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March 24, 2008
U.S. SHELTER SADDLED WITH UNWANTED HORSES
By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
The forced closure of the last horse-killing facilities in the USA,
done at the urging of animal rights activists, has caused a herd of
unwanted horses in animal shelters nationwide, according to breeders,
ranchers and horse rescuers. The surplus threatens to worsen if Congress
passes a bill to ban the selling of unwanted horses to slaughterhouses in
Canada and Mexico.
"It used to be I could take a horse that is unbreedable,
untrainable, injured or unwanted and sell it for anywhere between $200 to
$700," says Sheila Harmon, who has bred Arabian horses in Eagle,
Idaho, for 28 years. "Now I have to pay a euthanasia fee to a
veterinarian and a disposal fee to have the animal taken away."
A ban on selling animals to a meat processor will "drive another
nail in the coffin" of her business, Harmon says.
Animal activists and some horse lovers say that's regrettable but that
the issue is a moral one, not economic. Horses are pets, not an entree,
says Julie Caramante of Habitat for Horses, a large horse rescue operation
south of Houston.
"There is a global market for dog meat, (but) we wouldn't even
dream of selling our pets for that," Caramante says.
For decades, horse farms sold unwanted animals to slaughterhouses that
shipped the meat overseas to places such as France and Japan, where horse
meat is an accepted meal, even a delicacy. In 2006, close to 140,000
horses were sold this way, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
But last year, under pressure from animal activists, courts in Texas
and lawmakers in Illinois made butchering horses for human consumption
illegal. That forced the shutdown of the last three horse slaughterhouses
in those states — and the USA.
Although it remains legal to ship horses to Mexico or Canada for
slaughter (in 2007, about 80,000 animals followed this route), there is a
move in Congress to close that off as well. Breeders and ranchers say such
a move would destroy an important export market they need to stay afloat.
"They've done away with the ability to get rid of inventory that
has no other good place to go," Harmon says.
'Kicked to the side'
Owners spend between $125 and $600 for euthanasia and burial or to pay
someone to haul away a carcass for animal-feed ingredients or the chemical
industry. That can add up for breeders who supply hundreds of thousands of
horses every year to the race industry, ranches and the riding crowd.
Paxton Ramsey's family has raised cattle for more than a century in
east Texas and breeds quarter horses primarily for ranch hands. Ramsey,
who represents the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, says the
shutdown of slaughterhouses has led to stray horses showing up in higher
numbers on public land and private property. If the USA has to care for
tens of thousands of unwanted horses a year, he says, it won't be long
before the public will be forced to foot the bill for a half-million horse
herd at $2,400 a horse per year.
"There are other things that can be done with government land
other than maintain unwanted horses," he says.
Neglected animals are showing up across the country. While some
shelters say they have room for more horses, shelters in Virginia,
Tennessee and Illinois say they are full.
"I've seen a tremendous increase in the number of people pleading
with us to take their horses and we absolutely cannot," says Donna
Ewing, founder of Hooved Animal Rescue and Protection Society in
Barrington Hills, Ill.
At Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue in southwestern Virginia, Pat Muncy rubs
the neck of a brown thoroughbred named Prince that was among 21 horses she
has received since September. The yearling's protruding ribs still show
the effects of starvation two months after Loudoun County officers seized
the horse along with 46 others from a Virginia farm.
Some of the seized horses are thought to be descendants of Triple Crown
winner Seattle Slew that "got kicked to the side," she says.
Activists say that no matter the situation it's wrong to kill horses
for meat and that industry predictions are exaggerated.
"We are Americans and we oppose horse slaughter," said Paula
Bacon, former mayor of Kaufman, Texas, who fought to close a
slaughterhouse there.
Bacon says breeders produce too many horses and don't try to improve
them before sale.
Tom Lenz, chairman of the Unwanted Horse Coalition, a horse breeders
group, says Bacon's assertion makes no sense.
"It costs anything between $1,900 to $2,400 to feed a horse for a
year," Lenz says. "Why would you put all that effort into a
horse and sell it for $300 (for slaughter)?"
Slaughter vs. risk of neglect
Chris Heyde, deputy legislative director with the Animal Welfare
Institute, says the country can handle more horses. Heyde helped write the
legislation that would ban the sale of U.S. horses to slaughterhouses. The
bill is still being hashed out in committees.
"You can find a home for these horses," Heyde says.
"Most people do."
Stephen "Doc" Vangyija, founder of the Equine Rescue &
Protection Humane Society, does not support horse slaughter but worries
there will be more neglected horses if the bill passes. Slaughter that is
supervised and humane is better than allowing horses to starve, he says.
Many Americans seem indifferent to the issue, according to a USA TODAY
poll. Asked if U.S. ranchers should be allowed to sell horse meat to food
distributors overseas, 45% of Americans had no opinion, 30% said no, and
25% said yes.
"People in the horse business think that people should be able to
do what their conscience guides them," says Mike Jennings, co-owner
of Professional Auction Services in Berryville, Va.
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