Pet food companies in the United States cannot use horse meat, according to the Equine Protection Network, which is a group dedicated to making a difference for abused, neglected and slaughter-bound horses. The main reason for this is because U.S. companies make more profit by selling it to countries where people eat the meat.
This does not stop horse meat from making its way back into the United States as an “animal” by-product or “animal” digest. Animal digest is the ramains of pretty much any part of any animal (blood, teeth, hair, spleen) from anywhere (roadkill, shelter animals, euthanized pets and horses, etc.). Cheaper dog foods contain by-products and animal digest.
The only way to be absolutely sure horse meat is not used in your dog’s food is to read the label and avoid buying foods that use by-products. The best brands of dog food do not have any by-products regardless of what kind of animal they come from. Quality petfoods list specifically what is found in the food, and the first three ingredients should be specific proteins such as duck, turkey meal or salmon.
The reason the horse meat issue came to my attention was because legislators in North Dakota are sponsoring a bill that could lead to the building of the only horse slaughterhouse in the United States.
A North Dakota plant would slaughter horses.
I know this is totally unrelated to dogs, but as an animal lover, the headline “Plant may slaughter horses …” in Saturday’s issue of The Forum caught my attention.
Let me say that I am not a horse person. I’ve never owned a horse, I’ve gone riding maybe five times in my life, and I’m actually a little scared of horses. What bothers me is that horses can be slaughtered in our country and the way it would be done.
The EPN describes on its web site the way horses were killed in our country up to 2007 when the last two U.S. horse slaughterhouses closed.
First the horses were hit in the forehead until they were (hopefully) unconscious. Then their hind legs were shackled and the horses were lifted into the air upside down to have their throats sliced.
This all happened after the horses were shipped for sometimes thousands of miles and then lined up into the slaughterhouses, hearing and seeing their fellow horses being hit in the head and bleeding, according to a PETA forum. Of course, this is how pigs and cattle are also inhumanely killed in our country, but I won’t even get into that.
I hate to think of how horses are killed in Mexico and Canada, which is where the U.S. currently ships its horses for slaughter. Something tells me that if you are going to be slaughtered, you’re better off being killed in the United States than in Mexico where horses are stabbed to death, according to the EPN.
In 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an act to ban horse slaughtering. But it failed in the Senate, making it still legal in our country, according to The Forum.
The North Dakota plant would slaughter horses that are no longer used for recreation, farming or racing, said The Forum. Slaughtered horses are used for meat, gelatin, glue, pet food and leather products, according to the article.
I could not find any pet food brands that admittedly use horse meat.
Would you care if your dog’s food had horse meat in it? What’s your opinion on slaughtering horses, and should it be done in our country or elsewhere?
The photos are from a horseback riding trip I took with friends in Costa Rica a few years ago, one of the few experiences I have with horses.
No related posts.
January 25th, 2009 at 11:14 am
This is a very controversial subject and one that really gets people going. I’m sure there are a lot of strong opinions out there. I’ve tried to write an eloquent response but keep deleting it so I’ll just say that you’ve brought up a great thinking point.
January 25th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Thanks Apryl, I know exactly what you mean.
January 25th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Until the industries that exploit (music industry term) horses commit to caring for the horse for their entire lives, horses will be slaughtered.
Given that reality, that the horses are slaughtered humanely and the resulting by-products are fully exploited is the only responsible approach to take.
I would have zero hesitation in feeding my dogs horse meat. Given the lack of an industrialized meat production industry around horses, horse meat is quite likely healthier for our pets than anything that comes out of the beef, pork, or chicken industries.
And that is the real crime here; the industrial meat production companies. The entire industry practices an unnatural production cycle that is inherently cruel. PETA is certainly right about that.
Unfortunately, PETA’s fanaticism means their useful ends about there. Dogs are inherently carnivores. Vegetarian diets are not healthy for them — are a form of cruelty — yet I have seen PETA claim otherwise.
January 25th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Thanks for your comments bbum. I agree with all your points, especially what you said about PETA, dogs’ diets and the meat industry. My problem is the cruel way the horses and other animals are treated before they are killed and how they are killed.
January 25th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Exactly, Lindsay. I’m not exactly against horse meat in dog food, but if the horses suffer unnecessarily because of inhumane treatment, that I’m fully against.
