Because most efforts at altruism are applied to human suffering, when it comes to horses and other animals, we still face the problem of convincing people that the suffering of horses is worth considering at all. Our legal and legislative efforts can be effective ways to achieve goals for the horses, but most campaigns are lower visibility when compared to shelter pets, and they may only yield results if completely successful. After observing how horse advocacy functions for a few years now (but I am still a relative newbie compared to the seasoned experts who have been advocating for horses for decades) I want to make the following observations on the year 2016:
To be effective, we must continually find the root causes of systemic problems, such as corrupt or indifferent government officials, hoarding issues, and our often reactionary approach to kill buyer sales programs, which are now entrenched methods of adopting horses. This is no small feat considering how decentralized horse advocates are – each person is often doing their own thing and advocating for horses in their own way. As a result, preventative approaches are sometimes overlooked within the movement. Despite exhaustive work by many people, SAFE Act-type legislation, which could provide the best results for horses in the US, hasn’t passed.
We may best be able to capitalize on shifts in the way people think about all animals and their status in society. Results in Canada have been achieved when contracts for horsemeat are lost due to the exposing of cruelty and food quality/feedlot issues. Meat-swapping is also an issue that usually gets a lot of publicity. The supply of horsemeat already exceeds demand otherwise we would see fewer substitution issues – many people are realizing that they are eating horse unintentionally and this causes them to reconsider buying meat in general.
Unfortunately, 2016 heralded in new administration that is not friendly to animals. P-E Trump is known to receive advice from conspiracy theorists and the radical far right – it’s true that we have become a “post-fact” world. Knowing this, how can we best advocate for horses in 2017 and beyond? There mere suggestion that there may be jobs to be found in the horse slaughter industry could be incentive enough to resuscitate it in the US, even though it is a poor investment.
“Donald Trump…represents perhaps the greatest threat ever to animal protection policy making at the federal level. His campaign surrogates and the names being floated as possible Trump cabinet picks for the very agencies that oversee such policies include the most ardent anti-animal voices in the country. Advocates for puppy mills, factory farming, horse slaughter, and trophy hunting of rare species such as leopards and elephants would be at the steering wheel of a Trump administration.”~ Michael Markarian, the Human Society Legislative Fund
Here’s my summation of 2016, with articles arranged in Storify:
The Chemical Horse:
Horsenetwork reported that Pfizer Canada has announced it will increase the amount of pregnant mare urine (PMU) it collects from its facilities in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan in 2016 and 2017. Demand for conjugated equine estrogens declined in recent years following a 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study that PMU drugs were linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. (In 2012, the North American Menopause Society released a position statement that continues to support hormone therapy).
Horse tendons are now being made into an anti-aging therapy to rival botox. The popularity of horse oil from slaughtered animals has increased exponentially and is sold extensively on Amazon, eBay and elsewhere.
A video released in October showed the appalling treatment of horses at antitoxin and antivenom manufacturing facilities in India. The facilities draw blood from the horses, many of them multiple times a month with heavy gauge needles, to manufacture antitoxin and antivenom drugs. The horses depicted in the video (link included below) had festering sores and low body weights.
Live Horse Shipments:
Throughout 2016, the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition continued to release footage of live horse exports to Japan and petitioned Atlas Air executives to stop the practice, which does not adhere to IATA regulations.
Anti-Soring Efforts:
In August, U.S. Department of Agriculture/APHIS proposed changes to the Horse Protection Act that could stop the soring abuse for good.
Anti-soring advocates got the Big Lick kicked out of the North Carolina State Fair
Food Adulteration:
In June, a butcher shop in Montreal was caught adding horsemeat to hamburger patties advertised as being entirely made of beef. An investigation by Radio-Canada found burger patties advertised as being 100 per cent beef from La Maison du Rôti, which supplied meat to many hotels and commercial establishments in Montreal. This is consistent with a study from 2015 that found that nearly 5% of all ground meat products tested in California had horse meat in the product.
In Britain, two Britons and a citizen of Denmark appeared in court over allegations that they passed horsemeat off as beef. It took THREE YEARS after the horsemeat adulteration scandal in to get them this far.
Britain’s food-policing unit, which was created in 2014 following the horse meat scandal has still not resulted in any new prosecutions despite costing the taxpayer £4m. The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) has not brought any criminal charges against anyone.
Wild Horses:
Aaron Stelkia of the Osoyoos Indian Band, who has apparently provided no care to feral British Columbia horses, decided to claim them and began rounding them up early in the year. On the heels of this event, the RCMP in Penticton B.C., at the request of the CFIA, began investigating horse rescuer Theresa Nolet after she treated a free-roaming horse with phenylbutazone, making him unfit for human consumption. If the CFIA, the RCMP, or the SPCA actually had any concern for horses, they would require the Indian Bands to keep their horses contained and properly fed and medicated. It’s clear the intent was to harass Ms. Nolet, since the CFIA has no problem importing American horses whose drug history is completely unprovable.
DNA genotyping of Alberta wild horses showed a connection to the Altai horse from Russia. These genetic markers permitted the placement of the horses on the endangered list by the Equus Survival Trust in North Carolina.
Forty-five years ago the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRH&B Act) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971. The WFRH&B Act created the sensation that wild horses were to be protected on public land, but as it did not create actual defined parameters it has been left open to interpretation and/or lack of enforcement by the US judicial system.
Decimation of the Donkeys:
Now that the West African black rhino is extinct and the elephant is well on its way, donkey skins are the new rhino horn, and just like the rhino, the Chinese demand is unsustainable. To that end, a $3,000,000 slaughterhouse has just opened in Kenya – dedicated and purpose-built to kill up to 100 donkeys a day. China is presently responsible for slaughtering four million donkeys a year for traditional medicinal products made from their skin. Already, countries in Africa are seeing their donkey populations drop at an alarming rate – the appetite for donkey skins has risen to such a degree that a worldwide crisis is unfolding for donkey populations around the world. In the United States the population of donkeys is estimated to be between 250,000 and 400,000. The US’ wild burro population ranges between 4,000 to 10,000 total on all BLM public lands. The entire US population of donkeys could theoretically be wiped out in a matter of weeks at the current rate of slaughter.
Cruelty Cases, Horse Seizures, Abandonments, and Hoarding:
The infamous Stanley Brothers have been shipping horses to slaughter for quite some time and also have a long history of animal welfare offenses, among other questionable activities. Boots Stanley, the son of one of the Stanley Brothers, who became millionaires selling horses to be killed, was arrested along with his pal Steven Sadler, for aggravated animal cruelty after slitting a defenseless dog’s throat on the family’s kill lot in Bastrop, Louisiana. Someone who enjoys inflicting pain on an animal may well be a danger to their community soon.
“Big Lick” supporter Sandra Darlene Wood will be serving jail time for the crime of Animal Cruelty – starving Tennessee Walking Horses that were seized from her farm on April 6, 2015.
Logan Allen, a “horse trainer” who won 1st place in the 2013 Iowa Horse Fair found himself under fire after he posted pics to his Facebook wall of a horse with the caption “bad boy…” The horse lay on the ground, his legs were bound, his tongue hung out of his mouth and he had been sprayed with a hose, hence the treatment of the horse was referred to as “waterboarding.” The dismissal of Allen’s case sends the clear message to those in Iowa that abusing animals is acceptable in the state.
