This article is worth posting here so message board members can see the kind of misinformation that gets printed in some papers. Feel free to dissect.

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The Sentinel-News (KY)

http://www.sentinelnews.com/articles/2005/10/03/news/news01.txt

Local man argues against ban on horse slaughter for food

By Walt Reichert/Sentinel-News Associate Editor
Ottis Turner has been around horses all of his life and currently has three he has trained to drive. But when their time comes, Turner would have no problem seeing the horses wind up on some European's dinner plate.

"People [opposed to the slaughter of horses for food] are taking the high moral ground and letting good, nutritious meat go to waste," Turner said. "Meanwhile people are dying by the thousands of starvation."

Turner has written congressmen and senators opposing a bill pending before Congress that would ban the sale of horses for human food. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed, and the U. S. Senate is considering such a measure.

U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., is one of the sponsors of a measure that would bar USDA inspection in the three horse-slaughtering facilities in the United States. Without USDA inspection, horse meat could not be shipped to Belgium, France, Japan and other countries where horse meat is considered a delicacy and fetches high prices.

The Humane Society of the United States and other animal welfare organizations have pushed for the measure, saying horses are unique animals that should be spared slaughter. They also say the animals are slaughtered under cruel conditions.

The movement to end the slaughter of horses in the United States got a jump start in 1996 when Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand was slaughtered for food.

But a ban on the slaughter of horses, Turner said, would be "economically disastrous" in areas, such as Shelby County, where many people keep horses on just a few acres.

The owner of a horse that had foundered or was stifled or otherwise beyond hope of recovery would have to pay to have the horse euthanized and either buried or hauled away for processing into pet food, Turner said.

"Not everybody has the room or money to bury a horse," Turner said. "We're lucky here in Shelby County that Nations [Brothers] will haul away the horse. But not everybody has that."

Turner said he had a horse sell at slaughter a few years ago that brought $850. If he had to bury that horse with a backhoe, he estimated he would spend $350-$450.

"That's a $1,200 turnaround and that's just one person and one horse," Turner said.

Neglect

Turner said a ban on the slaughter of horses would inevitably lead to a large number of abused and abandoned animals. Abandoned horses are common in his native Breathitt County, he said.

The federal government also faces the problem of a large number of wild horses in the West that need to be moved from range land, while being forbidden to sell them where they may end up slaughtered for human consumption. Many of the animals on the range are starving at the same time they are destroying the environment.

Kay Chiappetta, co-owner of Quinta Chiappetta Paso Fino horse farm, said she personally would never sell a horse at a sale barn where it might be slaughtered, but she would oppose an outright ban on slaughtering horses for food.

"In reality, there are some renegade horses that you can't do anything else with," Chiappetta said. "I don't like the slaughter of horses, but I'm realistic and it would be a shame to ban it entirely."

Paula Nieto, executive director of the Luci Center, a therapeutic riding center, confessed to having mixed feelings on a ban on the slaughter of horses for food. She has rescued several horses that may have been bound for the sale barns and on to the slaughterhouse.

"It's such a complex, emotional issue," Nieto said. "I'd prefer to never see a horse slaughtered. But to see horses neglected, starved and suffering is sometimes more difficult, I think."

Nieto said it would be better if more efforts were put into educating prospective horse owners about the care and expense of keeping a horse than banning the slaughter of the animals. She said owners should also be made aware of the many horse rescue groups willing to take in the animals.

"An alternative has to be made through the education process," Nieto said. "For those who want to ban slaughter, I would ask, 'What is the alternative to the horse? What alternative are you offering other than slaughter?'"

Why are realistic factual views on the "other" side misinformed? I am a horse trainer, love them, I have to or I wouldn't be in the business I am. Every year I haul several horses to sales for clients and myself. Mine are the ones that are in upper quarter of the sale by the way. They have quite a bit of other value or I wouldn't make anything. But this puts me in contact with barn owners and horse buyers. There are now in place humane restrictions on the transport and handling of horses bound for slaughter. Can you tell me what those laws are? I know what they are do you? Do you actually know what it would, in round,figures cost an owner to destroy (dead is dead) and dispose of horse they do not want and can't sell? I do do you? If you do then you can tell me this article is misinformation. What do you honestly think will happen to the 300,000 to 500,000 horses that are slaughtered annually now? Where will they go? Who will take care of them since the "loving owners" thought so much of them in the first place? I'm not trying to be combative here. I am just asking what is your solution with the information you have that proves not only me and the person who wrote the article but the AQHA, most ranchers, trainers, and prominent horsemen misinformed?

Mary! Welcome. Glad to have you here.!!! This is an important time in history for horses. This is a fair question that you ask. I give you a link to a very good friend of mine who has studied this issue and can give you facts to back up his statements. I am so glad you love horses. Here ya go! Ramona http://www.justsaywhoa.org/opinions/finch.asp