January 25th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I saw a long list of what “animal biproducts” are used in dog food. That was enough for me to avoid anything that says that on the label.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:54 am
This is a tough subject. On one hand I can see the point that the previous commenter bbum made – if horses will be slaughtered anyway – it helps to know that every part of the animal is used.
However… my husband works in an industry that has allowed him to see slaughter houses first hand. They are not humane in many cases. They are miserable horrible places. In thinking about it too much, I should be a vegetarian myself. (I’m not.)
I’m not sure what I would do about feeding a dog food that contained horse meat. It would bother me – I’ve been around horses quite a bit, and they are magnificent creatures… I’m not 100% sure where I stand, obviously! Thanks for making us think though.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Right Mayra, why would horse meat be any worse than chicken or lamb? It is probably actually healthier. It’s the treatment of the animals beforehand that is the issue.
Jan, I don’t feed my dog anything that says “animal by-product” either.
Thanks for your input Tammy! I encourage you to be a vegetarian if you are up for it!
January 26th, 2009 at 10:31 am
A very sensitive topic.
I would have no problem feeding the Girls Horse meat if it was killed humanely and had a decent life.
However saying that is all very well but how about the meat that we happily feed our animals.
There is no way that the animals are given great lives. Meat production is about MONEY and many animals are kept in awful, cramped conditions and many never think anything of it when feeding food to Dogs.
So, to stop rambling-I see no real problem with it, especially as they probably had better lives than the animals we feed to our Dogs now.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Thanks Three Dog. Yep, unfortunately you are probably right. I’m not in favor of giving my dog a vegetarian diet by any means!
January 26th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I don’t agree with most of the commercial slaughtering and would prefer to get my meat from local farms, but there just aren’t the right sources/money for it right now.
As for it being in “Dog food”, I don’t feed dog food to begin with, and the horse meat would be the last thing I would worry about. My dogs are raw fed (cats too when I had them) and I know exactly what they’re eating.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Hmmmmm. We just had this conversation at my house. Only it was about kids in a boys home or something being fed wild horse meat. I am from a ranching family. We did eat a whole bunch of cattle, that my grandfather raised. We ate a whole bunch of venison that my hunter dad and uncles went out and shot and cleaned and cooked. We grew all our own vegetables and we rode horses. We never ate horses. The horses were part of our family and we LOVED them. To eat them would have been like me cooking up one of my weinerdogs and having him on a bun. It just was WRONG to eat horses or it never occurred to us or something, because they were like sacred to us.
Something else that I think makes me feel sort of repulsed about eating horses is that, when a horse is sick enough to go, then it is surely too sick to be eaten. I dont have any data or statistics to back that up, I just know that ours were always euthenized by the vet when they were sick and then we buried them in the pasture under a tree or something. We did not send them out to factories, just as I could not one of my dogs or cats, or siblings.
I would not knowingly feed my dogs horse meat.
I am not a PETA fan.
January 27th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Hey Rebekah, thanks for your comment. Raw food is the healthiest way to go as long as the dog is getting what she needs. Like you said, that way you know exactly what your dog is eating. I am considering a raw diet for my own dog. What do you think is the best resource for feeding dogs a healthy raw diet?
January 27th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Wow, a thoughtful post and thoughtful comments. Like Rebekah, I feed my dog homemade raw food, so I know exactly what he’s eating.
(see here for some raw diet posts; this reminds me that I really should do another one…
http://biggiezblog.blogspot.com/search/label/raw%20diet )
As for horse meat, I do think it is a cultural thing. I was traveling to another country last year and ended up eating horse meat – we were guests at someone’s home and I was not told it was horse meat until after I’d eaten it – I was not nearly as grossed out as I thought I would be. I still would never knowingly choose to eat it, but that experience was pretty instructive.
Many years ago we were vacationing in Bora Bora and we went scuba diving every day. At one of the seafood restaurants many of the entrees were the same brightly colored fish that we had taken a lot of pleasure in watching on our dive trips. I had a really hard time with that.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Hey Biggie, thanks for that link.
