Posted by: RC, Berea, OH on December 03, 2011 at 03:38 PM

Why not go the entire route and have the 19 "losers" in the Kentucky Derby slammed with bolts in their heads and barbecued for the desperate railbirds looking for uncashed winning tickets in dumpsters around Churchill Downs.

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Posted by: Spock, Vulcan, ON on December 02, 2011 at 11:20 PM

This is a good thing. I support horse slaughter as long as it is humane, and the trsnsportation to the plant is humane. Assuming the plants will be regulated, it will be much better to have horses slaughtered in US controlled plants. Mexico's plants are inhumane (horses being stabbed to death). It is hard on the horses to have to make the long trips to Mexico or Canada.

Slaughter provides a baseline price for the horse industry. Top horses (dressage, jumpers, reiners, racehorses, etc.) are still sellling for high prices but it is the price of the average riding horse that is suffering. It gives the unwanted horses a place to go, and therefore will increase the value of the well broke/low level show horses.

If an owner cannot afford the upkeep of their horse, and can't sell it, donate to a rescue or afford euthanasia, slaughter provides the logical option. A quick bullet to the brain is a more humane death than abandoning the horses in a pasture or setting them free (risking a slow death by injury or starvation).

Slaughter is a several billion dollar industry and would also provide jobs for many people.

Much of the problem is with people who breed indiscriminately. Horses being bred because color, not comformation. Horses being bred because they have a famous ancestor (regardless of whether or not the horse in question, or their sire/dam, has actually some sort of performance record or good a produce record).

It would be great if we did not have to have slaughter but for now it is necessary.

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Posted by: Dog Up, Syracuse, NY on December 02, 2011 at 12:17 AM

Sadly, with the potential significant future ban of Lasix, this will become a US industry of shadowing horses at race tracks not fit to run any more due to permanent and catastrophic breakdowns.Their high visibilty to the public and track stake holders will stop all no lasix non-sense.

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Posted by: Jo, Sallisaw, OK on December 01, 2011 at 08:28 PM

Horses aren't eaten by USA people. and they are rarely sent overseas for cunsumpton..they are mostly used for other things...with the ban on horse slaughter, horses are starving and being turned loose because people can't afford to feed them..at least if they go to slaughter they will be fed because the more they weigh, the more they will bring...If you want horses, you can get them anywhere

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Posted by: TRACKGIRL, VINCENNES, IN on December 01, 2011 at 08:19 PM

This is sickening! Are we going to eat cats and dogs too? How about possum soup or coon stew, roadside style? You know, there is a reason horses are not meant to be eaten:
#1 How many cows have been in the Kentucky Derby?
#2 How many cows have competed in the Olympics?
#3 How many times in history has generals rode into battle riding anything else but horses?
You see, cows, sheep, poultry, etc, are MEANT for food; regulated for food by our government and raised for food like crops. Sure, a person can get attached to any kind of animal, both domestic or wild and not want to harm it in any way.
There is a reason why we don't eat horses. Over time humans realized horses were better served as a beast of burden-to do our will, and not be our meal. Beef cattle and milk cows served us better in those departments and horses served us better in the fields and every day life than being supper! Read your history and then read your heart. I couldn't do it.

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