slaughter plant for horses in south dakota

[paintrider]

what does everyone think of the plant that the state was going to sponsor in south dakota?
here is some info that i found

http://www.commonhorsesense.com/pdf/AWC_UnintendedConsequence.pdf

[gamecockfan]

I am clueless - why are the horses being slaughtered? For meat? Who buys this?

[mrsfraz]

Okay gamecockfan, your name tells me that you enjoy watching roosters slaughter each other. You tell me why people do that, and I will tell you why we have horses slaughtered.

[mrsfraz]

As much as I hate the idea of horses being slaughtered, what I have witnessed as a result of there not being enough rendering plants (ie: abandonment, starvation, etc.) makes me believe that we need these facilities. A slaughterhouse might be a more humane fate than the alternative. I do believe that these places need to be highly regulated by laws governing health/welfare of the animals.

I am surprised more people haven't responded to this thread!?!

[shawnaJ]

going to study up on this topic. Seems to be a lot of info out there that needs to be sorted thru. ANy other sites or info links we find should maybe be shared with others. Let's have an educated discussion.

[mrsfraz]

shawnaJ: Great idea! I was actually in the process of researching this topic for another matter. I will compile some resources and post them ASAP.

[mrsfraz]

I visited the site that paintrider posted; it has really good information in support of slaughter. I also found a site that has information in opposition of slaughter, but supports rendering. That site defines the difference between "slaughter" facilities and "rendering" facilities. This was a lesson for me. Anyway, I would encourage everyone to become more informed. The website I mentioned above is http://www.equineprotectionnetwork.com.

[lovethemountains]

could you explain that to the rest of us? When I hear the term slaughter I automatically think of bad things but apparently thiscan be a good thing in the horse world? I plead ignorance up front. . . do not chastise but enlighten me please!

[mrsfraz]

A slaughter plant takes-in live animals and processes them for meat and other by-products. This involves stunning the animal then bleeding-out the body. The reason the animal is stunned, not killed immediately, is because the beating heart is what pumps-out the blood. This process is used on all commercial livestock (ie. cattle, pigs, horses, etc.). Many people argue that this is "cruel". However, there are strict regulations that govern the facilities that slaughter animals. These regulations include stipulations that the animals enter the facility in a state of good health and walking on their own accord.

You may have seen the recent news story about the huge recall on beef. Workers at a slaughter (?) facilitity - I'm not 100% sure on this - were captured on video beating a cow that was down. They were trying to make the animal get-up and walk; however, it was either too sick or too lame to get-up. Slaughtering an animal in this condition is against the law. Anyway, I am assuming that this place was processing animals that were not fit; so, all the beef that came out of that plant was recalled. I may not have all the "facts" totally straight; so, if someone has the whole story - please feel free to make corrections. The reason I am trying to tell this story is to demonstrate that, although there are always those that slip through the cracks, the government really does try to maintain a standard for the welfare of animals that are meant for slaughter.

Now, what I recently learned ... rendering does not involve slaughter. A rendering facility only takes carcasses of deceased animals. These carcasses are not used for human consumption; however, there are many by-products that come from rendering plants. I do not, yet, know all the specifics about the laws that regulate these plants or what they produce.

So, that is what I know. I highly recommend that if someone is truly interested, they do their own research and form their own opinion.