You’re right, it’s totally a cultural thing. People eat horses in many countries. I don’t see a whole lot of difference between that and eating meat from a cow. But I’ve never had either animal as a pet.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Thanks for your input, Lori. I understand your points.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:50 am
As to feeding horse meat to dogs, I would be more interested in how the meat would compare in nutrition.
It is eaten in other countries, and healthy meat won’t kill your dog. I would not like to see horses raised for the purpose of pet food. I agree that horses may go through terrible slaughter experiences in other countries with fewer laws.
However, I would be willing to bet that there is a need to eliminate horses after they become needless at the track, if that is a fair way to state this. Burying an animal of that size would be problematic, and we, as a nation, are now recyclers.
I do remember that in the 1940’s or 1950’s horse meat was sold in 1 pound blocks in grocery stores and my mother bought it for the cats. They loved it!
I think that the meat may have been ground and previously frozen. Since we imported less back then, I assume that it was a Product of USA.
If horse meat has been used in the past in pet food, it was probably as a rendered product. This would have enabled the pet food manufacturer to identify it as animal-by-product, which they think is a user friendly term.
March 6th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Hi Nell, thank you for your comment. I understand we need to do something with older horses, I just know how terrible the slaughtering process is for them.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:08 am
I think that it is a horribal thing that horses get sloughtered. I have been around horses my hole life and have been riding for seven years and I think that It is just appaling to have such a beautiful, loyal, and loveing creature killed in such an in-humane way. many other types of meat can be used instead of horse. I did some reserche on this and found that 1/3 of race horses are sent to sloughter when they can’t race any more. Many of those race horse are totaly healthy and can be used in another disiplen of riding.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:17 am
I agree. Although I wish all animals used for meat were killed more humanely.
May 11th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
One of the great concerns of horse meat is that the drugs that horses are given are not fit for human consumption and thus not under the USDA guidelines making horse meat unfit for people and dogs.
If a horse that was put down by a vet through injection and sent to rendering plant the AVMA says that is dangerous for any animal to eat the flesh of the horse.
Horse slaughter is a cruel and inhumane and barbaric way for a horse to end its life from the day it is sold at auction, through the kill buyers, the transporters who do not feed, water or let the horses have rest, cramming them regardless of age, sex, injury or pregnant to the slaughter facility to die horrible abuse in what I call the cruel box and then if they are lucky to be unconscious have their throat cut, but some have been known to awaken during this process.
How can we being as civilized society allow such suffering of our creatures.
n odwn
May 12th, 2009 at 7:57 am
I think most people are unaware of it, Leah. Or they just choose to look the other way so they don’t have to hear about animals suffering.
June 30th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
It turns my stomach what some people will do for a buck in this country. If these same kinds of people are so heartless that they would kidnap children as sex slaves performing before the camera in order to increase profits across the Internet as well as other shadow black markets, what’s a little horse meat to our pets? Remember now, the only obligation that a corporation in this country has, is to increase profits to its shareholders. End of story.
Welcome to America.
June 30th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Yeah, it is pretty sick, isn’t it? Thanks for stopping by.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:16 pm
The illusion is that we the people run the country, when it’s the elite corporations and their money, that run the country. Too political for the topic here I know, so I will digress.
But at least now I know, thanks to the information on your website, what to look for when shopping for pet food for my pets. I just wonder how long it will be before “they” figure out that we’re on to them, and they lobby congress for a change in labeling policy? Hmmm… But I trust that you will stay vigilante because you’re in this thing for the long haul, right?
July 1st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Unfortunately “they” have already found ways to disguise the ingredients in pet food. “Animal products” and “animal by-products” could be just about anything.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Horses are sent to Mexico and Canada for slaughter, and human consumption. The meat is not even safe for human consumption.”The EU now recognizes that the meat from American horses, slaughtered in Canada and Mexico, is toxic and dangerous for human consumption due to the equine medications it retains.” I certainly wouldn’t want it in my dog’s food.
August 13th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
It’s scary what ends up in petfood, isn’t it?
August 20th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Regarding killing of horses in U.S> for pet food, yes it is true. There are several companies in the U.S. doing this. Thier is currently NO federal law preventing this, or any federal protection for pet food bond horses. As far as the federal government is concerned you can kill a horse anyway you want, including bleeding them to death, as long as they are not used for human consumption.
