It IS about the money

How is banning slaughter in the U.S. supposed to help?

I would really liked to hear a reasonable explanation as to *how* exactly banning slaughter is beneficial. Horse slaughter not only effects the population, but it effects the overall market prices of horse sales; both private and auction. After the plants were closed, prices dropped to bottom dollar lows. Well bred, papered animals could be purchased at auction for 100 bucks. Slaughter bound animals were still going, except they were being crammed into packed trailers and hauled thousands of miles to their deaths, the treatment they recieved much worse than what would be on our own soil. The horror stories that you attribute to animals being abused, stabbed, etc., while they were mostly exaggerated-were probably true to some extent.

Slaughter will never be stopped. It's impossible and unrealistic to think that it can be.

But, instead of trying to stop it, wouldn't it be better to put your efforts toward making it more humane HERE in our OWN country, where it can be regulated? Villainizing the captive bolt gun is simply ridiculous. It IS humane. It carries the same volocity of a rifle bullet, punches straight through the skull, and turns the brain to mush. It's a rather humane method, considering. It's over in minutes; done. The jittering and shaking is from the nervous system shutting down.

I think... instead of trying "end" slaughter, that people should concentrate their time and effort on making it better and less stressful on the animals.

Annnnd

Most of us that are not anti slaughter don't respond any more because we have seen the futility of trying to find common ground with the "Anti-Slaughter" folks. There is NO compromise in their vocabulary. In the end, all they want is the complete and total removal of slaughter as an option for horses. Useless to even give the time of day to these posters anymore after years and years of it, and watching them proclaim what they were told would happen if slaughter shut down by the non anti side to be not really happening. Sorry, but I don't find banging my head against the proverbial wall of these threads a valuable use of my time. I'll keep doing what I do in the real world and standing face to face with people who cannot just ignore the questions. They either have to answer or walk away knowing and proving they don't have an answer.


Along with....


I will remain pro-slaughter just because it makes business sense.

Without US slaughter AND suffering through a down economy has proven to be very un-healthy for the equine industry as a whole. Many vets the specialized in equines (in my area any way) are either closing up shop or expanding to include cattle and/or small animals. There is an extreme drought that has made hay worth it's weight in gold and people that are managing to hold on to their equines are not having them vetted except in emergency and they are not breeding so need no reproductive/AI services. My horse vet has moved on to cattle, she is not even seeing equines anymore.

I know that different areas of the country are affected differently but there is no way around the fact that a slaughter market is what sets the floor price for equines. With no, or a weak, slaughter industry, there is no floor value for horses which is why they are not selling at auction. 6 years ago a fat horse would bring a per pound price no matter what it's breeding or training level. This per pound price is what the bottom $ value of a horse was and it went up from there. That value is $0 right now, so no number to go up from.

Even if you do not make your living from the equine industry the industry NEEDS a slaughter market to keep our equines safe. They must be worth something to be cared for. How many horses that are starved to death, dumped in national parks or dropped off at a too full rescue would have been sold to slaughter if it was more feasible?

Abuse and neglect are going to happen, always has and always will, but a per pound value is some incentive for some would-be abusive or negligent owners to sell instead of starve.