The story of Lily, the little pony mare who appeared to have been shot up with a paintball gun and then abandoned at New Holland in Pennsylvania, was a simultaneously uplifting and heartbreaking narrative. The mare, who was rescued and subsequently endured an eye operation for painful uveitis inflammation and days of dental work, was elderly and in poor condition overall. In May, Philip Price Jr. of Rhode Island, (previously convicted of animal abuse) was convicted on all counts related to transporting her to New Holland. He was ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution for Lily’s recovery care costs. Lily was then adopted by former Daily Show Host Jon Stewart and his wife. Although her quality of life appears to have been quite low for some time, she knew kindness and care before she died a short time later in Stewart’s sanctuary.
In June, officials with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture charged trainer Maria Borell and her father, Charles Borell, each with 43 counts of second-degree cruelty to animals in connection with the apparent abandonment of horses at a 121-acre farm in Central Kentucky.
40 deceased and decaying horses were found on a property near Melbourne Australia. Bruce Akers, was charged with 92 counts of animal cruelty and criminal damage.
Another 40 horses (and 15 dogs) owned by a previously convicted mother/daughter team of animal hoarders were seized from a Virginia property.
In July, horse rescuers saved from slaughter several horses formerly owned by the Arnold Reproduction Center, which specialized in cutting horse breeding. A herd of horses bearing the brand of center ended up scheduled for shipment to slaughter, according to social media posts, which the business acknowledged in a statement last week, calling the slaughter designation unintended. Photos posted by the Kaufman Kill Pen Facebook page showed show at least a dozen horses bearing the brand and/or distinctive shoulder numbers, with some described as recipient mares.
Several horses that had been seized from the Peaceable Farm rescue in 2015 have again been taken by authorities from New Beginnings Horse Rescue, where they had little or no food and water. Over 80 horses were originally removed from Peaceable Farm and 11 of those horses went to New Beginnings (the other horses were distributed to other rescues). It’s been a horrible 2 years for some of the rescues in Virginia.
Approximately 550-650 “wild” horses of varying ages, some mares with foals, went up for auction in December when approximately 30 were found starving or eviscerated on the bare dirt pastures of the ranch belonging to the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros in South Dakota. With no plan in place to prevent breeding and insufficient range land for the number of horses, the pastures had been eaten down to dirt. Photos on social media show severely thin horses, some of them dead, with their ribs and hip-bones protruding. Some have grotesque wounds and injuries or wildly overgrown, untrimmed hooves. A few had been eviscerated, presumably by wild animals. Guidestar shows that despite the charity taking in $600 – $700K in donations per year, there were always feed emergencies – this appears to be another hoarding operation with charitable status. Resources are finite everywhere – uncontrolled breeding with no place to go eventually means there will be a population crash.
Legislative and Public Relations Issues:
Of the most immediate concern to animal advocates may be the virtual certainty that a Trump administration will work to reopen horse slaughter in the U.S., to “dispose” of the 45,000 wild horses who have been removed as “surplus” from the BLM. Furthermore, in 2009 VP-Elect Pence voted against protecting wild horses and burros on America’s public lands. He opposed the “Restore Our American Mustangs Act,” which was introduced to amend the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971. Simply because you see a picture of someone on a horse, it does not make them an advocate.
It has been announced that the European Commission is set to adopt stricter regulations on the import of horsemeat from non-EU countries following its latest audit, which found that Canadian horsemeat may not meet EU food safety standards. Horses destined for slaughter in non-EU countries but for export to the EU, must undergo a minimum six-month residency requirement. It’s unclear how either the slaughterhouses or the CFIA will control for this requirement.
The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition met with MPs in Ottawa in October on the dangers of horse meat consumption. The CHDC was registered to lobby with Aaron Freeman of Pivot Strategic Consulting. The CHDC continues to consult with legal counsel in a continuing effort to explore legal strategies to stop illegally-conducted live shipments of horses to Japan for slaughter.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspended the slaughtering license of KML Meats in British Columbia temporarily, due to the absence of an effective HACCP program.
The CFIA proposed changes to the Health of Animals Act and Regulations, thereby recognizing that the transport of animals in Canada is not aligned with those of other countries (World Organisation for Animal Health – OIE) nor do they align with the National Farm Animal Care Council Codes of Practice (NFACC) or international trading partners such as the US and the EU. Furthermore, transport guidelines, such as they are, do not reflect current science regarding the handling of animals by land, sea, and air.
The March to DC on behalf of the SAFE Act took place September 22nd. Thank you to the dedicated people who were able to attend. Many SAFE-type bills have now died and alternative approaches are needed to make the rest of the US population aware of the atrocities of horse slaughter.
The tall metal fences, chained gates, and decaying metal buildings that were an embarrassment and constant reminder of horse slaughter in Kaufman Texas are now gone. The old Dallas Crown slaughterhouse was torn down.
In Ontario, “horse rustling” has received new attention after two horses, who were temporarily loaned/boarded, disappeared from the same farm and are presumed sold for slaughter. Sargon, owned by Kim Wilson, and Apollo, owned by Kayla Whatling were loaned to the same individual, who told police she sold Sargon to a kill buyer for slaughter without permission and with a faked EID.
EQUUS Film Festival:
The EQUUS Film Festival, dedicated to equestrian-themed film, fine art and authors was subject to controversy in 2016. Noted Equine/Human Chiropractor Dr. Jay Komarek, declined to accept the Equus Film Festival Award for “Best Documentary” Film citing festival organizers for accepting money from two corporate sponsors, “Protect The Harvest” and “Farm Paint,” as his reason for doing so. The sponsor’s principals are Mr. Forrest Lucas (Protect The Harvest and Lucas Cattle Company) and Mr. Duke Thorson (Farm Paint and Thorsport Farm). Slaughtering and soring horses do not create a better world for them and were therefore incompatible sponsors for the event. Clant Seay, a reporter for Billygoboy.com, also had the microphone aggressively grabbed out of his hand by former Sue Wallis buddy Dave Duquette at EQUUS. A positive outcome was that the film “Kill Pen” signed a worldwide/international distribution agreement to circulate the film across the US and Canada, into Europe, and beyond.
Please read more about these and other headlines from 2016, arranged chronologically, inStorify
Whether it’s conducted for horses, bison, wolf, or deer, aerial surveys usually precede a savage end for our free-roaming,wild, and migratory animals. It usually becomes apparent that a cull is being considered whenever an aerial survey is conducted. But the process of conducting aerial counts to justify a cull is profoundly flawed. The scientific evidence to support arguments against the horses just isn’t there. Counts require low flying and intensive and systematic coverage of the landscape that are more likely to motivate, and less likely to detect, horse escape behaviour. The anti-predator behaviour of the horse (and other prey animals such as deer) is characterized by grouping together and running to escape, which compounds observers’ ability to make accurate counts, as does aircraft altitude, weather conditions, season, vegetation, and animal mobility. At least one study of wild horse behaviour in New Zealand’s Kaimanawa Mountains has shown that aerial sampling, which is then extrapolated to the entire population, can be highly inaccurate and imprecise:
“Comparisons between the records of the counters and two observers show that, of the 136 marked horses located immediately prior to the helicopter count, 34 (25%) were counted more than once, a further 23 (17%) may have been counted more than once, and 13 horses (9.6%) were not counted. The helicopter count yielded 228 horses and was 16.9% larger than the estimate of 195.“
In addition, counts that are made only once a year for 2-3 days are not generally considered to be a robust form of wildlife management when compared to counts done 3 times a year, such as in the spring after what is often a harsh winter, after the foals are born, and before a capture is being considered. Reliable methods to estimate wild horse populations should be important to Alberta Environment & Parks (formerly Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development – ESRD) because otherwise they will continue to make programmatic decisions that aren’t supported by science. A single aerial census is not terribly useful since the horses are pretty scarce and elusive when spread out over 6 million acres, which results in a weak inference about horses that are neither abundant nor widespread in the Equine Zones. Not only is the aerial count slipshod because it is only one sample, E&P doesn’t know how many horses are too many. E&P allow the “Feral Horse Advisory Committee,” with representation from several stakeholder groups, such as oil and gas, forestry, cattle ranchers, capture permit holders and hunters, (groups with a vested interest in removing wild horses) input into culls.
