Horse Slaughter In Canada

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Horse Slaughter In Canada

Postby Terlingua » Sun Nov 29, 2009 8:26 am

I am a Canadian from Montreal. After spending 35 years in education, I intend to take on the horse slaughter issue in Canada. I know, of course, that it's a very complex issue and have been carefully following this thread to understand different viewpoints, questions and related issues. However, a key problem here in Canada is that horses are not protected by laws that govern the slaughter of animals raised for meat production. So they slip right under the radar. I am of the opinion that horses, as companion animals, should only be humanely euthanized when their welfare is at issue. I think the slaughter of horses for meat should be made illegal. As a resident of Quebec -- one of the 2 horse slaughter capitals of Canada -- I can tell you that the conditions under which horses are transported and slaughtered are absolutely disgusting. A small percentage of Quebeckers consume horse meat -- it is considered in the same league as exotic game meats and attractive to the usual bored & rich crowd. The market is France -- home of famous animal activists who decry the killing of baby seals but seem ambivalent about horses, even though the slaughter process is cruel to extreme. ( The animals are usually stunned before their necks are slit and then they are hung to be bled out, still alive.)

I don't think that impacting this issue with other problems it raises makes moving at Canadian lawmakers easier. In fact, it provides all types of excuses for looking the other way.

My reason for writing is to find out if any of you are aware of successful campaigns launched in the USA to ban horse slaughter and/or close horse slaughter plants. Any helpful suggestions or ideas that you could provide would be most appreciated related to effective lobbying strategies, encouraging different interest groups to work together, raising funds, good ways to attract public attention and so forth.

Thank you.

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Postby karenkarenn » Sun Nov 29, 2009 5:30 pm

Its just going to get worse for the people who are against horse slaughtering there. IN our city we have a man that makes bi monthly drop offs. And in Montana they are trying to make a plant but they still transport to Canada.
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Postby Derby Lyn » Sun Nov 29, 2009 5:33 pm

I think a good way to approach it is to offer some low cost, or free euthanasia and disposal of horses. Because it doesn't seem like there is any home for all of these horses. I can't imagine where they would go if slaughter was not available. You will always have the backyard breeders, and the people who don't care if the horse goes to slaughter. If you take away slaughter, you have to offer other options for these horses. I would love to see slaughter completely done away with. But lots of other things need to be addressed first.

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Postby ireneinwa » Sun Nov 29, 2009 11:59 pm

A dear lady that I first learned to ride from Ursula Liakos of Petaluma CA, was with The Coalition Againest Horse Slaughter. I remember her going out and getting petions signed and did great things in CA.

Unwanted pets(dogs and cats) get euthanized at local shelters. Why not a similiar program for horses.

I don't see cats and dogs getting shipped off for slaughter. Maybe they should, maybe things would change towards the horse. Cat and dog are
delicacies too.

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Postby Fair Play » Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:30 am

I agree that the transport and methods used for slaughter are inhumane as far as I have heard. I have not seen it. I believe it would be improved by more, not fewer slaughter plants that are set up properly. However noble the thought banning slaughter would be, it just seems a little spoiled to call a 1000+ pound herbivore a pet, when many of the unwanted horses never were in their lives. Why when they are now unwanted are they going to be a further burden by labelling them companion animals?

Where are you going to bury the ten million American and million Canadian horses that currently exist when they die? To use a vegetarian argument, why should people keep large grazing animals on farmland just so people can eat beef that could be used to grow crops that could be used to feed more people? Apply that logic to horses. How can so many bored, rich North American keep idle horses grazing in fields until the end of their days like pets? I hate the idea of slaughter as much as the next person, but can't see how all the unwanted horses are going to be euthanized and disposed of otherwise. Why can't horses meet a humane end and then be useful to someone as food or pet food? I would like a humane option where an unsellable horse can be processed and used. I do know first hand that their are not enough good homes to give horses to and I have sold some that I am sure wish they had been killed rather than go into the circumstances they found themselves in a few years or less.

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Postby IcouldbeU » Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:06 am

Well said Fair Play

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Postby Strategic Maneuver » Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:43 pm

Ditto on "well said". I really wish all the monies that the coalitions spent to get legislation passed to close the slaughter plants would have been used instead to pass and enforce humane transportation and euthanasia. I've seen my share of rigs hauling a load of horses literally crammed in, some with terrible wounds. Here in Tx we are seeing an incredible rise in starving and abandoned horses and I'm afraid it's only going to get worse.

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Postby Maureen » Mon Nov 30, 2009 2:37 pm

A third to well said, FP.

To the OP, horses are 'legally' livestock, they are not companion animals. Horse people who have come from an agricultural background tend to, in my opinion, understand this better than the urban horse owner. This is where the line gets blurry between the slaughter/anti-slaughter factions.

I for one, don't like horse slaughter any more than the next person, but it is not my place to tell people what not to eat.

As FP said, the focus should be on humane treatment during transport/slaughter, not just for horses, but for all meat animals.

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Postby summerhorse » Tue Dec 01, 2009 1:21 pm

The horses sent to slaughter are less than ONE PERCENT of the horses who die each year. They will dispose of these carcasses in the same way they dispose of the 1 MILLION or so horses that die from other ways other than slaughter. Not to mention the millions of COWS, HOGS, CHICKENS, and other animals that die on the farms or en route to feed lots or slaughter plants.

That argument is so useless as to be laughable.

