4chores.org
site updated January 19, 2008
Anti-Slaughter Movement
Who is behind the anti-slaughter movement? What is their goal?
Both questions are easily answered.
There is a grassroots effort of a number of well meaning individuals that have been convinced, despite opposing evidence, that equine slaughter is inhumane. It has been openly expressed on the internet that the movement has specifically targeted the non-horse owning but 'pet loving' public. The big groups behind the organization and legal maneuvering of the movement are several animal "welfare" groups such as HSUS and AWI. Their goal was single-minded - to ban horse slaughter in the United States using any employable tactic.
While the thinking that banning slaughter would ONLY improve horse welfare was a warm and fuzzy thought, it didn't address the issue of what would happen to the large number of horses that do go to slaughter every year. According to the anti-slaughter side there is no such thing as an unwanted horse. Over the past several years horse slaughter in the U.S. had leveled out at approximately 100,000 horses annually. 100,000 is the number often used when discussing how many horses are effected by slaughter every year, the surplus horses, the unwanted horses. However, from 1989-1992 over 1 million horses were slaughtered during an economical downturn in the horse industry. The anti-slaughter movement refuses to address these higher numbers of having any probability of being repeated even though the current horse population is at an all time high.
It was stated over and over again by the anti-slaughter leaders that the banning of U.S. horse slaughter would NOT increase exports to Mexico and /or Canada. It was also stated that there is no correlation between banning slaughter and the incidence of neglect and abuse. While the theory that exports to Mexico would not increase has already been disproved, the anti-slaughter faction is working furiously to continue disproving the theory that the banning of slaughter has a negative impact on overall horse welfare.
The best source of information about the anti-slaughter movement is the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation Whitepaper written in 2002, "Horse Slaughter - An Unnecessary Evil". This should be required reading for anyone involved in this issue no matter which side of the fence they sit on. The entire paper is available for reading at the link below.
Get Active: