Canadian slaughter houses are regulated and
humane.
The small one in our area closed years ago.
Now horses are hauled to the big one by Fort McLeod
Alberta.
Having done some rescue cases and reported more then my
share of abuse I truly believe slaughter is far more humane then the conditions
some animals live in.
As long as people continue to over breed so there is an
abundance of unwanted horses there will be a need for slaughter
houses.
Most people have never been in a slaughter house so they
are blindly taking someone else's opinion as gospel.
Think of it from an endurance point of view. I was at the
Tevis crewing a few years ago and saw horses with IVs lined up in the vet area
or look at the Manitoba Pan Ams the treatment area was over flowing with horses
being treated.
From this I could publish pictures and write how all endurance
riders are riding their horses close to death. To the educated endurance rider
this would not sit well they know it is not true. To the uninformed
public it is true.
The PMU farms are closing because of lost
contracts.
What is going to become of these horses. No one can afford to
keep a herd of that size with out it producing income.
The saddle horses might find homes, the bucking stock is safe
because of the rodeo demand for horses (but wait some group wants to shut down
the rodeos as inhumane) but most will go for slaughter. If there is not a humane
slaughter house to deal with these horses where should they go???
The transportation of horses to slaughter is where the biggest
need to improve is.
It is fine to sit and condemn from a keyboard. But if you
aren't part of the solution you are part of the problem.
Like Heidi said closing the slaughter houses will not
stop the process it will drive it to places where we will have no control over
the conditions.
Food for thought:
I was told by a friend that her family don't eat meat
for humanitarian reasons.
At the time she was eatting a tuna fish sandwich. I
guess trapping a fish in a net and starving of oxygen is a humane way to
kill.
Leather gloves, shoes and saddles are a by product of
slaughter.
