Your Input Needed on Unwanted Horses

[BaronsMom]

I also posted on the Equine forum but the American Horse Council needs lots of input on this survey and time is limited. Sorry for the cross-post if a problem. Info follows.....


The American Horse Council sent this survey out asking for input. Please take a moment to fill it out:



The Unwanted Horse Coalition’s National survey to assess the magnitude of the problem of the unwanted horse will remain open until the end of January 2009 .

The Study on Contributing Factors Surrounding the Unwanted Horse Issue will be instrumental in filling factual gaps with actual data. We still need as many people as possible to fill-out the 15-20 minute online survey.

Again, the UHC is asking everyone with an interest in the welfare of horses to take this online survey at http://survey.ictgroup.com/uhcsurvey/ .

Please help us get this message out to the horse community. Time is limited.


Thanks!

[orangehen]

I took the survey.......

[iamasimpleman]

I had no idea there was an issue with unwanted horses.

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by iamasimpleman

I had no idea there was an issue with unwanted horses.

there is such a big issue with unwanted horses that many now are just "being turned loose". And all this after the processioning plants shut down.

[jross]

Around here I am see more horses on inadequate acreage than before. I find it incredible that people will allow the animals to suffer in the name of kindness.

[diane]

The animal rights activists are very responsible for this suffering imho. There is no economical or humane way to put down a horse anymore so they are just left to live out their days in misery. People who are having trouble keeping their homes and feeding their children just don't have the money anymore to feed these animals. Very, very sad. With hay at 4 or 5 dollars a bale........who is going to eat? The people or the horses?

[mammabooh]

Originally Posted by diane

The animal rights activists are very responsible for this suffering imho. There is no economical or humane way to put down a horse anymore so they are just left to live out their days in misery.

Can horses not be put to sleep like a dog?

[Windy in Kansas]

I place the blame for the problem in two directions---the closing of slaughtering facilities, and irresponsible owners that don't have the stomach or will to put a horse down when the time of need arrives, whether the need is from being no longer being able to afford feedstuffs or care, or whatever. It is a part of ownership of any animal in my opinion.

[bergere]

No. That is a big animal you have to put down. Many places, now, in the country don't allow you to bury said horse and there is now no longer a place to send them to be rendered into food for the zoo animals. I know of some Vets that are caught between a rock and a hard place about this.. their hands are tied.
The Pretty Pony People have effectly cut off any humane way to let a horse go.

[Ken Scharabok]

"Can horses not be put to sleep like a dog?"

Yes, but there is the question of carcass disposal. Few places have renderers today and they might not take a horse which had been put down.

My understanding is what the animal rights people really had a problem with is some of the meat was going for human consumption (here and exported). Personally I don't have a problem with that or it being used in pet feed.

Far as I know there is only one small U.S. slaughter plant which provides primarily to zoos.

The horses could likely be shipped to Mexico but then there is the added cost of transportation.

I have yet to meet a horse owner who is against their slaughter.

[DixyDoodle]

I own horses and think that there should be a humane slaughter facility.

A lot of "pro-slaughter" horse people warned that this would happen: all the PETA-type folk making sure that horses could not go to slaughter.....but they didn't provide that alternative option. So now people are just dumping their unwanted horses or those they can't afford anymore because there is nowhere else for them to go.

Believe it or not, some American horses DO still go to slaughter but it's done in a more subtle fashion. There are horse dealers that go to US auctions and buy up horses to ship to Canada where they can still be sent off to slaughter (although Canada is fast becoming slaugherhouse-free also). So while PETA is patting itself on the back, the horses are just being slid under their noses to slaughter anyhow.

I think it would be hard to justify a profitable horse meat trade anyhow. Who is going to eat "pet" horse meat when it has probably been subject to worm medications, injected substances, disease, etc. It's not like cattle who are raised as food. Some people wouldn't even allow their dog to eat such "tainted" meat.

And try to find a vet that will put down a healthy horse? Good luck!

[DQ]

Originally Posted by mammabooh

Can horses not be put to sleep like a dog?

when you have 1000 lbs of contaminated meat to dispose of and need a backhoe to bury it (illegal anyway in many places) people who can't afford the horse can't afford to kill either. what would you do with a thousand lbs of dead horse in your front yard? its not pretty either. hooking a tractor/backhoe to a dead horse and dragging it into a hole? most people can't stomach putting their dog to sleep. much less drug across a few acres limp and tearing and twisted. much better for them to haul to an auction.

another major contributing factor is the crap that people are breeding. I have trained and taught lessons for 12 years and have encountered so many animals that were bred because they have a particular name in their pedigree even though they have absolutely no value or are even crippled with genetic lameness. I hate regulations but maybe europe has it right. inspections to determine fitness to be bred. the european cast offs that we imported were 100 times the value of the best american horses we could find. many of those breeds along with their inspection process has been taken up in the states. thats why we have this weird discrepancy between horses that are 50,000 and horses that people won't give a red penny for.

good grief. after taking that survey I am scared that all the bleeding heart animals lovers are going to check "increase federal funding for adoption or retirement facilities" what! so that people have a place to pass the buck and keep breeding these horses for fun on the public dime?!!!!!