By most accounts there are somewhere between 850-980 wild horses currently grazing a vast area close to six million acres in 6 equine zones in Alberta Canada. The cattle being grazed consist in numbers about 10 times the number of equids in the 6 zones.
It is falsely claimed by E&D that wild horses have no predators. These wild horses, like all other ungulates, do have natural predators. If not, why then would the E&P (ESRD) advertise on their website hunting and trapping licence for cougars, wolves and bears? It’s also falsely claimed by the Feral Horse Advisory Committee that horses compete with wildlife and cattle for forage. If so, how many skinny cattle come off the range each year? The government’s own study by R.E. Salter, who has a master’s degree in zoology – did not document forage or behavioural competition with either wildlife or domestic cattle. Studies in British Columbia showed that overgrazing and erosion were caused by too many cattle and not horses.
By the grace of (insert the deity of your choice), a cull was not held this year. The decision to cull any of these horses should not lie in the interpretation that they are feral rather than wild; feral is a human construct that serves only to stigmatize the horses.
You only have to look at these horses to see that they are almost evolving into a distinct breed, rather like the Canadian horse. They deserve heritage status and advocates should demand that “managing” these unique and iconic herds be conducted using a biological basis which should never include inputs from groups that seek to eliminate them.
There should be a ban on selling captured horses to slaughterhouses (in part because there is not six months worth of drug history on any of them) therefore those doing so should be heavily fined.
Contact:
Minister Shannon Phillips
323 Legislature Building
10800 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5K 2B6
Phone: (780) 427-2391
Email: AEP.Minister@gov.ab.ca
A mix of nearly 600 feral and privately owned horses were counted on Penticton Indian Band (PIB) lands in March during an aerial survey that’s expected to feature in the development of a new plan to manage their numbers. The horses that roam the southern Okanagan Valley in British Columbia have become a safety risk and a burden to local homeowners, and the problem is multiplying. The PIB is embroiled in a debate with both government, animal advocates and residents in the area who are seeing more branded horses venturing onto roads and residences. Many are in horrific conditions – virtually walking skeletons.
The concerns by other horse owners and residents are numerous. People riding their horses in the Penticton area are afraid because feral stallions chase them. On the occasion that privately owned horses have gotten loose and mingled with the feral herds, it’s been difficult to retrieve them because some band members claim people are stealing band horses. In winter many are simply being allowed to starve to death. Adding to the problem is the issue of many newborn foals that are being abandoned and must be fostered by various caring advocates. But helping the horses has been difficult mostly due to issues arising from their ownership. Most area residents claim that about 2/3rd’s of the horses are branded by Two Buck Pierre of the PIB, who, according to them, either lacks the ability or the will to keep them penned and appropriately fed.
The provincial BC government won’t offer the feral horses any sort of protection due to their status as feral, and the native band takes the curious position that they are both simultaneously owned and un-owned. The provincial Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection does not have a policy on free-roaming horses because their jurisdiction is under the Wildlife Act, which does not recognize these horses as wildlife and therefore deems them to be undeserving of consideration. Because they were once domesticated, they are not considered wild in the way that bears, wolves, deer and cougars are wild.
This “JP” branded horse has ventured onto a private lawn in search of food. Notice also that the horse is unafraid of the homeowner taking the photo = not a truly wild horse.
In the past, the PIB seems to have little incentive to change their approach to managing the horses. When there are problems with horses venturing down onto the roads then the band has claimed they are feral. The band does not like to lay claim to the horses (unless it benefits them to do so in the case of slaughter or selling them as rodeo stock) so that is why they call them free roaming or feral, in order that they are not held responsible. Yet the majority are branded with the initials “JP” for Two Buck Pierre and are owned primarily by a few families on the reserve. The band knows exactly who the owners are but they deliberately downplay the numbers in an effort to get the taxpayer to pay for managing them. PIB Councillor Dolly Kruger lists herself as having 10 horses in the report included below, but privately acknowledges having about 40.
One can only wonder how the band can therefore legally round up horses for slaughter that they normally claim not to own (despite most being branded). In 2009 there was a mass slaughter, which is income to the band. The Bouvry plant was paying up to 45 cents per pound in June of this year. So, an average 1,000 pound per horse equates to about $400 at slaughter, and if the band culls 300, that would average $120,000 in each year of a cull. To add insult to injury, the band also wants the taxpayer to pay them wages to round up their own branded horses so they can benefit from the proceeds of slaughter. This being the case, there seems to be little justification for asking taxpayers to pay for fencing the horses when the band could pay for it themselves with the proceeds from slaughter.
This study (below) by the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) is the closest anyone has ever come to having Chief and Council admit to the fact that the majority of these horses are owned by band members. Currently proposed options to manage herd sizes range from rounding up animals for slaughter to sterilizing them with contraceptive PZP, then erecting fencing to keep them out of populated areas. PIB Chief Kruger and the chief before him want a fence that will keep people out of the reservation. They have been trying to get the provincial government to pay for one for at least 20 years. While this will keep the horses off private property and out of traffic, it will not improve their standard of living unless their numbers are humanely reduced or more food is available. Advocates including Theresa Nolet of O.A.T.S (One At Time Success) Horse Rescue have offered to raise funds for PZP and its administration, however the Chief and Council apparently want to work with RDOS and horse owners only.
The RDOS has estimated a cost of $1,000 dollars per horse for the PZP with wages etc. They have not independently fact-checked these costs. Theresa Nolet has researched the costs involved in using PZP and was quoted approximately $300 to $400 for individual wild horses, which most of these are not. The prevailing belief amongst horse advocates is that the cost estimates are on the extravagant side in order to “persuade” the public that the slaughter cull is the only appropriate path to take.
It is hoped that a cost-effective, permanent fix can be agreed-upon that does not include slaughtering the horses. Councillor Dolly Kruger has acknowledged that “…there are so many studs out there and because there is so much inbreeding going on out there right now… they’re not healthy,” Kruger suggested the most prudent course of action would see one or two round-ups of horses for slaughter, followed by regular sterilization of mares using dart guns that deliver contraceptive drugs. Members of the project team expect to produce a draft plan later this year and implementation in early 2015 if everything goes as hoped. The plan is expected to include a call for fencing, corrals, feeding stations and/or a cull but a vaccination program for contraception is favoured.
The areas the horses reside in is not a wild range and these horses are not truly wild. Therefore, it is unacceptable to simply stand back and do nothing while observing the horses, who are not thriving in this environment, venture onto private property to find food, get hit by cars, only to ultimately starve to death in the winter. The band uses them for profit when it is convenient and leaves them to suffer when it is felt that there is no financial return to be made.
