There is an online petition asking that the slaughter houses be reopened in the US. Their petition has over 7000 signatures.

Naturally this made me very upset. I started my own petition, which I hope people will sign:

<a href="http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/keep-the-us-horse-slaughter-plants-closed.html">Online petition - Keep the US Horse Slaughter plants closed</a>

Any help from UAN will be greatly appreciated.

I am so sorry, the link did not work. Here it is:
Keep the plants closed!

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/keep-the-us-horse-s...r-plants-closed.html

Hi Oh Puh-leeze,

I love your handle! Thanks for all you are doing to spread the word!

Please for the sake of the horses and horse industry take off your noble rose colored glasse for just a second.

Lets list what you have accomplished so far with your ant-slaughter movement.

1. All slaughter horses are shipped out of country. The humane transport laws do not apply at all now. They are techinally not slaughter bound. Proud of that? Let me repeat that you have not stopped slaughter. The shipping is now further and unregulated. The slaughter is also out of country and unregulated. What happened to your facts? Sb311 will not stop this. The destination line on the health papers is all that has to change.

2. The healthy other wise usable horses the anti-slaughter movement was so concerned about are now the only ones being shipped. They are the only ones who can stand the trip. The no value horses are being dumped on the roads. Don't tell me this doesn't happen. I have personal accounts of at thirty.

3. The abuse and abandonment of horses has escalated with every passing year of this nonsense.This is also something the facts you presented assured me wouldn't happen.

4. Recent news stories have proved when some one does indeed choose to put down their horses when they can no longer care for them and can find no homes as you people have advocated it is also unacceptable. The very solution you have advocated is also immoral when put into practice. Continuing down your primrose path now leads us into a problem with no solution.

5. The networks which once worked to allow some auction horses a chance are now frowned upon. No one should buy a horse unless they can care for them a lifetime. Result of this moral lecture and a pi$$ poor economy less horse buyers when they are needed most.

6. This is rich. The rescues are being prosecuted for starving horses. There is a humane idea. We will rescue them to starve them. Anything is better than killing them. Oh Puh Leeze.

So after all this here is my bottom line. Unless you are prepared to go to every auction, every week of the year, in nearly every state of the union you will not even begin to gather a scope on this problem.

Unless you have paid your mortgage in the livestock industy or working for those who do, I don't feel you have the expertise to pass judgement on this legislation. I know you have nothing I feel is factual enough to listen to. It would be like me pushing legislation involving the health care industry, politically correct in the interest of free speech but not at all in the best interest of the industry.

But what would I expect from those who have given us clicker training, and made Linda Tellgington Jones and Pat Parelli very wealthy. I was once 13 and believed no horse deserved to die. I still appreciate a horse in ways you cant' even begin to understand. The most graceful trainable form of livestock on the face of the earth has been reduced to begging with stray dogs. The very animals which were once a privelage and an asset to own are now a liability and soon to become a taxpayer burden like the unwanted dogs and cats of this country.

Congratulations on fixing what wasn't really broken to make yourselves feel good. Ending slaughter has always been very simple give your horses other value or keep them.

Again I want to thank you for what you have done for my horses and my industry. I feel you have done to much already, so please don't put stress yourself anymore.

Mary,

Nice try at blaming the anti-slaughter movement for what you and your slaughter supporters are doing to American horses! Let's take your points one by one.

1. You blame the anti-slaughter movement for the fact that horses are going over the borders to Mexico and Canada, despite the fact that the legislation to stop this is being blocked by the pro-slaughter side. This is the extortionists argument. It is like a kidnapper sending your child's finger back saying "I told you not to call the police, now look what YOU have done!" It is shameless.

2. You say only healthy horses are now being shipped to slaughter. That has always been the case. Read the Temple Grandin study. It showed that 93% of horses arriving at US plants had no issues.

3. You claim without reference that abuse and abandonment has escalated, but the only nationwide source we can find is the listing of cases on PetAbuse.com. According to this site, the number of cases had not gone up at all but actually fallen dramatically! From an average of 12 cases involving 107.6 equines per month before September 20th (Cavel's closing) the number had dropped to an average of 7 cases involving 79.5 equines per month afterward. Some numbers may still come in for the later period, but they clearly will not be sufficient to make your point.

4. Many of the recent news stories you site were in fact fabricated. For example, the Oregonian story about the nine horses being abandoned on a Mr. McKinzie's farm was not true. The police report shows McKinzie's granddaughter reported only one stray horse on the property and the Sheriff could not find even that one! That is just one shameful example. The horses "abandoned" at the Kentucky strip mine as reported by McMurray were in fact free grazing there and belonged to the Breaks Riding stable in Breaks Virginia. The story about the horses abandoned near the everglades was also blamed on a lack of slaughter, but in that case the writer forgot to mention that they were found on a farm that had been abandoned with pigs, cows and other livestock. Shall I go on? Google "deleting the fiction" to get a full report of this shameful propaganda campaign as we have exposed it.