Of concern to dog owners, while horses are used in some dog foods, thier is no federal or even state laws governing the quality of horse meat. Some plants are known to use horses dead for a while, or have been killed previously by vet drugs, and then turned into pet food, a danger to other animals eating this, but no protection laws exist.
One large company owner of Bravo Packing in New Jersey
was arrested after I-SPEAK investigated due to an alleged beating of a horse in the eyed with a baseball bat. Intrestingly the NJ SPCA did not become involved in any charges, and in fact at least one SPCA officer has a contract to giver horses to this company.
Further information can be found at
http://www.care2.com/news/category/animals/bravo%20packing
Marc Jurnove
Executive Director, I-SPEAK
August 21st, 2009 at 8:46 am
Thanks for the information.
September 16th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Ok. Some of the things people are saying in this post are a bit ludicrous. Would YOU want your child’s horse “Trixie” to wind up in dog food? Lets be honest. If the animal has lived a ‘GOOD’ life, it is due to the fact that it was a pet. Which in turn means that if you’re happy to feed your dogs horse meat only if the horse lived a good life, is the same as saying “I’ll only feed my dog the neighbors pet horse”.
Lets examine inHUMANe, the primary root of the word being HUMAN. INhuman or NOT nice for humans. Now, would i say its injust for an animal to be aware that it will be slaughtered? yes, of course no living creature should be shown its own demise for hours on end before it happens. BUT… to suggest that a swift blow to the head and then hung upside down and bled out is inHUMAN, possibly, but its certainly better than poison, electric shock, gas, and other various methods of execution. if there were a death row for animals, none of them would ever die.
the point is this, to shoot the animal would bring other complaints, to be honest i cannot conceive of any manner which would appease anyone to believe that an animal was ’slaughtered’ HUMANely.
The term SLAUGHTER is, in its own rights rather brutal. should we then deliberate if horses have been water boarded before termination? How can you kill something humanely? I suppose a quick and painless death would be best, perhaps we could bring back the guillotine? then again the brain lives for some time afterwards and possibly see its body being carted away for quartering..
Meat is meat, we eat it, cats eat it, dogs eat it. Until we can hypnotize the horse so that it cant feel the pain, it will be “inHUMANe”. Sorry, its the simple fact. Would I feed it to my dogs? Of course, probably to myself as well under distressed circumstances. I’d probably go for the horse that had a rougher less kind life myself, they tend to be stronger physically, more meat for me
September 16th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Thanks for your opinion. You throw out some good ideas.
It’s interesting how people are not OK with horses being slaughtered, but they don’t care how chickens, pigs and cows are treated.
And you’re right. There is no “humane” way to slaughter an animal. Killing is killing. And no matter what, someone is going to be upset.
September 27th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Look where banning slaughter has taken us. Our animals have no value. Look how many are starving to death!! Does no one see this? People are having trouble feeding their families right now. I have taken a few horses in but I can’t take on more and starve mine. There is no where for disposal anymore. I love them but death is a part of life. I don’t see anyone complaining about the cows going to slaughter and have you watched those videos? Talk about something hard to watch. Or maybe dog slaughter seen that one? I love my animals but this has caused more abouse and neglect than they thought about. I think they are important even vidal to us, however there needs to be rules on what goes in the market and whats done with the meat.
September 27th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
I don’t see any difference between slaughtering cows and slaughtering horses. Both are equally horrific. I can’t watch those videos.
For anyone interested, a Google search for “Dog slaughter South Korea” will bring up all you need to know.
October 25th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
I guess its the grace of the animal that is distressing people and ofcourse the inhumane nature we slaughter all animals, and even worse how we raise them to be slaughtered thus forcing them to live in cheap filthy conditions, the same issue with puppy mills. I think there are a few options that would make us feel better. 1) we live like native americans, hunt our food and use every piece of it while thanking our almighty for it. 2) pass a law to upgrade farm/mills so animals have more qol before dying and then find a more humane way of killing them. Meanwhile, pass a law that if the animal was a pet or a working farm animal (ie horses) that they had to be cared for throughout their whole life. ?anyone?