If a horse is branded it is traceable back to its owner, and in a just world that person would be found, charged with a criminal offence, fined heavily or jailed, and prohibited from future animal possession. If private individuals allowed their horses to wander the roadways, the SPCA would certainly act upon it, but they take no action whatsoever when PIB branded horses are observed to be starving or injured.
Artwork copyright: Heather Clemenceau (use with permission only please)
We have a myriad of differing opinions about horse slaughter, so disagreement is an unavoidable. Couple that with the innate desire of many people to “win” in cases of conflict and the widespread lack of reasoning skills that plagues us, and the stage is often set for virulent disagreement. It’s frustrating to deal with unreasonable, fact-challenged people, and there is always the temptation to stoop to their level and respond with the same ignorant contempt that they use as a substitute for actual reasons. So, when reason goes out the window, ridicule pulls up a chair.
This half-human and half-animal composition has led many writers to treat them as liminal beings, caught between the two natures, embodied in contrasted myths, both as the embodiment of untamed nature
There are so many myths and fallacies perpetrated by pro-slaughters that it’s hard to pick your “Top 10.” Well, here`s my Top 20, but I could have gone on for much longer! While in the midst of perpetrating their own brand of mythology, it`s ironic that pro-slaughters claim that welfare and animal rights activists anthropomorphize all animals into Disney-esque characters. Now, I quite like mythology myself, but I know the difference between fact and fiction. While I’ve seen plenty of people give animals human emotions or even claim to know what they`re thinking, many more recognize that they are animals who need to be with their own kind and be allowed to exhibit behaviours inherent in their species. So, for the edification of my readership, I’ve included some “real” horse mythological figures; let’s see if we can all isolate the “real” myths from the pro-slaughter myths!
Myth/Fallacy #1)
Anti-slaughter advocates all live in the city, don’t own horses, are therefore rank amateurs who learn by reading online
This is actually the fallacy of the Hasty Generalization. Not everyone who owns a horse can or should work in agriculture. I know doctors, psychiatrists, HR Managers, and others in professional/administrative functions that have never been to a working farm other than to ride their horse(s). So what? A lot of them know more than a lot of pro-slaughters, and they can actually ride too. These people are the “pleasure owners” who exist in far higher numbers than any other group of horse owners. These are the people who are really driving the horse industry and injecting most of the money into it by maintaining their LIVE horses.
I also have to ask – have any of these people making these claims ever heard of the concept of boarding a horse? If all “true horse people” only lived in the rural countryside, to whom would breeders sell their horses?
Myth/Fallacy #2)
An Ad Hominem attack will squelch disagreement:
Abusive ad hominem usually involves insulting or belittling one’s opponent in order to attack his claim or invalidate his argument, because they aren’t familiar with parliamentary-style debate. I’ve seen this on my own blog “You’re from the city, I guarantee you know nothing!” Of course, the version on my blog was horribly mis-spelled, so whenever I’m quoting a pro-slaughter I’ll be fixing up the spelling and grammar unless of course, I’m using a screen-cap. Anti-slaughter advocates sometimes do it too – it can be pretty frustrating to cope with redundant ideas over and over again.
While there are a few pro-slaughters who can effectively debate and will take time to formulate their ideas, they are in the extreme minority. To see more of this in action, check out my other post on Slaughterhouse Sue and her requests to her followers to inundate and bully people she disagrees with. Note that she doesn’t ask anyone to reason with us! If you’ve spent any time on Facebook, you’ll eventually clue-into the fact that when pro-slaughters post on a Facebook page or invite someone to their page and find their overall philosophy is NOT accepted – they report the page as SPAM and start arguing with the person! This happened on the “Kentucky Against Illegal Immigration” page.
Myth/Fallacy #3)
Only true vegans can justifiably complain about horse slaughter
I’ve not only heard this one numerously from pro-slaughters but also from diners at La Palette in Toronto. The animal advocates I know are vegetarian, vegan, or neither. If one feels called to end horse slaughter or pig abuse and still eats fish or uses a leather saddle, it’s not for me to judge. Most advocates I know are actually not members of large AR groups; many probably don’t even consider themselves “animal rights activists” – that’s a pejorative heaped on them by people who are worried about others’ (i.e. the 80% or so) legitimate objection to their behaviour.
After spinning for an eternity, even carousel horses want to get the hell off the merry-go-round
There are, of course, various stock arguments against eating any animals and they can be pressed into service here. Not only do horses NOT merit being looked at as something to be sold by the pound, there are of course, legitimate arguments against using non-food animals in the food chain, and those arguments aren’t mutually exclusive with vegetarianism or veganism.
Myth/Fallacy #4)
There are no true vegans anyway
Glad to see a variation of the No True Scotsman fallacy is alive and well! Because we know that a “true vegan” would eschew using any byproduct of an animal, and avoid living in a house that was built with any byproducts of an animal, even if the house was built before they were born!
We are all born into a non-vegan world. Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Most people take vegan to mean that there is no consumption or active utilization of animal products and nothing further – no meat, no leather, no honey, gelatine, eggs, milk and so forth. So vegans can feel comfortable knowing that while their grandmother’s ashes are stored in an urn made of bone china, they can still confidently refer to themselves as vegan.
Myth/Fallacy #5)
You must own a horse and work in the “industry” in order to be able to render an opinion
United States – Use of Equids by Function – Click to view original source
To get an idea of the ridiculousness of this claim let’s draw an analogy between the ability to critique what goes on in the horse industry and any other subject matter. For instance, can you quote the Koran? If not, your opinions on Islam are invalid. Can you quote Karl Marx? If not, then you have no right to critique liberalism. How about Stan Lee? If you can’t speak eloquently about comics, perhaps your opinion should not be heard.
The horse industry includes all businesses that profit when more people own horses. The pleasure horse industry is the largest segment of the industry. People who own horses as “pets” churn more revenue through to farriers, boarding facilities, tack shops, feed stores and vets because there are more of them. My guess is that the money I’ve spent on tack, boarding, and training for my horses is a helluva lot more than the back yard breeders have invested. The idea that people who don’t own horses cannot contribute to any discussion regarding them, is one that has been regularly parroted by Slaughterhouse Sue Wallis, who ironically has claimed that she owns no horses.
I will also draw another distinction between myself as a companion horse owner and the slaughter industry – on occasion when I’ve taken my horse to Michigan for an event, I’ve been required to pull a negative Coggins beforehand. The shippers who transport slaughter-bound horses across State lines are somehow able to evade this responsibility. We also read that in Texas, Federal Veterinarians were obliged to ignore the Coggins entirely. How can we require responsible owners to spend money and time to meet regulations that help to ensure control of contagious disease when the slaughter buyers (who appear to be represented by that teeny tiny 1.2% block) bypass US (and probably Canadian) borders freely, without Coggins testing and very little, if any proof of ownership?
Myth/Fallacy #6)
Hitler was a vegetarian too!
So was Einstein in the later part of his life. And Atilla the Hun rode a horse. So what?
A centaur with wings is called a pteracentaur
I can only ::facepalm:: when people (especially christians who are also pro-slaughter) compare vegetarians to Hitler .Aside from the fact that they seem to think everyone around them is a vegetarian or vegan, comparing anything that is not a dictator/mass-murderer to another dictator/mass-murderer is a fallacy known as the Reductio ad Hitlerum. You don’t get to call people Nazis just because you want to inflame or incite.