5. The auction houses are facing competition from internet sales and have become more and more dependent on loose horse sales (where horses are sold by the pound). The low end auction circuit is and always has been terrible for horses. It stresses them and spreads disease. The sooner it passes into history the better.

6. As to rescues being prosecuted for starving horses, let me point out that no group of people or organizations is perfect. Do not condemn the vast majority of dedicated rescuers for the actions or failings of a few unless you have saved horses yourself. Time and again, more fortunate rescues have come to the aid of troubled ones and we have saved countless horses. Just today I was involved in such a case.

So before you lecture us on caring for horses, get your facts right.

John Holland

Shame on us for sending our horses to Mexico to be slaughtered. Open your eyes to reality. This is what is happening and it is a far worse fate than they had here! Bring it back to the US where we can monitor them. Spend your time and money on holding the groups responsible that are adding to the populations: horse racing associations, show circuits, wild herd managers, backyard breeders and PMU facilities. In addition, do you really think it's better to kill a cow instead of a horse? Lets humanely kill a horse and throw away the meat, while we inhumanely kill a cow, chicken, whatever to eat. Some other animal has to take the place of the horse meat lost. Makes no sense, does it? Have you ever seen a cow or chicken killed? Talk about inhumane. You aren't going to make everyone vegetarian. It isn't going to happen. You've just wasted a horses life, and killed a cow to take it's place. Not the best of scenarios. Why not not reduce the headcounts of the horses via the birthing rates and make darn sure our plants are doing the best they can to humanely kill any animal. Not just a horse. Bring the slaughter houses back to the US where we can monitor them and stop the suffering they are enduring in Mexico! Reduce the birthing rates. Close the PMU plants. Hold the racing associations accountable for their input. For the sake of the horses, we need to circle back and do this right.

Hi Gripper,

Thanks for posting about your concerns. The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act will make it illegal for horses to be transported to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. That's why it's so important that it passes!

You're so right that horse breeders are contributing to the problem. Having horse slaughterhouses in the United States only encourages the breeders you mention to keep producing extra horses. As long as slaughter provides an easy, profitable way out for their unwanted horses, they can keep breeding as many as they want.

You're also correct that cows and chickens are usually slaughtered inhumanely. Horse slaughter is considered by many to be even more brutal, because of the way horses have been transported to slaughter and because of how many times it can take to stun a horse. But one factual problem with your argument is that some other animal does not have to take the place of the horse meat lost. Horses are not eaten in this country; their meat is shipped as a delicacy to Europe and Japan.

Thanks for your thoughts about educating about horse birthing rates and humane slaughter in general!

Karen, you guys are so off base its not even funny. I am sick that you cannot see that we can not control the borders. And, in Europe, they will kill cows and chickens to accommodate for the lost horse meat. We need to think more outside the box, outside of our own borders. Does it matter if the chicken is Asian? No, a chicken is a chicken. And it will die because you people can not see that this is absolutely the wrongest thing you could do for the horses. Please think globally. Think about what the final result will truly be. It will be horses smuggled across the border and they will be killed in Mexico, just like that! Congress can't figure out how to keep the immigrants from crossing, do you really think you can stop the horses? Unless you live near the border states, you may not understand the full relm of this. Someone needs to understand - stop the birthing rates, that is the only way. I hope you people come to your senses. I'm looking at 5 horses just down the road who are falling to pieces because they cannot sell them and she doesn't have the money to care for them. It makes me sick to watch them degrading, but they aren't far enough for animal control to step in yet. I also ran tests in the market over several years, across the USA trying to see if I could place a mare. Wow, not one place would take her. That was no surprise. In addition, I've visited a very large horse rescue, in the name of humanity, many of those horses should have been put down! We keep them alive to satisfy ourselves and sometimes don't think what is best for the animal. Do you really think they want to live in pain all day? They surely were not being pain managed to the point of acceptable. How would you like to stand on feet that hurt you all day? I also got involved in our wild horse management. And managed, it isn't! Don't you guys think you should realize a grave diservice has been made, and rethink this whole thing? I love, adore and would do anything for my horses. Any animal. But reality is what reality is. Your're burying a horse while you're killing a cow. It doesn't matter what country they reside in. Please, for the horses sake, spend your money and resources on preventing the births in the first place! Open our slaughter houses and I hope one day we shut them down because there are no horses coming through there! And please stop with the "we're importing horses to slaughter. They are from our Canadian neighbors, from the PMU plants. Think globally. Does it matter where they come from? Stop the birthing, stop the pmu plants, and pass legislation for birthing!

Oh, and yes, I've seen the horse slaughter many times. And cows (in person). Ever seen a chicken? It's all bad. Why don't you spend your money and resources on hiring people that can do the job right? In my eyes, watching a cow being butchered while still alive is not any different than it happening to a horse. It happens to all of the animals, not just horses. Chickens, they probably have it the worse. Ever see how it's done in Mexico? Why don't you open the US slaughter houses and lets make sure its done right, because it's still going to happen. Just because it's out of site, doesn't mean it isn't happening. At least we have the opportunity to monitor and regulate our own slaughter houses. In Mexico, we don't have any say in the matter. Out of site, out of mind thinking is killing thousands of horses the wrong way right now, thanks to you people! And wouldn't it have been smarter to work on the border crossing legislation before the slaughter houses were shut down? A grave diservice you people are doing. A crying shame on behalf of the horse being stabbed to death right now. Like your other blogger stated, take off your rose colored glasses and see reality.

