federally inspected horse meat, Mr. Fouraker said, zoos must use chemical-based nutrition supplements, and many would turn to horse meat imports from Canada or Mexico, where there is less assurance of quality control and humane treatment.
He conceded that U.S. zoo managers have "mixed feelings" about horse slaughter. He owns two horses, he said, but "I personally have rescued all the animals I can. ... It's the ones that won't be cared for that I worry about."