Hitler’s vegetarianism was not a foregone conclusion but so what if it was? What if he was also left-handed, or a Taurus? Is that somehow a significant or relevant argument? Not eating meat, or being left handed does not contribute to their ideology to slaughter millions. What about Stalin or Pol Pot? Maybe they ate meat? They might not have liked animals much either. People who inject Hitler into conversations would do well to start by googling the phrase imprinted on the belt buckles worn by the Nazis. It says “Gott mit uns” (God with us). The Nazis also were not atheists – one important Nazi slogan was ‘Kinder, Kirche, Kueche’ ( Children, Church, Kitchen). In any case, comparisons to Nazis are irrelevant in this example; it is also similarly fallacious to use the Nazis as an example of what might be wrong with Christianity. Don’t do it. Case closed.
Myth/Fallacy #7)
Humane Euthanasia is not humane
No matter how much pro-slaughters present in the way of anecdotal evidence (“I saw a horse that thrashed for hours”) this does not qualify as “data.” No one is available to examine your claims, confirm with a veterinarian etc. etc. Pentobarbitone sodium has sometimes been used for euthanasia WITHOUT being preceded by a short-acting barbiturate or sedative, and this will actually cause excitement in the horse. There’s no excuse for a large-animal veterinarian not to know this and take appropriate action. I’ve seen euthanasia and it is humane. Do pro-slaughters expect us to believe it’s humane to PTS dogs and cats but not horses? Can anyone really believe that putting your horse in a truck (even a short distance) and sending it through unfamiliar surroundings such as a feedlot where it must contend with numerous other unfamiliar horses, then onto its ultimate demise in a slaughterhouse, is somehow humane?
Rather than relying on the opinion of the talking heads at various veterinary or horse associations, I think we should go to the actual people who work with the animals. Veterinarians should put animal welfare at the top of their priorities, not relegate it to an also-ran concern. The reality is that horse slaughter has never been considered a legitimate form of euthanasia by many veterinary professionals or organizations. The veterinarians who support slaughter stand out in their field as oddballs who wouldn’t even sell you their own services. If they can`t demonstrate to their clients why their own euthanasia services are not better than slaughter, then why enter the field of veterinary medicine in the first place? And why do you deserve me as a client?
Myth/Fallacy #8)
Euthanizing a horse wastes valuable meat
Do you ever get the impression that pro-slaughters are always busy cramming shit down their throats or into their freezers, because they’re afraid they might run out of food? They always seem to have a horse stashed in the freezer. I wonder how they’re even able to focus on riding or ranch work, knowing that they’re basically riding around on a piece of meat? The feeling that an animal’s life seems to be best served by providing food for man is a very anthropomorphic centralism.
Anthropocentrism has been posited by many environmentalists as the underlying reason why humanity dominates and sees the need to “develop” most of the Earth. Anthropocentrism is a root cause of the ecological crisis, human overpopulation, and the extinctions of many non-human species.There is no market for the meat of the slaughtered horse unless you conceal his drug history. Stop pretending that your horse can suddenly be transitioned into a food animal at the end of his useful life, when he hasn’t been raised as one.
Food safety should be taken seriously, if not by governments then certainly by the consumer. Food safety requires that certain protocols are followed with food animals from birth, quite unlike what happens with most privately owned horses. It’s immoral to promote an industry that conceals drug contamination and doesn’t make any effort to determine whether any horses are stolen. Since it seems apparent that no pro-slaughter has ever taken a biology course, I’ll distill it down for them here. Just because you can’t eat it and shit it out does not mean that you have wasted something! All biotic matter ultimately must be broken down into biochemical cycles – this includes all plant and animal life. The breakdown of biological matter is essential for perpetuation of the carbon/phosphorus/sulphur/oxygen/nitrogen cycles, without which life on earth would cease.
There is nothing whatsoever unnatural or wasteful about microbes acting upon dead animal flesh – breaking it down into its constituent components; ultimately this is how soil is created and regenerated and our air is oxygenated. Everything alive is made from chemicals that are only borrowed from the earth. If you aren’t aware of this process then you really aren’t that connected to nature after all.
Myth/Fallacy #9)
Euthanasia is too expensive
It was Centaurus that descended upon a herd of Magnesian mares and conceived the Centaurs.
Compared to what? The cost of euthanasia or any service is a relative thing. The horse slaughter industry’s spokes-whore (the Wall Street Journal) bemoans how unfair it is that hiring a veterinarian to euthanize and dispose of a horse can cost hundreds of dollars. How expensive is that to a horse owner? The average cost to maintain a horse for a year is thousands of dollars, not including the cost of the horse, which can be significant. If you board your horse out it’s easily $400 – $600 a month (on the low end) without adding in any other services such as farrier and veterinarian, and certainly not a trailer or truck. So let’s not even entertain the notion that horse ownership is for regular people. Unless you use your horse to plough fields, you’ve got to be hustling and making some decent change in the private or public sector in order to be able to afford that horse – or be willing to do without a lot of other expenditures. If you’re already spending that kind of coin for your horse, $200 – $500 for euthanization/disposal is already a budgeted expense for many people.
Various veterinary colleges and schools offer euthanasia and disposal/cremation starting at around $100. For anyone who lives in an area where there is truly an issue with disposal, I wonder why no enterprising individual has thought of providing a rendering service? What could the constraints be? While I’m very sympathetic to people who have fallen on hard times/lost jobs etc, for everyone else I say – if this is too much, I have to honestly say that I hope I never need $100 bucks as badly as that pro-slaughter individual apparently does.
Myth/Fallacy #10)
The bodies of euthanized horses pollute ground water
Not exactly a myth unless one intends to pass off the presence of barbiturates as being solely caused by euthed horses. Most groundwater pollutants are created by industrial facilities, power stations, motor vehicles, and agriculture. Farmyard waste, created by, you know, people working in “the industry” is one of the biggest culprits. So while people working in “the industry” are creating the majority of agricultural pollutants, they want to pass the blame for pollution of ground water to those 90% of horse owners who are euthanizing their animals? Barbiturates have been used in humans since the 60s as well as in veterinary drugs. They are highly stable and take considerable time to degrade in the environment, which means that drugs passed through urine and wastewater plants (which can’t capture it) and dumped by pharmaceutical companies will remain in our environment as a contaminant for centuries, in both surface and groundwater.
Pegasus became the servant of of the gods. There he was the mount of Eos to help bring the dawn, or was ridden by Apollo to bring the sun. Pegasus also served Zeus by bringing to him the thunder and lightning needed for the thunderbolts. For all his noble services, Pegasus was honoured by a constellation in the autumn sky.
The fact is that most barbiturates were used in humans as hypnotics, anesthetics, anticonvulsants, sedatives, and antiepileptics, and NOT in horses. Obviously, landfills should not be located next to aquafers and companies should not use landfills to dispose of pharmaceutical waste. It’s also inappropriate to euthanize an animal and then leave it lying in a field where it can be predated upon. Of course, we have more regulations about disposal of drugs now, but it certainly doesn’t mitigate the damages that have been done 50 years ago.
