Will slaughter houses help horses?

President Barack Obama signed a new law last month that will allow, for the first time since 2007, horses to be slaughtered for human consumption in the United States.

The law, attached to a Congressional spending bill, will allow USDA inspection of horse meat and plants, clearing the way for slaughterhouse operations that have been closed since a 2006 law defunded the inspection, closing horse slaughterhouses across the country.

I have mixed feelings on essentially lifting the ban on horse slaughter. The idea of horses going to slaughter is revolting and heart wrenching to Americans, and horse lovers in particular. The idea of intelligent animals capable of forming meaningful bonds with human beings being killed for meat is horrifying. Will the new law bring relief to the horse industry? And if so, when?

I don’t think anyone imagined the consequences of closing horse slaughterhouses. The effects of the law hit the horse industry, with an estimated 9.1 million horses nationwide, at the same time as the recession, followed by a drought and massive hay crises.

The situation is so bad that the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is temporarily supporting the law allowing horse slaughter in the U.S. because it will bring an end to suffering of horses that are starving or abandoned and prevent those headed for slaughter from having to endure the grueling ride to Mexico or Canada.

The list of horse organizations supporting the re-opening of slaughter houses is almost as surprising. It includes some of the largest and most influential breed associations in the country.

In just a few years, horses have gone from valuable animals to an overpopulation similar to unwanted cats and dogs. The American Association of Equine Practitioners estimates that 2,700 equine rescue facilities would have to open each year to keep up with needs under the slaughter ban.

Even so, I can’t imagine that killing dogs and cats for meat and shipping them overseas would be proposed as a viable solution to the problem of the many unwanted and abandoned pets. Where do we draw the line between our emotional attachment to horses and harsh realities?

Horse meat is a major staple in only eight countries, according to a December article published in the Southwest Farm Press, with China, Mexico and Kazakhstan at the top of the list. Worldwide, about 4.7 million horses are slaughtered for human consumption each year, the article states.

In the past, “kill buyers” purchased the most undesirable or infirm horses bythe pound at auctions, for a base price of $500 to $700. Prices for horses went up from there, depending on factors such as age, condition, pedigree, temperament and training.

Now there is no base price for horses. Horses can be bought for $50 to $100 and some people are giving them away. Horse rescues are filled with abandoned animals, and newspapers across the country tell stories of horses that are left to starve in pastures or turned out to wander back roads.

For horses that are infirm or no longer useful, it costs owners several hundred dollars to have them euthanized and disposed.

There is nothing I enjoy more than talking horses, but the more local people I talk to, the more I realize how close to home these problems are hitting. Many owners have sold or given away horses at a tremendous loss that they would never have parted with under other circumstances. Others are struggling to buy hay and feed.

I bought hay for $8.50 last week, twice what I might have paid in previous years if I bought hay directly from a farmer. But it was the first time I have been able to even find hay in a month. Alfalfa cubes can provide some of the roughage essential to horses but they are even more expensive than hay, too high in protein and, frankly, my horses hate to eat them as much as my kids hate to eat steamed broccoli.

Oat straw, which is cheaper and more readily available than hay, also provides supplemental roughage and is safe to feed to horses, according to my research, but offers little nutritional value compared to hay.

The long-term solution is responsible horse ownership, according to the American Veterinary Association. But as times get more desperate, responsible horse ownership is going to be less and less of a priority for people struggling to make ends meet.

Will the re-opening of slaughterhouses help? Only time will tell.

Janelle Jessen is a reporter for the Westside Eagle Observer and a longtime resident of the Decatur area. She may be contacted by email at [email protected].