Post by garbo on Nov 17, 2010 22:34:37 GMT -5
Forgive me if this is posted somewhere else. My sister in Montana just send me this email:
Have you heard about the United Horsemen (pro-slaughter AQUA, NRA fronted group) who are putting on the Summit of the Horse?
Their propaganda is so bogus and their promises so transparent.
Unfortunately, ignorant people who don’t get the issue will buy into their bullshit.
Plus they got Temple Grandin on board. Riding on her little wave of celebrity to push their issue.
Attached is a great write-up. There is talk of a protest with anti-slaughter folks at the Summit.
I have gotten involved with another horse group. This one is a new one Mt Horse Welfare Coalition.
All the people organizing are anti-slaughter, but the Coalition will remain neutral. It will basically be set up as a Red Cross for horses. It’s going to take a lot of work, but the HSUS rep out of Billings said there are 3 large herds in Montana they are monitoring as high risk.
I know one of them is 20m from Bozeman and have over 100 head. The woman is a hoarder and has lost most of her money.
The bad thing is her ranch is very remote and law enforcement won’t do anything until horses start dropping dead. So we could have a rescue in the middle of winter…..I pray it doesn’t come to this…most of these horses are feral and will be completely helpless even with human interaction.
Here is the well written letter she (my sister) attached;
Horse slaughter and the fabrications that support it.
Written by Simone Netherlands
Sue Wallis and Dave Duquette are organizing a “Horse Slaughter Summit” in January of 2011. (They are leaving the word Slaughter out, in order not to alarm too many people.)
The Pro-slaughter claims are, that the slaughter of horses for human consumption is “humane” and “necessary” because of a huge overpopulation or unwanted horse problem. This may sound like a reasonable argument, but the reason for this widespread deception of the American public, is easily deciphered:
The business of Horse slaughter is not a service business designed to help us dispose of unwanted horses, it is a FOR-profit, demand-driven business, like any other business. The amount of horses slaughtered, is determined by the demand of horse meat abroad and by the contracts that the kill buyers have to fulfill, NOT by the amount of unwanted horses
While we are certainly going through harsh economic times, and nobody denies that we have an overpopulation problem, when you stop to consider the facts more realistically, it becomes very clear that horse slaughter is the anti-solution to the problem.
The truth is that the abandoned and starving horses are not the ones that end up in the slaughter plants at all, for the simple fact that their owners chose to abandon them rather than send them to slaughter.
The demand of the horse slaughter plants is for healthy, young flesh as this is the tenderest and fetches the highest price per pound. Therefore the killer buyers are in search of the young fat and healthy and leave the skinny, old and sick for society to take care of. Killer buyers bid against good homes and horse rescues at every auction all over the country, because they have contracts with the slaughter plants to fulfill.
In addition to the obvious motives of the slaughter industry, the option of horse slaughter in itself in fact has created, is creating and will continue to create an overpopulation problem, by enabling over breeding (lottery breeding) and encouraging a quick turn around and dumping of horses.
As a convenient and lucrative means of disposal, horse slaughter allows the large breeding industries to dispose of horses that do not have the perfect conformation or speed or strength necessary for their discipline. The larger the quantities they breed, the larger their chances of a winner. The youngster that disappoints simply gets cashed into the killer buyer.
The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) (Dave Duquette) celebrated their 7 millionth foal, and reported over 140,000 foals in 2009. This is a little over the same number as the number of U.S. horses slaughtered. Could it be possible that their motives be related to the fact that they need that same amount of horses to go to slaughter in order to make way for their new stock and keep prices falsely inflated? In any case, they seem morbidly afraid of a bill that will stand in their way of making their fortunes.
So while they cleverly make it seem as if they are protecting the individual horseman and as if they actually care about the welfare of horses, in all reality it is about pure and simple greed of the big industries, like it always is.
The most creative part of this well funded scam on Americans is that the very businesses creating the overpopulation problem turn around and use this problem to convince good hearted people to side with their cause. They are organizing this summit plus other events all over the country to promote horse slaughter as a necessary evil, so that these businesses may continue to produce “unwanted” horses and keep selling them pound for pound.
Some people might be surprised to learn these breeding industries receive both huge breeding incentives from their perspective breeding associations as well as huge tax advantages and write-offs from the IRS. This further encourages breeding strategies that are not consistent with demand. When you throw in the current state of the economy on top of the overpopulation problem and the breeding incentives for coming years, the future seems rather bleak for American horses.
According to very simple economic principals when supply is overabundant, demand goes down and values decrease. The housing industry understands this principal and builders have stopped building. How come breeders haven’t done the same? To point to the closing of the American slaughter houses for the decrease of horse values is a cowardly deflection to avoid blame, and a clever rouse intended for people who will not investigate any further. Very much like the banking industry, the breeding industry is self destructing by not paying attention to the market. Horse slaughter is their bail out.