Another question I frequently ask of pro-slaughters (you can cue the crickets, because I’ve not gotten an answer yet) is why they’re not outraged about human burial. Not that we have much of a choice. But most people are preserved in formaldehyde prior to burial, then placed in hermetically sealed coffins. No state or province in North America requires the “routine” embalming of bodies, although there are some exceptions. Formaldehyde is a carcinogen. Although we are burying more people than horses, the ability of embalming fluid to contaminate soil or water tables has not been studied thoroughly. So claims that horses are polluting the environment seem rather extraordinary, and extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Myth/Fallacy #11)
We can feed the world – starving people, children, prisoners, etc with horsemeat
This is the fallacy of the false dichotomy. Just because we have horses does not mean that we should give or sell the meat if toxic. Slaughterhouse Sue claims horsemeat will resolve all hunger problems in the US, and her supporters in United Horsemen’s group also claim that it could be exported to Africa and solve hunger in that continent. Why doesn’t she and the IEBA just create a business proposal to sell horsemeat to impoverished African countries?
The problem with these types of simplistic “solutions” is that they can’t possibly account for all the problems in Africa. Like food distribution problems, government corruption, AIDS, the effects of globalization, overpopulation, gang warfare, coup d’etats, the role of the IMF, and the lowest average wages in the world. 23 million starving – we’d have to slaughter every horse in the US and Canada, plus dogs and cats, every year, and even that wouldn’t be enough to sustain them over time. Most African countries have had aid provided to them for many years, and yet the circumstances never improve for the people. In actuality, the divide in levels of corruption in rich and poor countries remains as sharp as ever, according to the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), government corruption is a primary cause of food shortages in 3rd world countries, so it matters little which foodstuffs are being referred to as a “relief” for hunger.
How many years was horse slaughter available in the US, and yet there was no real market for horsemeat? Or were there no hungry people in the US for the last 70 or so years? Granted, some people ate horses and currently do. And some people take Bute despite being warned otherwise. But to cite Yale or Harvard as examples of horsemeat eating hardly cuts it as an assertion that horsemeat is or should be consumed in the US.
Nobody is seriously feeding starving children with horsemeat. There is no nonprofit organization volunteering to run a slaughterhouse that would exist exclusively to donate horsemeat to the hungry. No one operating a federally-licensed slaughterhouse in Canada is doing so, and as far as I know, neither are the provincial ones. If our goal is to feed the starving, the grain our horses eat would be a more efficient donation. So good luck trying to pitch horsemeat in North America. Remember the frosty reception given to pink slime? The pink slime marketers are still trying to peddle their propaganda too.
Myth/Fallacy #12)
Horse Slaughter is Humane
A lot of pro-slaughters don’t even believe this. How do I know? Because they keep writing about how, “when slaughter returns, it will be humane and regulated.” So you mean it wasn`t already? If not, why not? “We’ll make it humane.” “We’ll regulate this or that.” This is one of their most insincere statements yet. I`d have more respect for them if they at least admitted it wasn`t humane and they wanted to get rid of the bad players such as Trent Saulters, Dorian Ayache, who by the way, has amassed 64 violations within 2 years, and Dennis Chavez of Southwest Livestock Auctions, who has a chance of going to prison thanks, not to pro-slaughters trying to clean up their business, but to Animals Angels investigatory work. I have to say that I have NEVER seen a single pro-slaughter ever condemn any of these low-lifes who flagrantly ignore the law. Au contraire – Slaughterhouse Sue Wallis endorses Chavez – ergo, she endorses someone who could get up to 11 years in prison! Quite the recommendation. Again, no surprise when you know that Wyoming ranks as the third-worst state when it comes to corruption!
Pegasi make excellent choices as companions on journeys, able to take to the sky at any sign of danger, and traveling almost as fast on foot as in wing.
Half of them can’t even say “slaughter.” They want to speak in doublespeak, referring to it as “processing,” or the “equine terminal marketplace,” or worse – “euthanasia.” They can’t say it because they know what it is. Even Temple Grandin thinks such euphemisms are silly. Concerns about the lack of a humane slaughter process for equines are central to arguments against equine slaughter, and cannot be summarily dismissed simply because an industry association declares slaughter “humane.” And it doesn’t matter what the AQHA thinks (appeal to authority fallacy) – I wouldn’t believe them anyway. They’ve spent at least 30 years promoting halter horses that are of no use to those of us who use horses for pleasure or performance riding.
There is no such thing as “Humane Slaughter” any more than there is “Humane Rape,” “Humane Torture,” or any series of violent acts – how can you bestow humanity where there can be none? Should anyone campaign in favour of “humane” rape as a gateway to no rape?
Dr. Nicholas Dodman is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, and Professor, Section Head and Program Director of the Animal Behavior Department of Clinical Sciences at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. He is certified with the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists (ACVA) and the American College of Veterinary Behavior (ACVB). Dr. Dodman is one of the world’s most noted and celebrated veterinary behaviorists, and is the author of four best-selling books on animal behavior as well as two textbooks and more than 100 articles and contributions to scientific books and journals. With his experience in anesthesiology and his intricate knowledge about the anatomy of the brain, Dr. Dodman is a leading specialist, qualified to assess the stunning of horses in a slaughterhouse environment. He observed the undercover video tape taken at Les Petites Nations given to the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition and these are his comments:
“All of these factors contributed to a poor first shot stun percentage, with approximately 40% of horses requiring two or more shots, and one large horse requiring seven shots, to be stunned. Large horses seemed particularly at risk of requiring more than one shot. Whether this is because of the necessity of the operator to reach up high to angle the CBP down or because of the physical size of the horse’s skull limiting the reach of the captive bolt is unclear. Either way, the operator’s stance below horse head level was likely another factor contributing to the poor first-time stun percentage. Many horses who required a second or third shot, and some who were only given one shot to the head, retained muscle tone for some time, with some running in place or lurching from side to side, indicating that some level of consciousness was likely still present as they slowly expired.
My final conclusion, after reviewing 150-plus horse slaughters in this series of videos, is that the process was terrifying for most of the horses and, in many cases, horribly inhumane. In my opinion, only a one-shot stun is acceptable and this is, in fact, what Canadian humane slaughter regulations require (Meat Inspection Act – Part III). It is not acceptable for 40% of horses to require or receive a second shot. At this slaughterhouse, in cases where a second shot was required, most humane standards, in my opinion, were not met.”
Dr. Brian Evans, Chief Food Safety Officer and Chief Veterinary Officer for Canada, claims he had no idea that there were deviations from the standard at Bouvry or Richelieu or anywhere else. No idea, until he finds out through the media that there’s undercover video.
Myth/Fallacy #13)
It’s Biblically appropriate to eat horsemeat
If you think so, more power to you. But due to all the conflicting passages in the bible, how can you really know for sure? In my mind, this justification is very similar to the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy. And why question the “moral compass” of individuals who are not christian or don’t want to eat horsemeat? How do you account for the “moral compass” in individuals from nations that do not embrace the “in god we trust” dogma”? Canadians somehow manage quite well without the pervasiveness of religion, and why not? Morality is not based on the religion to begin with. Hammurabi of Babelonia developed a system of law and morality about 2,000 years before the bible was written.
Furthermore, morality is a sense of behavioural conduct that differentiates intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good (or right) and bad (or wrong) and it is not dependant upon the embracing of any religion. Morality is dictated and embraced by societal mores and moral truths, which exist irrespective of religion. We also know that some Christians are not actually very moral people, and you only have to look at politics to see evidence of this.