Mr. Holland,
My facts are straight. The abandonment cases you are talking about mean nothing to me. The ones I am referring to have happened to people I know personally. I know the owners of the auction barn who had to shoot them. I know the owners of ranches they were found on. I know the neighbor of the man who locked the pasture gate, drove away from his foreclosed property and left 35 horses to fend for themselves in the dead of winter. I know people who have found them in their trailers at auctions. Please don't tell me it isn't true I have seen it. I don't want to hear the "urban legend crap" you pulled from some obscure but inside track informed site to support your positoin. I don't believe it I am more inclined to believe what I have seen. What the people I have known, done business with, and talked to over coffe my entire adult life have to say. I am funny that way.

I have been professionally involved in the horse industry for 25 years. I have made my living looking at the back side of a horse's ears. I can tell you from personal experience the condition of the horses coming to town is deplorable. It is worse than it has ever been. Again I believe what I see not what I read.

As for the horse marketing system, I am pretty sure I have been there done that much more than you realize. I undertand internet marketing. Have you been to the Traingle Sale, Heritage Place, Cannon Falls, Belle Plaine, Billings? Please don't make the mistake of talking down to me as far how the auction or horse marketing system works.

Per USA today article 45% percent of the American public has no opinion on this issue and 25% are in favor of horse slaughter. This in my country math is 70% either favor horse slaughter or have just don't give a rat's a$$. I wonder how fast the no opinions would change if they realized this problem will soon become a tax payer expense.

Now let's get into some cost analysis here. It is rather obvious you and your peers are neither horsemen or stockmen. Would it be safe to assume you are taxpayers? Since in the future horses will be disposed of the same way our unwanted pet population is today. The logic of irresponsible breeders being rewarded at the slaughter pens and doing away with the slaughter market will stop them from breeding the no value animals has worked so well in the pet industry hasn't it?

Public "euthansia stations" is one idea being kicked around. Can you say taxpayer funded "slaughter" resulting in toxic waste if these horses are destroyed by any other means than gunshot or captive bolt. Want to start calculating the cost to maintain, staff, and build these?

Animal abuse is against the law. Again a personally witnessed case. The nine horses, one was dead when the county officials arrived, one was destroyed by the vet, the others were housed at county expense until the owner was cited, prosecuted, fined, had her hands slapped and the animals were returned to her. All this will fall to the county taxpayers to fund across the country in teh future. Oh, I am sorry I forgot this is the only case like this we will have so we don't have to worry about this one.

Class 501C tax exempt rescues. Now here is tax loop hole the size of Texas. The donations to said are tax deductible for the person donating. The rescue is not taxed on them. The horses involved in said rescues receiving the thus tax free and once deducted money have no time table of rehabilitation. There are virtually no regulations on these enterprises at present. The one puzzling me is adoption horse for $1,000 and over I have seen advertised. This sounds a lot like horses for sale to me but then I am funny that way too. But my point is we will need in the future to legislate, regulate, and enforce same for these new "businesses". Add another unaccounted money pit.

S311 if passed is going to have to be enforced. The cost of this is going to be???????? This legislation will have to be enforced almost entirely on suspect hunch. If I were you I would pay very close attention to this and NIAS combined to affect almost every horse activity as we now know it. The economic impact is almost impossible to calculate.

Nice try on sending this blame back. The anti-slaughter movement closed the plants no one els. They had nothing but "statistics", celbrity endorsement, and sentiment to back it up. Every professional horse and livestock association told you this would happen.

You once told me the Civil War was fought over property rights. I considered your logic faulted at best then. I consider it mentally flawed when you compare horse shipment to child kidknapping. Would care to run that one by the families of the missing and exploited children?

Actually Gripper, their legislation never passed in it's intended form. This is why things are as they are today. This a convenient fact they tend to over look. Slaughter is not illegal in this country. As a matter of fact there rendering facilities slaughtering horses now. The downer horses unable to make the trip to Mexico are off loaded and killed for non-human purposes in Texas. The USDA inspection is what has been blocked federally.

The state legislations banning the shipment of horsemeat for human consumption in Texas have nothing to do with humane treatment or lack there of. It was passed in the 1949 to stop the lacing of then cheaper horsemeat with beef for commercial sale and government contracts. Illinois passed their own state legislation. There is a senator in Illinois now working to strike down this law on the basis of, wait this is rich, the lack of a humane method of disposal for unwanted horses which was not addressed in prior legisaltion.

The legislation stripping federal inspection funding was passed with USDA Federal Farm Bill back in 2005. It was a back door way to shut the plants down when it couldn't be done through the front door. This is why the export trasport issue was not adressed prior to the slaughter ban. There has never been a federal slaughter ban as such.

Thank you for your support on this issue.