The Pro-slaughterers go so far as to promote horse meat as healthy and want to feed it to the hungry. They are undoubtedly aware that horse meat is highly dangerous to humans. Phenylbutazone is banned for use in any animal intended for human consumption, because it causes serious and lethal idiosyncratic adverse effects in humans. The known carcinogen, even in very small doses, can cause bone marrow suppression, cancer, birth defects and early alzheimers desease. None of the horses going to slaughter are actually intended or bred for slaughter, they are mainly riding horses, race horses, injured performance horses, wild horses and pets. The horse "processing" plants still label the contaminated meat as Organic. Knowing this full well, the United States is in fact consciously responsible for poisoning unknowing consumers who are under the impression that the meat is healthy. In this lies the merit for a serious lawsuit against our government.
Change is needed, certain questions need to be asked. What if we take a part of the same taxes from the horse races that are currently used as breed incentives, and instead we make humane euthanasia funds and gelding funds and hay funds for horse rescues? If these breed associations care about the welfare of the horse like they say they do, perhaps they will take this into serious consideration. We all want horse prices to rise again and the only way to do it is to slow the overabundant supply.
We have almost 10 million domestic horses in America. The approximate 100,000 horses ending up in foreign slaughter plants are in all reality only 1% of the horse population. Not an insurmountable amount to be absorbed back into society as the pro slaughter summit would like us to believe. It would take only a slight adjustment of the breeding industry.
It should be noted that without the horse, human civilization would not be where it is today. The greatest conquests in history have been won because of the endurance, bravery and loyalty of the horse. The horse spends its entire life in service to ours.
It is the want and need for human attention and praise that gives the horse its incredible versatility. It is these same qualities that are a major factor in the assessment of the amount of mental and physical suffering involved with horse slaughter. The myth that horse slaughter is quick or in any way humane, is a wishfull, far fetched stretch of the truth to say the very least. .
We gain nothing by it. Every argument for preserving the barbaric practice of horse slaughter, is greed motivated, un-factual and clearly deceptive. Horse slaughter is unacceptable and beyond un-necessary. It is time to find solutions to the problems we create without compromising our humanity.
All rights reserved 2010 Respect4horses.
The Summit of the Horse has a facebook page; www.facebook.com/pages/Summit-of-the-Horse/157825167593101
Again sorry if this has already been discussed.
Have you heard about the United Horsemen (pro-slaughter AQUA, NRA fronted group) who are putting on the Summit of the Horse?
Their propaganda is so bogus and their promises so transparent.
Unfortunately, ignorant people who don’t get the issue will buy into their bullshit.
Plus they got Temple Grandin on board. Riding on her little wave of celebrity to push their issue.
Attached is a great write-up. There is talk of a protest with anti-slaughter folks at the Summit.
I have gotten involved with another horse group. This one is a new one Mt Horse Welfare Coalition.
All the people organizing are anti-slaughter, but the Coalition will remain neutral. It will basically be set up as a Red Cross for horses. It’s going to take a lot of work, but the HSUS rep out of Billings said there are 3 large herds in Montana they are monitoring as high risk.
I know one of them is 20m from Bozeman and have over 100 head. The woman is a hoarder and has lost most of her money.
The bad thing is her ranch is very remote and law enforcement won’t do anything until horses start dropping dead. So we could have a rescue in the middle of winter…..I pray it doesn’t come to this…most of these horses are feral and will be completely helpless even with human interaction.
Here is the well written letter she (my sister) attached;
Horse slaughter and the fabrications that support it.
Written by Simone Netherlands
Sue Wallis and Dave Duquette are organizing a “Horse Slaughter Summit” in January of 2011. (They are leaving the word Slaughter out, in order not to alarm too many people.)
The Pro-slaughter claims are, that the slaughter of horses for human consumption is “humane” and “necessary” because of a huge overpopulation or unwanted horse problem. This may sound like a reasonable argument, but the reason for this widespread deception of the American public, is easily deciphered:
The business of Horse slaughter is not a service business designed to help us dispose of unwanted horses, it is a FOR-profit, demand-driven business, like any other business. The amount of horses slaughtered, is determined by the demand of horse meat abroad and by the contracts that the kill buyers have to fulfill, NOT by the amount of unwanted horses
While we are certainly going through harsh economic times, and nobody denies that we have an overpopulation problem, when you stop to consider the facts more realistically, it becomes very clear that horse slaughter is the anti-solution to the problem.
The truth is that the abandoned and starving horses are not the ones that end up in the slaughter plants at all, for the simple fact that their owners chose to abandon them rather than send them to slaughter.