Myth/Fallacy #14)
Animal Welfare/Animal Rights Activists want to remove all our property rights
OK, here we’ve got another example of the hasty generalization or slippery slope fallacies. To start with, no one has unlimited property rights. We do not have eminent domain over our own property. Owners of animals have both legal rights and limitations related to their animals’ legal status as tangible personal property. In most jurisdictions you can’t fill your yard with junk or abandon your car on the side of the road either.
Of course, laws that are enforced that are in the best interests of animals are not often seen as being in the best (economic) interests of exploiters. Those people often proclaim that animals are merely property. As such, any welfare law that sought to accord animals protection therefore impinged on exploiters’ property rights. What many feel is “incrementalism” against their personal rights are accommodations to animals that the average person recognizes should be granted automatically. Therefore, the only people who are in an uproar about the animals that form part of their “property rights” are those individuals who already have a grand-canyon sized gap, philosophically speaking, with most of society – people who are already using ethical standards in the care of their animals.
Myth/Fallacy #15)
Bute and all veterinary drugs are eliminated from the animal’s system within hours
The doctors and veterinarians who attempted to refute Dr. Marini et al’s study expected pro-slaughters to accept their supposition even though it exemplified an argument from ignorance, which started out as an appeal to authority. How did this happen? Sue Wallis and Dave Duquette asked everyone to accept the word of a veterinarian who is an expert in his own field (body scoring), but who is commenting on a field outside of his area of expertise. Dr. Henneke supports the assertion that bute exits the system completely. So what? He’s not a toxicologist. When you want to discuss the Henneke scale, Dr. H is one guy to call. Similarly, if Einstein makes a suggestion about relativity, you’d better listen. If he tries to tell you how to ride a horse, you can tell him to keep his day job. Read Dr. Marini’s response here.
In a survey, 96% of respondents said they used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to control the joint pain and inflammation in horses, and 82% administer them without always consulting their veterinarian. More than 1,400 horse owners and trainers were surveyed to better understand attitudes toward NSAIDs. Additionally, 99 percent of horses that started in California last year raced on bute, according to Daily Racing Form.
In the US, Canada, and the
The unicorn appears in the Old Testament as something to both fear and revere. Many writers have speculated that the unicorn inhabited the Garden of Eden, but it is not specifically named. There is a theory that the unicorn perished in the great flood.
EU, bute is not permitted to be used for food animals. PERIOD. That simple acknowledgement renders any other discussion on toxicology rather moot. There are no safe levels for known carcinogens, which is why it’s pointless to discuss to what degree bute is or is not eliminated from the tissues. Harm is assumed. Discussions of toxicity or “safe levels” are reserved for non-carcinogenic effects. Non-carcinogens are assessed with a different type of dose-response study than that for carcinogens. Furthermore, the “precautionary principle” is recognized in international law, and it of course stresses that the absence of scientific certainty about a risk should not bar the taking of precautionary
measures in the face of possible irreversible harm. If bute did exit the system completely, we would never see this:
Examples of bute found in horsemeat in the EU
Myth/Fallacy #16)
Horse slaughter returns the viability of the market
I have personally found that horses are most apt to survive when they are not killed and eaten. Without the demand for meat, horse slaughter would cease to exist. I’d have a lot more respect for breed associations if they promoted
The hippocampus, the mythical sea-horse, which, according to the description of Pausanias, was a horse, but the part of its body down from the breast was that of a sea monster or fish. The horse appears even in the Homeric poems as the symbol of Poseidon, whose chariot was drawn over the surface of the sea by swift horses.
euthanasia with a bullet, followed by rendering. Can’t you give horses “at the bottom of the pyramid” a humane death without eating them? Or perhaps people producing horses “at the bottom of the pyramid” should reduce or stop? Horses don’t know they’re at the bottom of any pyramid in terms of desirability. Your average grade horse feels the same fear and pain at a feedlot/slaughterhouse as would any high end horse (not that they end up in feedlots much anyway, unless they`re stolen).
The problem with a reduction in slaughter, for the AQHA (also known as the “Equine puppy-millers”) and other registries, is that it leads to a drop in registrations. Registries make their money from registrations and from show fees paid only by the owners of registered horses competing in registry-sanctioned events. If the slaughter pipeline contracts, people breed (and register) fewer horses, and the disposal method for all these horses suddenly ceases to exist. Most breed associations consider their own survival before the welfare of the horse. It`s interesting to note that there were more than a few Tennessee Walker Horses on the trailer that collapsed in Nashville, another Dorian Ayache and Three Angels Farm debacle. Marty Irby, president of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors’ Association, said an organized program for retiring horses would be expensive. He claimed that there was no money for such a program, beyond the money required to keep the association alive. Keeping the “association” alive is what is most important to this industry. They do not care about end-of-life choices for horses and readily use the killer buyers and slaughter industry. Please don’t forget that Canada has slaughter, as does Spain (over 100 slaughterhouses) and both countries have seen the bottom fall out of the horse market. Methinks there must be other factors at hand.
Myth/Fallacy #17)
We’re overrun with wild horses
Where to begin with the BLM? The organization which consistently claims that it is protecting wild horses whilst simultaneously working behind the scenes for their eventual destruction. The US government is spending way too much money to keep wild mustangs in holding pens so they don’t compete with livestock on federal grazing lands.
As Ginger Kathrens, volunteer executive director of the Cloud Foundation, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: ”You would think there are millions of wild horses roaming the West. It’s pathetic how small the herds are, how underpopulated they are.” In the 1.3 million acres of Antelope Valley, 407 wild horses graze alongside 7,700 cows. ”That’s the statistic that’s common to all their management. The pie is so slender for wild horses.”
Past Division Chief Don Glenn has gone on record as saying that the “simple solution” to the wild horse and burro management problem is “unlimited sale authority.” He opined: “It makes no sense for the taxpayers to put out $75 million to take care of a bunch of old horses that nobody wants. They should be sold without limitation. If folks want to protect them because they’re afraid they’re going to go to slaughter or something, they have every right to purchase them.” He’s right – why spend that amount of money when you could instead leave them alone or manage them with a science-based approach that treats the horses as the native, reintroduced species that they are. The BLM barely leaves an area before the welfare ranchers unload truckloads of cattle on the same land and remove the fences around the water holes.
Myth/Fallacy #18)
Wild horses have no predators
Considering that humans cannot control their own populations (or choose not to) despite negative consequences, is it really fair to manage other species by killing due to the negative consequences they have on humans? The cod fishing industry (now decimated) in Atlantic Canada is a perfect example of resource mismanagement. But when it comes to management of practically anything, governments and organizations that try to play God end up acting the fool.
The fates of horses, and the people who own and command them, are revealed as Black Beauty narrates the circle of his life.
Alyson Andreason from the University of Nevada Reno presented the findings of her research into mountain lions and their rate of predation on wild horses. She documented much higher levels of predation on wild horses – primarily foals – than had previously been believed. Her research team found that the lions consumed “more horses than we would have expected.” In the Virginia Range, mountain lions killed four times more horses than deer. This research puts the lie to the notion, perpetuated by ranchers and the BLM, that wild horses have no natural predators, and therefore, the only way to manage them is to round them up and remove them. Mountain lions are hunted throughout the West, as well as removed (killed) by the USDA at the request of ranchers. If they were protected instead of persecuted, mountain lions could clearly play a role in regulating some wild horse populations.