October 26th, 2009 at 12:38 am
About a yr ago when the price of wheat was @ a record high, I hauled a newly harvested load out of a field in STockton CA almost 200 miles to a big beef operation. I couldn’t believe how long the line was to wait to unload. All the hungry people that could be fed, but that beautiful wheat was feeding cows. When you figure the total cost to raise the crop and transport to the cows its amazing the way we live. I also sat at a slaughterhouse in UT for 8 hours while the line produced enough barrels of “by-products” to fill the 53′ trailer I was hauling. Each barrel had a diff. anatomical part; they even use the trachea. The plant in LA where I delivered the load smelled bad and the entire dock area was wet. I realized I had to dispose of my shoes very soon. Just thought I’d share.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Elizabeth, yes, it is the inhumane nature of slaughtering animals and the way they are raised that bothers me. It is not possible for us all to live like native Americans and hunt our own food, etc. Although, ideally, that would be a great way to live. I’m leery of laws to regulate these types of things. But something does have to change. We can start by not buying meat unless we know exactly where it came from and how the animal was treated.
Leslie, very good to know. I can’t imagine how much each cow eats before it is slaughtered. And as for the slaughterhouse and loading dock, yuck. People do not realize what goes on, do they? Thank you for sharing this.
November 1st, 2009 at 4:54 pm
There we go again. We don’t seem to be troubled eating cow…sheep…chicken etc..but horse oh no we don’t do that. Have you ever heard of Goulash>>> The word means “horses ass” or the hind quarters of a horse which is being used to make this delicious meal. I grew up on it and never had any high cholesterol, since that meat is not fatty, but lean and tastes great. What about Bisons and Deer, we don’t seem to mind slaughtering those animals not necessary for food but just the “fun” of a kill. Let’s be realistic, we all eat animals that have done us no harm, but we get all bent out of shape when it comes to horses. (I owned horses for riding) but a lot of them need to be put down the humane way.
November 1st, 2009 at 6:26 pm
You are so right. People get all bent out of shape by the idea of horses being slaughtered for food, but what about chickens, cows, pigs, etc? Those animals also suffer.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I think that horse slaughter should be ban in every state it is horrible what they do to the horses. I have 2 of them and they are wonderful animals. To wonderful to be treated in any way that pertains to slaughter. I also think that if you cant take care of a horse don’t get it cause that is the reason for most slaughters. Therefore it should not be used in dog food, plus I don’t want my dog eating a horse.
November 14th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
So, because horses are “wonderful” they shouldn’t be slaughtered? Since cows are less wonderful, is it OK to slaughter them?
December 18th, 2009 at 11:05 am
We don’t slaughter and eat dogs and cats in this country, either. What we are talking about here, eating companion animals, animals with names.
I would never feed my dog horse meat because he is a friend to many horses, including Thoroughbred race horses. We don’t eat our friends. We honor them.
Horses that did therapeutic riding, won for us at the track, shipped in brutal conditions, all kinds of Federal transport laws broken, who cares, it’s going to slaughter anyway.
The horse ends up hanging by its leg, in full sight of the horses waiting, many experiencing being cut up while still conscious. Screaming in terror. This is not news – this is first hand testimony by independent veterinarians on the lines, undercover videos, and forensic inspections in Candada.
The evidence is overwhelming: horse slaughter is brutal.
Sadly, people are duped into thinking horse slaughter is OK by Corporate America and paid lobbyists. The fact is, the way horses are physiologically and psychologically, they suffer way, way worse. You may wish to look at the USDA evidence obtained a year ago and see for yourself. http://www.kaufmanzoning.net Horse slaughter was bad news even in the US.
Not getting into the cruelty of factory farming here. It’s a disaster. We need to stop handing over our food production to conscienceless multinational corporations. It’s a health hazard, too – look at the swine flu that came from the factory farm in Mexico.
But at least cattle raised for the food supply have drug records and legally-prescribed withdrwal periods. Food animals don’t get the performance-enhancing drugs horses get, because the law prevents it. Horses are not traditional food animals, so anything goes.
The reality is, every US horse going to slaughter right now contains drugs specifically banned from the food supply by the FDA. Bute, fly sprays, wormers. All ZERO tolerance. The stuff causes cancer, anemia, etc. Fertility drugs like Regimen (given to broodmares) that cause spontaneous abortion in humans in minute doses.