The demand of the horse slaughter plants is for healthy, young flesh as this is the tenderest and fetches the highest price per pound. Therefore the killer buyers are in search of the young fat and healthy and leave the skinny, old and sick for society to take care of. Killer buyers bid against good homes and horse rescues at every auction all over the country, because they have contracts with the slaughter plants to fulfill.
In addition to the obvious motives of the slaughter industry, the option of horse slaughter in itself in fact has created, is creating and will continue to create an overpopulation problem, by enabling over breeding (lottery breeding) and encouraging a quick turn around and dumping of horses.
As a convenient and lucrative means of disposal, horse slaughter allows the large breeding industries to dispose of horses that do not have the perfect conformation or speed or strength necessary for their discipline. The larger the quantities they breed, the larger their chances of a winner. The youngster that disappoints simply gets cashed into the killer buyer.
The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) (Dave Duquette) celebrated their 7 millionth foal, and reported over 140,000 foals in 2009. This is a little over the same number as the number of U.S. horses slaughtered. Could it be possible that their motives be related to the fact that they need that same amount of horses to go to slaughter in order to make way for their new stock and keep prices falsely inflated? In any case, they seem morbidly afraid of a bill that will stand in their way of making their fortunes.
So while they cleverly make it seem as if they are protecting the individual horseman and as if they actually care about the welfare of horses, in all reality it is about pure and simple greed of the big industries, like it always is.
The most creative part of this well funded scam on Americans is that the very businesses creating the overpopulation problem turn around and use this problem to convince good hearted people to side with their cause. They are organizing this summit plus other events all over the country to promote horse slaughter as a necessary evil, so that these businesses may continue to produce “unwanted” horses and keep selling them pound for pound.
Some people might be surprised to learn these breeding industries receive both huge breeding incentives from their perspective breeding associations as well as huge tax advantages and write-offs from the IRS. This further encourages breeding strategies that are not consistent with demand. When you throw in the current state of the economy on top of the overpopulation problem and the breeding incentives for coming years, the future seems rather bleak for American horses.
According to very simple economic principals when supply is overabundant, demand goes down and values decrease. The housing industry understands this principal and builders have stopped building. How come breeders haven’t done the same? To point to the closing of the American slaughter houses for the decrease of horse values is a cowardly deflection to avoid blame, and a clever rouse intended for people who will not investigate any further. Very much like the banking industry, the breeding industry is self destructing by not paying attention to the market. Horse slaughter is their bail out.
The Pro-slaughterers go so far as to promote horse meat as healthy and want to feed it to the hungry. They are undoubtedly aware that horse meat is highly dangerous to humans. Phenylbutazone is banned for use in any animal intended for human consumption, because it causes serious and lethal idiosyncratic adverse effects in humans. The known carcinogen, even in very small doses, can cause bone marrow suppression, cancer, birth defects and early alzheimers desease. None of the horses going to slaughter are actually intended or bred for slaughter, they are mainly riding horses, race horses, injured performance horses, wild horses and pets. The horse "processing" plants still label the contaminated meat as Organic. Knowing this full well, the United States is in fact consciously responsible for poisoning unknowing consumers who are under the impression that the meat is healthy. In this lies the merit for a serious lawsuit against our government.
Change is needed, certain questions need to be asked. What if we take a part of the same taxes from the horse races that are currently used as breed incentives, and instead we make humane euthanasia funds and gelding funds and hay funds for horse rescues? If these breed associations care about the welfare of the horse like they say they do, perhaps they will take this into serious consideration. We all want horse prices to rise again and the only way to do it is to slow the overabundant supply.
We have almost 10 million domestic horses in America. The approximate 100,000 horses ending up in foreign slaughter plants are in all reality only 1% of the horse population. Not an insurmountable amount to be absorbed back into society as the pro slaughter summit would like us to believe. It would take only a slight adjustment of the breeding industry.
It should be noted that without the horse, human civilization would not be where it is today. The greatest conquests in history have been won because of the endurance, bravery and loyalty of the horse. The horse spends its entire life in service to ours.
It is the want and need for human attention and praise that gives the horse its incredible versatility. It is these same qualities that are a major factor in the assessment of the amount of mental and physical suffering involved with horse slaughter. The myth that horse slaughter is quick or in any way humane, is a wishfull, far fetched stretch of the truth to say the very least. .
We gain nothing by it. Every argument for preserving the barbaric practice of horse slaughter, is greed motivated, un-factual and clearly deceptive. Horse slaughter is unacceptable and beyond un-necessary. It is time to find solutions to the problems we create without compromising our humanity.
All rights reserved 2010 Respect4horses.
The Summit of the Horse has a facebook page; www.facebook.com/pages/Summit-of-the-Horse/157825167593101
Again sorry if this has already been discussed.