While mathematical ecology is a new discipline, mathematical physics is not – it is peer-reviewed science. The mechanistic explanation of predator/prey relationships suggests that the machinery of nature functions without us quite well: In short, the predator-prey paradox and prey-enrichment theories will suffice quite well, in fact, they have worked for hundreds of thousands of years. Both predator and prey species are healthier when left to the devices of nature, whose mechanisms are far superior than anything man could devise. Predators and prey can influence one another’s evolution. Traits that enhance a predator’s ability to find and capture prey will be selected for in the predator, while traits that enhance the prey’s ability to avoid being eaten will be selected for in the prey. The “goals” of these traits are not compatible, and it is the interaction of these selective pressures that influences the dynamics of the predator and prey populations. Predicting the outcome of species interactions is also of interest to biologists trying to understand how communities are structured and sustained.
The Lotka-Volterra model is composed of a pair of differential equations that describe predator-prey (or herbivore-plant, or parasitoid-host) dynamics in their simplest case (one predator population, one prey population). The model makes several simplifying assumptions: 1) the prey population will grow exponentially when the predator is absent; 2) the predator population will starve in the absence of the prey population (as opposed to switching to another type of prey); 3) predators can consume infinite quantities of prey; and 4) there is no environmental complexity (in other words, both populations are moving randomly through a homogeneous environment. The model is sound. We’ve seen this play out in real life in Yellowstone Park after wolves were exterminated – this was done because wolves preyed upon elk, animals human hunters also wished to hunt. They believed that without wolves to prey on them, there would be more elk and so on for humans to hunt. This was a foolish and short-sighted view, however – the elk population exploded without natural predators to cull the weak and sick, leading to overgrazing and damage to the environment. The herbivores then starved. Fortunately, wolves have now been reintroduced, and the balance between predator and prey has been restored.
Myth/Fallacy #19)
The unavailability of slaughter in the US causes abandonment and abuse
The global food and fuel crisis is resulting in more than just people going hungry. Rising grain and gas prices in the US and Canada have made it difficult to continue to afford horses. But slaughter never ended in the US – the business of slaughter just became an issue of geography. Horses now travel longer distances, perhaps with the exception of those that are illegally slaughtered in Florida and that little shop of horrors – Bravo Packing in New Jersey, which serves the big cat market. In actuality, the rate of slaughter of US horses was only temporarily affected by the closings of the US based slaughter plants in 2007, and the slaughter rate has since returned to its previous levels. There was therefore no mechanism by which these closings could have impacted abuse and neglect.
Slaughter Statistics by Year – 1989 through available YTD (click through to original document at Equine Welfare Alliance)
This article suggests that horses were turned away from a slaughterhouse and abandoned for being too thin, yet the pro-slaughter faction tells us that slaughter will PREVENT starvation. What a joke! A six month investigation by the EWA and other animal investigation organizations determined the predominant source of abandoned horses in the Southwestern US. The findings show that most or all of more than 5,000 horses a year are being abandoned after being rejected for slaughter at the Mexican border.
It simply made no sense that someone who could not afford to euthanize and bury/render a horse would elect instead to pay for hauling it hundreds or thousands of miles only to turn it loose. Kill buyers hauling horses to Mexico need a place to dispose of the rejected horses, and the most economical way to do so is to simply abandon them on a deserted stretch of road or in an isolated lot. Surely the pro-slaughters don’t believe that the KBs are taking them home and nurturing them back to health!
Groups are now in place to verify all abandoned horse article claims made anywhere in the United States. There is a mechanism in place at the EWA to examine future claims of abandonment as they become newsworthy. Any articles or news stories which make claims about abandoned horses, will be checked for verification through police reports, state park services, and all other places that claims have been made about abandoned horses anywhere in the U.S., due to the findings that many reporters are writing false or unverified articles about abandoned horses. The EWA has compiled an extensive study of horse abandonment reports that reads like a Snopes reference – 26 pages of source documentation that refutes claims of horse abandonment, as reported in various news reports. The Animal Law Coalition also conducted its own extensive study of the metrics involved. It’s findings reveal that abuse and neglect are largely determined by economic conditions. An upturn in unemployment seen in late 2007 appears to have translated into the beginning of an upturn in abuse and neglect in early 2008.
This is not to say that there are no cases of horse abandonment at all – there are no doubt a great many opportunistic, cruel people who will abandon horses in desolate areas, but people who commit these types of acts will abuse animals with or without the presence of slaughter! Face facts – people who neglect or abandon their horses have chosen NOT to send that horse to slaughter. I would call that a resounding FAILURE of slaughter to control horse neglect or impact the value of horses.
I wonder what the president of the AQHA has to say about these findings since he has released a statement claiming the abandonment of horses as a reason to support slaughter?
Myth/Fallacy #20)
The 80% is Bogus!
If you’re complaining about all the AR/AW activists getting up in your business, then it’s time to acknowledge exactly why there are so many of us – we’re the NORM, We’re the 80%. We’re the majority. There is no secretive, clandestine, Machiavellian worldwide animal rights and liberation movement underway. We’re “out there” and we’re regular people. A 2004 Ipsos-Reid poll that showed 2/3 (64%) of Canadians opposed to the practice of slaughtering horses for human consumption, and ASPCA Research Confirms Americans Strongly Oppose Slaughter of Horses for Human Consumption, in a poll conducted by Lake Research Partners.
Conclusion:
Discerning which voices to listen to is, as best as I can tell, a function of your degree of expertise in the subject and your innate intelligence, breadth of general knowledge of how the world works and reasoning capacity, which allow you to smell when someone is spoon-feeding you bullshit. Reasonable, rational people who are not fact-challenged, understand even if they do not accept. Blaming the messenger never changes the facts, because a fact cannot be insolent – and you have no right to be offended merely because you don’t like or agree with said fact. If you’re going to argue badly, why do it at all?
The only way any views can be reasonably challenged are by the claim that the conclusion is not true, the evidence is not true, or that the evidence is insufficient to justify the conclusion. The only ways you can have mistaken beliefs is to have faulty evidence – evidence that is not true or that even if it is true, does not support your beliefs.
Join the children’s letter writing campaign! (Click image to jump to the program at the Equine Welfare Alliance!
Written by: Heather Clemenceau
In addition, counts that are made only once a year for 2-3 days are not generally considered to be a robust form of wildlife management when compared to counts done 3 times a year, such as in the spring after what is often a harsh winter, after the foals are born, and before a capture is being considered. Reliable methods to estimate wild horse populations should be important to Alberta Environment & Parks (formerly Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development – ESRD) because otherwise they will continue to make programmatic decisions that aren’t supported by science. A single aerial census is not terribly useful since the horses are pretty scarce and elusive when spread out over 6 million acres, which results in a weak inference about horses that are neither abundant nor widespread in the Equine Zones. Not only is the aerial count slipshod because it is only one sample, E&P doesn’t know how many horses are too many. E&P allow the “
equine zones in Alberta Canada. The cattle being grazed consist in numbers about 10 times the number of equids in the 6 zones.
By the grace of (insert the deity of your choice), a cull was not held this year. The decision to cull any of these horses should not lie in the interpretation that they are feral rather than wild; feral is a human construct that serves only to stigmatize the horses.
heatherclemenceau 