I do agree that low cost euthanasia and removal or burial is a great idea and is in fact available in many places. BUT people have to get off their bottoms and call around to find such services. many times animal rescues or animal control will take and euthanize a suffering animal on request. They'd much rather do that than have to wait until they can seize it. Many counties and cities will come out and remove or bury your horse and often for FREE. There are always the pick up guys for rendering plants. Or you can borrow a truck/trailer and haul the body there yourself. You can find someone with a lot of land or sneak your horse off into the back woods and dispatch it with a bullet and leave it for nature to take care of.

Of course none of that makes any money and some of it may cost money...

Many of these horses are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or the victim of their owners who chose to dump their ancient and/or lame horse for a few bucks or "didn't have time" to put the training on a horse that would have made it valuable as a riding horse.
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Postby Jessi P » Tue Dec 01, 2009 1:33 pm

Excellent post, Fair Play. Horses are indeed livestock, as much as some folk would like to pretend otherwise. While I do not agree with many things, I can agree that someone is free to sell their livestock (that they own) to whoever they wish.

Ditto Maureen's post about horse owners with an agricultural background. The horse has been a livestock animals for thousands of (if not hundreds of thousands) years. The industrial age has caused certain people to view horses as pets instead of livestock and this has been a huge point of contention.
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Postby IcouldbeU » Tue Dec 01, 2009 4:15 pm

summerhorse wrote:The horses sent to slaughter are less than ONE PERCENT of the horses who die each year. They will dispose of these carcasses in the same way they dispose of the 1 MILLION or so horses that die from other ways other than slaughter. Not to mention the millions of COWS, HOGS, CHICKENS, and other animals that die on the farms or en route to feed lots or slaughter plants.

That argument is so useless as to be laughable.


I must agree your argument is laughable. If a MILLION horses die each year and MILLIONS of cows, hogs and (ok maybe chickens) die then there should be none left after only a few years. There are not millions of any of those animals (except maybe chickens) born each year. This is what is so sad with the PETA, HSUS and other Animal Rights Activists, similiar to the Global Warming people, they do not deal in real facts.

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Postby Terlingua » Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:27 pm

I guess i'm surprised by your responses, although I certainly respect others' points of view on the topic. Just to clarify: in Canada, horses are not covered by the laws that cover other livestock and so it is difficult to protect them in any humane way, be it transport, euthanasia or slaughter for meat. And there are Canadian agencies working on correcting the legislation. My grandparents were rural people and I rode for years, so I do know that horses are livestock to agricultural people. But if they are not raised as food sources, they really can't be lumped into the same category as other livestock who are bred for meat or dairy production.

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Postby Fair Play » Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:46 pm

I don't believe that any animal has to be raised for food to be used as food. Chickens are basically kept for eggs, then eaten, game is not kept at all. Why should horses rot in the ground while we ship food stuffs all over the planet. I doubt I will ever eat a horse, goat, rabbit, or anything else I think is cute, but I have less problem using it than burying it like it is a person or dog. That huge Iams recall a few years ago horrified me. What are North American dogs doing eating dog food containing wheat from China? What are we doing eating food from all over the planet? Why can't we use our resources more responsibly and wisely? It seems to me it is the "Not in my backyard" mentality at its worst.

The idea of someone who has many horses, like many on this board do, shooting them and burying them on someone else's property.... Yikes. No thanks. If I can take a chicken, goat, rabbit or whatever to a processors door and have it dressed, why can't that be done with horses? There would be no worries of transport, feedlot injuries, or botched methods.

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Postby ireneinwa » Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:01 am

summerhorse wrote:The horses sent to slaughter are less than ONE PERCENT of the horses who die each year. They will dispose of these carcasses in the same way they dispose of the 1 MILLION or so horses that die from other ways other than slaughter. Not to mention the millions of COWS, HOGS, CHICKENS, and other animals that die on the farms or en route to feed lots or slaughter plants.

That argument is so useless as to be laughable.

I do agree that low cost euthanasia and removal or burial is a great idea and is in fact available in many places. BUT people have to get off their bottoms and call around to find such services. many times animal rescues or animal control will take and euthanize a suffering animal on request. They'd much rather do that than have to wait until they can seize it. Many counties and cities will come out and remove or bury your horse and often for FREE. There are always the pick up guys for rendering plants. Or you can borrow a truck/trailer and haul the body there yourself. You can find someone with a lot of land or sneak your horse off into the back woods and dispatch it with a bullet and leave it for nature to take care of.

Of course none of that makes any money and some of it may cost money...

Many of these horses are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or the victim of their owners who chose to dump their ancient and/or lame horse for a few bucks or "didn't have time" to put the training on a horse that would have made it valuable as a riding horse.

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Postby ireneinwa » Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:08 am

summerhorse wrote:.

I do agree that low cost euthanasia and removal or burial is a great idea and is in fact available in many places. BUT people have to get off their bottoms and call around to find such services. many times animal rescues or animal control will take and euthanize a suffering animal on request. They'd much rather do that than have to wait until they can seize it. Many counties and cities will come out and remove or bury your horse and often for FREE. There are always the pick up guys for rendering plants. Or you can borrow a truck/trailer and haul the body there yourself. You can find someone with a lot of land or sneak your horse off into the back woods and dispatch it with a bullet and leave it for nature to take care of.

.



I believe where I live you only have to have over 5 acres to bury them. I have to check on the land limit. Most people where i live have tractors and do this on thier own. As long as they are a good shot, so they don't suffer. It's part of owning an animal. People that own horses and don't have a shot gun need to think about what would happen if they woke up and their horse broke it's leg and the vet was unavailable.