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The Animal Welfare Cause
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Loading...Inhumane Horse Slaughtering in Quebec
The horses are old or ill or just no longer useful to their owners. Often thin, heads hanging low, ribs protruding, they stand quietly, dejected. You can see the fear in their eyes as they enter the stun box. If they are lucky, they lose consciousness after one jolt with the bolt gun. Sometimes they stumble and are stunned repeatedly. Sometimes they cry out.
They arrive weary, after being trucked from all over the States to destinations in Mexico and Canada. The U.S. banned horse slaughterhouses in 2007, but the demand for disposal of unwanted equines continues unabated. Out of sight of the owners who have sold them, they would have no advocates except for the determination of animal welfare groups such as the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC), which tracks their treatment in Canada.
On July 13 and 14, 2011, CHDC carried out an undercover investigation of a Quebec slaughterhouse. This is the fourth plant the coalition has studied. Although the industry and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency keep promising to improve standards, footage from Les Viandes de la Petite-Nation in St. Andre-Avelin shows they have a long way to go.
The video below is from the two-day tracking of the fate of these unwanted horses. If the horror of their experience is too painful to watch, try the sad but less graphic videos at the bottom of “Pasture to Plate” on the CHDC Web site.
Drugs in Horse Meat
As if the mistreatment of horses were not enough to shake up the industry, CHDC cites a shoddy tracking system that is supposedly in place to protect human health. Horses that end up in these slaughterhouses are not raised for food. Although owners are required to provide complete medical histories, their reports are not verified. Gary Corbett, president of the federal union that represents slaughterhouse veterinarians, is quoted as telling the Toronto Star on July 30, 2011:
(Veterinarians) do rely a lot on the records of the horses kept by the owners coming into the country and there are questions about how accurate or up to date they are. It’s at the discretion of the owner. There’s no regulatory framework to monitor it. It’s kind of like an honour system.
As a result, meat from these slaughtered horses may enter the human food chain tainted with drugs. Calling on the government to immediately shut down the industry, British Columbia MP Alex Atamenenko cites one potentially dangerous example of “horse aspirin” or “phenylbutazone.” The common pain medicine could easily end up in horse meat, and even small amounts of the substance can cause anaplastic anemia in children.
Read more: animal cruelty, animal welfare, canadian horse defence coalition, horse meat, horse slaughter, horses
Photo from iStockphoto via Thinkstock
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+ add your ownTorah, true, euthanasia by a qualified veterinarian would be MORE humane but those who are so dead set against slaughter for any reasons simply fail to understand the cost of that. I know what it costs, and have had to have two horses euthanized in the last 3 years.......first one was nearing her 34th birthday, and was in system failure, so it was the kindest thing to do. In April, I had to make the decision to have a beautiful, vibrant 24-yr-old purebred Arab mare put down after she was suddenly refusing to eat and my vet diagnosed cancer. Between the vet's charges and having her removed afterwards, it was just shy of $1,000. Not everyone has that kind of money nor can justify spending it. Many people can't afford to feed their horses anymore, and there is little or NO market for all but the most "elite", so far too many owners are faced with either simply abandoning them or sending to slaughter. Which is more humane?
Nobody, myself included, would say the methods used in Canada or Mexico are humane, and even before they were shut down in the U.S., they needed improving. However, the best choice for everyone would be to have choices available and to have them local. The rules and restrictions need to be tightened and strictly enforced. Banning anything solves NOTHING. It ends up in even more horrible abuses.
This is cruel and uncalled for. Horses nor any animals should not be abused and harmed in this way. Putting animals to sleep would be more humane. The only kind of people who think slaughtering horses is ok are sick in their mind and are not normal in any way, I hope that all these people who participate in this cruel act suffer the same fate.
This has to end. Horse slaughter is never humane. Most horses killed are not old and/ or crippled. Even the old,hurt or sick horses do not deserve the brutal deaths at the slaughter houses. If a horse is sick a vet should humanely put them to sleep.
Every time I think I have heard the very worst that human beings can be quilty of,
something like this comes along to leave me horrified once again.
I couldn't watch the video because the last time I did watch something like this,
I woke up in the middle of the night with tears streaming down my face because
I saw it again in my dreams.
How can we believe that people have compassion and still try to understand the insanity
that is supposed to pass for a supposedly caring humanity who condones this type of killing?
How do we put a stop to this type of practice?
Everything proves this underground buisness of slaughtering innocent animals such as Horses is Inhumun from A-Z. Watch more News in USA recently...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILd_B1OpQ8o&feature=youtu.be.
I can't bring my self to watch the video because I already know what it is. I and many others have fought for years to save all horses from the pasture to the plate. It's hard to fault Canada when The freakin President of USA has just reimplemented Horse Slaughter is okay! There is so much duplicity involved. The ranchers, farmers,carriage trade persons, race horse owners and all the rest of the animals growers and killers, they are ultimately responsible for this. THEY are the inhumane people who follow the bottom line (the almighty buck!) to the detriment of all animals. Yes they are killers, all of them.
Cruel, cruel, cruel. Quebec just keeps topping the list.
How can people be so cruel? Why dont they just request a vet to put the animal to sleep instead of the bolt. That sounds disgustingly cruel
I am not going to watch the video, just reading this is enough for me. In the first place I can't understand how any one could send a horse to such a place! If a horse is sick get it treatment, if it is extremely sick get it euthanized. If it is unwanted, then shame on its owner! A pet or animal in my opinion is for life. Even if it is a racehorse past its best, they should be able to be let out to pasture to live out their days in peace. Where is the respect and love? Horses are magnificent creatures and to have their lives end in such a terrifying way is beyond description.
If you want to call or write to them :
http://www.lesviandesdelapetitenation.com/pour-nous-joindre/
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