According to a news article, on November 18th 2011 President Obama signed into law the slaughtering of horses for human consumption. This practice was banned in 2006 when people who were opposed of this practice banned the funding for inspections. It has been predicted that these slaughterhouses could be up and running in about 30 to 90 days and slaughter up to 200,000 horses annually for human consumption. There has not been a state picked out for this yet, but there are investors who are interested in helping to finance this operation. Although most people here in the United States do not eat horse meat, the majority of it will be shipped to other countries that do. Since this practice has been banned in the United States, ranchers who have horses that are older or unable to work could ship the horses off locally to be butchered, now have to send them off to Canada or Mexico. Since the recession it has been documented that people who can no longer afford to care for their horses have also ship them off to the slaughter houses in Mexico or Canada. There is some concern that when the slaughter houses do open that instead of looking for a suitable place to place a horse when the owner is unable to care for it, the slaughter house will be their first solution. Animal rights groups are arguing that the process of slaughtering is cruel and would be a lot better if the owners had their horses put to sleep by a veterinarian.
people who were opposed of this ==should be opposed to this
ReplyDeleteI am not opposed to eating horse meat. I have eaten it in the past. There is nothing wrong with at all. It is no different from raising a calf and then having it slaughtered for meat.