Animal Writings

The picture on the front of the Washington Post the day after the Kentucky Derby shows the front line of horses all being whipped. Clearly these races are not for the horses' benefit.

A thoroughbred owner once told me that you can't let your feelings get in the way of your investment. Perhaps that steely mindset is what enables them to ship their horses to slaughterhouses—mostly through middlemen—once the horses become unprofitable. A couple of weeks ago a person whom I consider to be intelligent was surprised that racehorses are often slaughtered after their involuntary "careers." 90,000 horses were killed in the U.S. last year in slaughterhouses. Karen Harkson, president of Equine Voices Rescue and Sanctuary (EVRS), says "Eighty percent of those horses are healthy." EVRS also estimates that "one third of slaughter-bound horses are bred for racing." My friend thought that they all went to a nice retirement home. What a dream world we live in; we want to believe that animals who are bred for profit are treated well.

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Stop Horse Slaughter offers comprehensive and compassionate information about the unsavory but little-known horse slaughter industry in the United States. Recent posts cover the tragic Barbaro injury at the Preakness, and the urgency and political hurdles of the American Horse Slaughter Protection Act. As expected, the horse slaughter industry is trying to block passage of the bill. They claim that the slaughterhouses are a humane way to "dispose" of horses. This assertion is vile. First of all, horses are not a problem to be "disposed" of. Horses deserve compassionate care. Secondly, slaughterhouses are not caring, diligent places. They're profit-oriented, sloppily-run mechanized death factories of which agony and torture are byproducts.

Christopher J. Heyde, writing in the conservative Washington Times, reports, "I am one of the few people who have witnessed horse slaughter firsthand without being expressly brought in by the industry to show how 'wonderful' it is. I was accompanied by a licensed veterinarian who sought out a USDA inspector when we were no longer able to tolerate the abuse we witnessed. Unfortunately, she was unable to find the inspector in the facility. In the mere 45 minutes we were there, we witnessed several acts of cruelty." Mr. Heyde also points out that "horse slaughter is not euthanasia by any definition."

If you're still not sure if horse slaughter is inhumane, Watch these video clips of the operation -- or take my word that they're sickening.

This page informs you of actions you can take to help ensure that horses in the U.S. are permanently protected from slaughter. Also, please click here if you want to rescue a horse from slaughter. Your donation to Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue may literally save a horse from the slaughter pen and give him a chance to live out his remaining years peacefully. You can also virtually adopt a horse.

Related article:

The Horseracing Industry: Drugs, Deception and Death