Thoughts on Slaughter

With the prospect of slaughter looming in the US, I’ve been reading people’s comments. Why the pro-slaughter people are more vocal, I’ll never know. But they insist that what they are doing is right. They insist that their horse, once it has no use for them, should be sent to slaughter.

Perhaps it’s time to explain why I am adamantly opposed to slaughter.

As the economy declined, people lost their jobs. People who had been working for 30 years but hadn’t reached retirement were now unemployed. Unemployment does not last forever and it does not provide for anything except the bare essentials. Anything extravagant had to go by the wayside. Those people who had worked at a job for 30+ years were also older and in the eyes of the employer, less desirable because they could hire someone much younger for much less. This is all information that you already know. We’re talking people, but what’s the difference with horses? Only that people have a voice and horses do not.

Because someone deems a horse “too old” or "lost his job" does not mean they should be shipped to slaughter. Why are these older horses not guaranteed a retirement home? Granted, they shouldn’t be put out to pasture to starve to death, but we don’t allow that with our grandparents do we? My mind is boggled by the midwest’s way of thinking. If you can’t use them, slaughter them. If you think they are too old and your reasoning is that you don’t want them to starve, you send them to slaughter. Why don’t you do right by your horse and euthanize? I know, because of money.

Money is the sole reason behind why people do or do not euthanize. It costs more to euthanize than it does to send to a sale barn.

But why do the sale barns outright say they do not take in the thin, blind, or crippled? Aren’t those the ones that go to slaughter. Some maybe, but mostly they are the plump horses. The thin, crippled horses help fill a load but they aren’t the sought after horses. So the crap the pro-slaughter people are spewing about the old and crippled going to slaughter is a lie.

If you take on a horse, you are responsible for their well-being for their entire life. Not until the novelty wears off, not until you decide that some other hobby requires all your time, not until you decide that they cost too much. Why are horses (and dogs/cats) not considered family members? You don’t dump your parents once they start to annoy you. You don’t dump your kids because they are naughty.

I know I’m rambling. But there are just too many pro-slaughter people spewing uneducated information and people are listening. I know I don’t have all the facts. But I am not willing to sit back and listen to all these lies. We are supposed to be in the season of giving. So why not this Christmas, do the right thing and help a horse. Spread the word about horrors of slaughter, educate people. Our only hope is to be as vocal as the pro-slaughter people.