To say nothing of illegal performance enhancing drugs like milkshaking, steroids, EPOs snake venon etc etc etc surreptitiously used at the track. Especially standardbreds – the industry is full of juicers, and people need to know they’re playing russian roulette with their health.
So, the pro-slaughter folks might want to be sure they have really good health insurance! Illegal drugs, betrayal and inhumanity on a massive scale – what’s not to dislike about horse slaughter?
December 18th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I’d like to re-visit Three Dogs earlier point: Although the end of their lives often end up horrific, most of these horses that end up slaughtered have lived better lives than other animals used for feeding dogs and cats.
IIt’s a difficult topic, but our dogs and cats do need to get their meat from somewhere.
January 20th, 2010 at 7:09 am
The slaughterhouses are not built for horses, they are built for cows, pigs, and sheep.Horses have longer necks and therefore are able to move away from Canada’s bolt gun and are often not properly stunned before being bled out.
Horses are companion animals and are given many chemicals that ruin their meat.
All animals that are slaughtered are killed inhumanely…there is no way around it.
I suggest everyone visits a feedlot and a slaughterhouse and thinks of this as they shop for meat.
I also think that if you eat meat you should buy llocally raised, drug free, and antibiotic free meat. This would support the local economy, send a strong message to the factory farms, improve your health,and reduce a lot of suffering that these animals endure.
My boyfriend regularly hauls cattle from auction to farm to farm to farm to farm to auction to feed lot and finally to slaughter….the local meat is by far healthier.
Anybody that eats horsemeat or gives it to their pets is perpetuating very cruel ends to a companion animals life and also harming their own health.
I am part of a group that finds homes for slaughterbound horses every week…they are NOT unwanted they have fallen into the wrong hands.
The bad economy and the killbuyers making lots of money by buying the auction horses, craigslist, free horses, cheap horses, any horse that they can get their hands on and selling them to the slaughterhouses.
If there was no demand this would not be happening.
January 20th, 2010 at 7:18 am
Thank you, Lisa, for your comment. You are very well-informed about this issue, and I appreciate the information. I also encourage everyone to eat meat that comes from grass-fed, locally raised animals that are not given hormomones and antibiotics and are not kept confined.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I was recently contacted by a friend. She Had a 24 year old horse that lived a good life. It was time to put it down though. She called me asking advice, since I’m a country bumkin and old fashioned and I have been in vet medicine for 10 plus years.
She had some options.
1. 300 euthanasia fee from the vet and then a 300 or more disposal fee, rendering in our area was not an option
2. Can’t take it slaughter anymore and make money
3. Kill her own horse.and then cremate in her pasture
She’s sentimental I could only tell her sorry, and I hope christmas would be better next year, since she had to spend money on the horse.
But It got me thinkin. We feed raw or barf diets to our dogs, wouldn’t it be better for everyone to just help my friend and take her horse from her. Shoot it inbetween the eyes, put it out of its painful life it was living from old age and instantly kill it, then cut up the meat for my dogs?
My dogs would indeed be getting a better diet than any commericially perpared kibble no matter the quality of ingrediants. (High temperatures used in making kibble break down many nutrional elements).
January 20th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
And to comment about lisa s. ” companion animals are given many things that ruin the meat”. I completely agree. We raise almost all our own small livestock for our dinner table. Chickens, goat, turkey, rabbit, and we hunt for venicson and other game. But that comment is un just. All commerically prepared foos we eat is junk. Not just companion animals. Even organic labeled meats are subject to un healrhy lifestyles. For example compare a real farm fresh chicken egg to an organic chicken egg from the store. The diiference is huge. Firmer shell, tougher mebrane, golden orange yolk. Those qualites are hardly even present in an organic chicken egg bought at the store. And then milk. Even organic milk. ( my uncle use to be a part owner of horizon organic milk compnay). They use un natuarl methods to assit production. Things that I am sure are not good for our bodies and encourage cancerous cells. But that’s the way of the world. What’s wrong with horse meat in dog food? Nothing. But the political nature of our government and the geeed for the dollar has taken the common sense out of everday issues. Life is a circle. Embrace it.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:22 am
Thank you for your comments, Kristi. I admire your lifestyle and hope that myelf and others can work toward eating healthier and caring for animals better.
