Horse Slaughter Essay

Submitted By ambauer7
Words: 820
Pages: 4

Blood Money
Written By: Amanda Bauer

All of those stories we have heard in school about how the West was won are all lies. This history of the West was written by the horse. Wherever a settler left his footprint there was a hoof print beside it. As the men came further and further west to stake their claims the domesticated horses came with them. But they encountered horses that could never be tamed — Mustangs. Now these horses have a fate of slaughter houses. Over time the Mustang population has become so out of control that they are over grazing the land in the West. The government orders a round up every year that forces the horses to be put into tight corrals with hundred of other wild horses. They are then sorted into different pens. Some are later released back into the wilderness, while others are left for “adoption”. These horses are either given to citizens that don’t have the first idea about how to care for a horse or to hopefuls trying to strike it rich with the foreigners. It is a dirty secret of the horse industry that the U.S. has three equine slaughter houses; two operating in Texas- the Bletex Plant and the Dallas Crown Plant, and one in Illinois- Cavel International. All of the slaughter houses located in the U.S. are owned by foreign countries. These owners claim that their ways are humane for the horses and great measures are being taken to provide a comfortable environment for these animals. I’m sorry, but actions speak louder than words. Cavel International closed its doors in March of 2002 because a fire destroyed the plant. During the time of its restoration a former employee of Cavel International testified that “in July 1991, they were unloading one of the double-decker trucks. A horse got his leg caught in the side of the truck so the driver pulled the rig up and the horse’s leg popped off. The horse was still living, and it was shaking. [Another employee] popped it in the head and we hung it up and split it open. … We would pull off the dead ones with chains. When we killed a pregnant mare, we would take the guts out and cut the cord and put it in the trash and sometimes the baby would still be living, and its heart would be beating, but we would put it in the trashcan.” Cavel International reopened on June 9, 2004. This slaughter house currently makes about 35 million dollars on average every year. And for what? To feed the dogs of our country? To make things stick together? Not quite. It is because eating horses in other countries is an accepted part of their culture. Here in America we don’t raise our horses for food so why are we allowing them to be used for such practices? The cruelty of horse slaughter is not limited to the act of killing the animals. Horses bound for slaughter are shipped, frequently for long distances, and are not rested, fed, or watered during travel. Economics, not humane considerations, dictate the conditions, including crowding as many horses into