Montana's Cruel Horse Slaughter Law Stumbles

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It is extremely interesting for me to read that post. Thanx for it. I like such topics and anything connected to them. I would like to read a bit more soon. BTW, rather nice design that site has, but what do you think about changing it once in a few months?

Katty Meetington

uk london escorts of AL 12:11AM July 07, 2010

Oh my god, people shouldn't kill horses like this. I always liked the way the indians did it they do a ritual to comence there spirit to the hevans, but no those people want to slaughter them. I would never do that to one of my horses, god how do you think they feel. Ya'll gotta wake up.

Cassie Shanahan of TX 11:41AM April 27, 2010

I don't understand why people with old and/or crippled horses feel that slaughter houses are their only option. If one of my horses becomes terminally ill or disabled, I call the vet and have the horse put down - in a humane manner and in the tranquility of his home. I feel it's part of responsible horse ownership. I would never consider sending one of my horses to slaughter just because he had outlived his usefullness.

Marni Malet of MT 10:20PM April 16, 2010

Hi, I am from Montana myself, and I see nothing wrong with horse slaughter. My family and I own many horses, cows, goats, dogs etc, and we live on a ranch. If horse slaughter were opened back up in the United States, we would not have to worry about horses being treated inhumanely at slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada. Horses that are slaughtered in the US are killed quickly and effectively, with no stabbing or anything cruel like what is being seen in Mexico. You might say it is cruel, but I know many people who believe that leaving a crippled horse to live free at a "horse sanctuary" is much worse. Yes I admit that if a person cannot take care of a horse, they should not own the horse in the first place, but why punish everyone else by banning slaughter, when it would be a lot easier on the sick horse and owners alike to be able to let a sick and dying horse go off to horsie heaven?Horse slaughter done in the United States is accomplished in a very humane matter, and by banning it and sending horses to Mexico and Canada we are subjecting the horses to much worse conditions.

As for horses being pets and not livestock, I was given my first horse at six years old by my parents and he taught me everything I know about horses and riding. I just recently sold him because I no longer had a use for him as I came to college and wanted a faster, better horse to use to rodeo in college. I sold him to a family with young kids, and even though he was my pet, I knew he was able to help those kids learn just like he taught me, and that is where I had to remember he was livestock, and I had no use for him anymore. He was becoming a burden to my parents as I was not riding him and they had other horses to ride, so we sold him.

If you think about it, that is how horse slaughter is. Giving a horse a better opportunity than a person is providing at the time, and for old and sick horses, just to be put out of their misery is probably the best. I would rather have an old sick horse be killed humanely in the United States than have him suffer by running around on a horse sanctuary or being killed in another country.

Thanks!

Layne of MT 1:24PM April 09, 2010

this horse slaughter in us, mexioco,canada and europeon countries needs to be stopped for good. then the countries can get on with other issues of the country. thank you, sincerely, mattie goodwin.

mattie goodwin of LA 4:39PM March 19, 2010

Great article as for me. I'd like to read something more concerning this matter. Thank you for sharing that data.

StephanJade of AL 9:56PM March 09, 2010

I am only 17 years old and I own 4 horses and I love them and to hear that other people can just ship them to get slaughtered is just wrong if you knew the truth on what they did then you wouldn't want the horses to be in that situation. The horses are just knocked out then they are cut open to bleed to death and they can't do anything bout it. I only know so much because i have done the resreach and found all this out

Ashley of CA 4:45PM February 12, 2010

How do you intend to control breeding in the Wild Horse population. With the horse slaughter market open, treating these animals as livestock you generate income into the economy. Horse meat is considered a staple in many foreign countries. The slaughter industry, brought income to the USA which was then spent on other items bringing the economy up in all areas. The entire equine industry has been hurt by the closing of the slaughter houses. The wild horse population is creating thousands of horses each year. While prior slaughter houses may not have been humane, there is a need for slaughter. Why is it considered acceptable for pigs, cattle etc to be slaughtered, but not horses? Many children love and show their pig,cattle just as many of us love and show our horses. I have a pet cow, but that does not stop me from eating beef, or demanding that slaughter houses quit slaughtering cattle.

You believe that there is a humane way to euthanize these unwanted horses. Who is to supply the income for this cost? There are an estimated 140000 unwanted horses in the world today with no responsible owner to euthanize them, and many many more are turning up each day. The world has a similar "neuter/spay" plan for dogs/cats but that has not stopped the overpopulation of them in over 20 years and many end up euthanized at the pound they end up at. All of your "humane" solutions regarding dogs, cats, horses, are detrimental to the economy of your governing state as these costs are majorily supported by funding and county taxes. Humane slaughter generates income into this failing economy. Doesnt it make more sense to allow humane slaughter, generating income, require a percentage of the income to go to fund programs about education, stricter laws on breeding, and real solutions. After all in the end the result is the same... the horse is DEAD. Rather than burden the economy with the cost to humanely euthanize the 140000+ horses in the world today, allow slaughter to fund resources to educate people so that perhaps there is a time when slaughter/ shelters/pounds/humane societies are not necessary. Have any of you watched a PET be euthanized? They dont go in the pretty back room at the vet hospital and go to sleep peacefully either. Many of them scream, twitch, jump around in pain, cry and die slowly. They are then wrapped in a trash bag and thrown in a freezer until the carcass man comes to collect them. Euthanazia burns as it is injected, it slows the heart which can be felt as a heart attack. Is this humane?

Deahonna Frailey of OK 8:51PM January 07, 2010

Well I would first like to say that I live in Montana and also love horses just as much as anyone else. I ride, I cry in sappy horse movies, and love seeing them. Just like anything else in the planet, there needs to be management. Who is going to care for all of these poor creatures that don't have a home, have diseases. I agree that animal cruelty needs to be taken out of the slaughter houses but rather than having all of these starving, homeless animals roaming without a home or someone that loves them, they would be better off controlled through the slaughter house. Needless to say with the economy in a bad spot it would employ people and we can outsource to other countries. There is not enough room to create horse sanctuaries.

alysha of MT 4:27PM December 14, 2009

The lady in this article had it right. If we stopped the back yard breeders and stopped handing out breed registrations to every horse that is bred then we would be in a better situation. The breed associations need to put a moratorium on registrations for a couple of years so the market can get back to what it used to be. Before I sent my horse to the auction that I could not feed I would have the horse put down and buried. What is wrong with prosecuting these people that neglect and abuse their animals. We do not have strong enough laws on neglect and abuse of animals. People who do bad things to animals should be strung up. Horses work all of their lives for who? People that think of them as a tool and when they can produce or work no more they are discarded. That way of thinking needs to change. What is wrong with humanly putting a horse down when it can't do their job anymore?

Kelly Honey of GA 12:50PM December 14, 2009

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Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report and hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. She also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for Scripps Howard News Service.

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