[watcher]

I think we should gather these horses up and drop them all off at the local PETA office.

[beccachow]

I never personally had an issue with slaughter, I find it a necessary means to an end. I always had a problem with HOW these organizations were going about it. Stuffing 15 horses into a 10 horse trailer, inhumane handling, uncaring people who would drive them 24 hours with no food or water, that sort of thing. If we could have regulated HOW the horses were getting to the slaughter houses, and regulate HOW they were destroyed, this whole affair wouldn't have been so sad. The people handling the horses did not look at them as living creatures, just walking $ signs. But what is happening now is far worse.

[Elizabeth]

....what Becca said.

I am seeing an average of 3-4 horses a WEEK advertised for free in my area on the internet because the owners can't afford to/won't feed them anymore. Or in some cases, the owner's home has been foreclosed on and they leave their horse behind. Some are nice, young, healthy horses too. Or, maybe the kids have just outgrown the horse, or moved away from home and nobody will buy the horses cause they are too old, have health issues, are untrained, or there are simply better, younger horses available for a small amount of $$$.

I am about to start slaughtering horses for my dogs to eat- when it warms up a bit here. I am a lifelong horse lover, so I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around the reality of actually killing a horse, but then when I see how skinny some of these horses are because they are not being fed properly, or vetted, it makes it much easier. At least they will go quickly and humanely without suffering. And, they will not go to waste.

[Freeholder]

The recent trigger of the problem was when they made it illegal to sell horses for meat in this country (you can still sell them for meat if you can get them into Canada or Mexico, but not everyone is able to do that). But the root cause is too many people who bought horses without having enough pasture and hay land to raise their own feed for them. Hay may be five or six dollars a bale in the Mid-West; here a hundred-plus-pound bale, grass or alfalfa, is running around seventeen dollars a bale! It's all I can manage to feed my four goats -- I'd never manage a horse. Even someone with more income than I have (we are on the low end of the scale, well under poverty level) is probably also struggling with more bills than we have. The higher those expenses go, the harder it is going to be for someone with only an acre or two of land to feed their horses (usually plural in this area).

And yes, the animal rights activists are to blame for the stupid, short-sighted law making it illegal to sell horses for slaughter. Of course, if your family gets hungry enough, you could probably pick up a horse free or nearly free, pasture it for the summer (to make sure it doesn't still have any chemicals in it's system) and then put it in your own freezer if you do the butchering yourselves. I like horses, but they are livestock, not people.

Kathleen

[Yvonne's hubby]

Yet another hiway to ___ paved with the best of intentions by the good folks at peta. This is what happens when idiots are allowed to procreate. Folks that dont like the idea of having a horse slaughtered when its time has come really should not own a horse. Let those with common sense own them and do the right thing instead.

[catdance62]

I have a problem with slaughterhouse conditions for any animal (that's why I only eat my animals), but I think that humane slaughtering solutions should be offered. My husband is originally from Morocco, and horse meat is a grocery choice there, like cows and goats. I realize that people in the US think of horses more as "pets" like a dog or cat, than food, but it still seems like a huge waste to just euthanize an animal and then dispose of the carcass. Part of the problem is that in some areas of the country horses are looked upon as a status symbol, instead of a useful work animal or a companion. People romanticize the idea of owning a horse without forethought of all the work and expense involved. I was "dying" for a horse when I was a kid, but thank goodness my parents didnt' bow down to my desires and get one, because a few years later I was on to the next obsession.
Personally I dont' think that it shhould be against the law to eat them, but that is just my opinion.

[Danaus29]

One complaint I have about the survey is the solutions for unwanted horses involve either resticting ownership of horses or getting federal funding to dispose of unwanted horses. Had I know those stupid options beforehand I would not have participated.

IMO, the owner should be able to dispose of a dead horse or unwanted horse in a humane and sanitary way. Those who live way out in the country should be able to bury their own horses if they wish and those who live where they can't bury the horse should be allowed to have the carcass incinerated.

As far as eating horse is concerned, I just don't get what the big deal is. Cows are friendly and can be trained to do lots of jobs yet we eat them.

[arabian knight]

That is why further into the questionnaire you put THOSE answers as the LEAST of your favorites ways. I thought it was a very good survey, and signed up for more about horses. And many there at the end were what is the your MOST favorite way, or least favorite way. Especially on the Government Controlling horse ownership etc. was the Least favorite way. So you had several ways to get out of making it sound you were in favor of restrictions.