For most of us, at least for me, the problem is the way horse meat gets into dog food, not that horse meat is there.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
In the U.S., raising horses for consumption has never been part of our culture and I don’t think the practice should make it’s way into it now. Regardless of whether people in other countries eat it or not. Other cultures also eat monkey brains, pork a**hole, dogs and cats, that does not mean that I should take up the practice as well, sorry Waltraut you lost me there. We should do all we can to discourage a market for horse meat consumption for humans. We have enough problems with the horrible state of our agriculture and livestock as it is, with the environmental pollution, food safety issues, our general health and the horrific state of animal welfare. We do not need to keep adding to the mess but rather try and deal with the overwhelming current problems.
As for feeding horse meat to my dog, it is completely unregulated and unsafe (reasons mentioned above by all of you) and I would not think of feeding it to him even if it was regulated. I would not feed him any commercial brands for that matter. I buy and feed him organic from local farms=fresh, raw and whole (pheasant,chicken, duck & beef 1 to 2 x’s a yr-rotating his proteins for better digestion and variety)along with fruits and vege’s. It is cheaper and far superior to any commercial brand. I do not believe we should encourage a horse meat market for dog food either, for all the same reasons I listed above. If one must buy commercial dog food, stay away from anything listing “by-product”, if you are unsure call the brand and ask.
In regards to horse slaughter in general, I keep seeing people state things like “If they are going to
die anyways, why not put them out of their misery…” Why is killing the only option? As per USDA 92% of horses sent to slaughter are healthy. We have allowed for unregulated markets that have driven a demand for surplus, some people are making a lot of money killing horses. Again our state of affairs in regards to our horses is in terrible, over breeding, Primarin Estrogen industry, wild horses, and kill buyers who make millions selling horses to slaughter and selling the (tainted) meat. Legalized and regulated horse meat consumption is not a solution to overpopulation but will only open the flood gates because it will drive people to breed even more horses for slaughter, just as they have done with cattle. More pollution, more misery and so on.
I do not believe that slaughter is “euthanasia” or is some how putting them out of their misery. It is horrific for ANY animal, especially prey animals, like horses because they have high drive nervous system, flinching and thrashing, which makes it difficult to shoot them with the captive bolt gun to “stun”. Brain wave activity studies performed in sacrifice studies, showing the difference in pain felt in having the throat slit to the spinal cord vs western conventional slaughter practices, have shown increased pain spikes after being shot with the captive bolt that continues and does NOT go down, another words it heightens the pain. In addition, their head is not made stationary so they need to be shot several times because they are shot in the eye or other parts of the head rather than intended location which is between the eyes. As was stated above, the facilities and captive gun was made for cattle which have brains set farther back and have narrow foreheads so it makes it difficult. All of this adds to the terror, pain and suffering because they still are not unconcious at the point they are hoisted upside down and bleed, it just adds to the suffering. The only thing the captive gun does is after being shot so many times it makes it easier for the slaughter handler to handle the horse to hoisting because it is more subdued, even though the horse is experiencing tremendous pain. It is horrific and brutal, for all animals. That is why I am vegan. I feel a deep guilt for feeding my dog animals but I do believe that unlike us, canines are carnivores/omnivores. That is another reason I go out of my way to go to the farm where I get the birds for his food, I get to see how the birds live and how they die.
I believe it is our purpose in being here to evaluate everything we do and how it effects our environment and other beings. To stretch our capability of reasoning, problem solving and compassion. Instead of reaching to the lowest common denominator for answers, think of higher alternatives. Just because we have dominion over something or someone does not mean we have the right to dominate and destroy.
Thanks for listening and for sharing all of your great thoughts!
P
p.s. Kristi, I wish the best for your friend and her horse. Since you have been in the vet industry, perhaps you could help her say a quiet and gentle goodbye to her horse and friends could start a fund for her to bury or dispose. I know you do not know me but I would be more than happy to help in order to see you, your friend and the horse have a dignified last goodbye.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Thank you, Patricia. I am deeply bothered by how our country treats all kinds of animals before they become “food,” and I often struggle with what to do about it.
February 6th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
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